Composition guides
Limner draws composition guides over the level viewport: rule of thirds, golden sections, golden spiral (four start corners), diagonals, reciprocal diagonals and a centre cross; action and title safe frames (EBU R95, classic or custom sizes); aspect masks from 2.39:1 to 9:16 vertical, or a custom ratio. New in version 1.1.
Save guides for a camera or a bookmark in the board: they switch on by themselves when the viewport looks through it, and the team shares them. Nothing is added to the level.
The Guides menu
Section titled “The Guides menu”Open Guides in the viewport bar. The button sums up the guides in effect, for example Guides: Thirds · 2.39:1, or Guides: Off.
Composition
Section titled “Composition”| Guide | Draws |
|---|---|
| Rule of thirds | Lines at a third and two thirds of the frame. |
| Golden sections | Lines at the golden ratio points (0.382 and 0.618). |
| Golden spiral | Quarter circles in a golden rectangle that fills the frame. The four buttons next to it pick where it starts: top left, top right, bottom right (the default) or bottom left. |
| Diagonals | Corner to corner. |
| Reciprocal diagonals | From each corner at a right angle to the diagonal that does not pass through it. |
| Centre cross | A small cross in the middle. |
Safe frames
Section titled “Safe frames”Action safe and Title safe draw a centred frame with its name and size, for example “Action safe 93%”. The sizes come from a preset:
| Preset | Action safe | Title safe |
|---|---|---|
| EBU R95 (93% / 90%) | 93 % | 90 % |
| Classic (90% / 80%) | 90 % | 80 % |
| Custom | the slider | the slider |
Moving a slider (50 to 100 %) switches to custom sizes and keeps the other size.
Aspect mask
Section titled “Aspect mask”Darken everything outside a frame of another aspect ratio: None, 2.39:1, 2.00:1, 1.85:1, 16:9, 4:3, 1:1, 4:5, 9:16 vertical, or Custom: type the ratio as width:height, for example 21:9 or 2.35:1. Mask opacity sets how dark the outside is (85 % by default).
The composition guides and safe frames follow the masked frame, so a 2.39:1 mask gets its thirds inside the 2.39:1 frame. When a camera constrains the aspect ratio, they follow the camera frame.
- Colour: white, black, yellow, blue, pink or green.
- Opacity: 10 to 100 % (60 % by default).
- Thickness: 1 to 8 px (1 px by default).
- Show in captures: also draw the guides into Save viewport with overlay images. Compare and the color script never include them.
Guides per camera or bookmark
Section titled “Guides per camera or bookmark”While you look through a camera or sit on a bookmark, Saved views has a button for it, for example Save for camera sh040_ruins or Save for bookmark 2. The guides are then saved in the board for that camera or bookmark, and they switch on by themselves whenever the viewport looks through it.
- While saved guides are in effect, the menu says “These are the guides saved for sh040_ruins. Changes here update them in the board.”
- Clear for this camera (or Clear for this bookmark) removes them; the viewport guides apply again.
- The menu lists where guides are saved, for example “Saved for: sh010_arrival · sh040_ruins · Bookmark 2”.
- If the level has no board yet, the button reads Create the level’s board and save for ….
The viewport guides, the ones you set while no saved guides are in effect, are kept per user. Guides saved for a camera or bookmark live in the board, so the whole team gets them through source control.
Settings
Section titled “Settings”The line colour, opacity and thickness, the safe frame sizes and the mask opacity of new viewport guides come from the Guides section of the settings.
From Python
Section titled “From Python”set_guides() sets the viewport guides, save_guides_for_camera() and save_guides_for_bookmark() save them in a board, and get_guide_lines() and write_guides_image() return the guides without a viewport. See Python.