Guide
English
Search the docs⌘K
8.4

Figures and objects

Two kinds of thing go into a scene in DOTV's Previz: characters (the gray-white mannequins, a base figure if you want the proper term) and models (primitives, or something you imported yourself). Neither ends up in a generated image. They are there to settle who stands where, how tall they are and which way they face, so what the camera sees is the composition you wanted — the blocking that words can't quite describe in an AI video gets laid out here directly. This section covers adding people and things, adjusting a character's body and pose, and the handful of placement controls.

Adding people, adding things

Add characterOpens eight body types: male / female / broad / muscular / slim / teen / child / chibi. Pick one and the figure stands up in the scene.
1 / 3
The buttons at the top of the toolbar are how you add things.

Add character opens eight builds: male / female / broad / muscular / slim / teen / child / chibi. Pick one and the figure stands up in the scene, named Character A, Character B and on down.

Geometry gives you six primitives: box, sphere, cylinder, torus, cone, pyramid. While you are blocking, taking up the right volume is enough — a box for a table, a cylinder for a pillar, and what hides what in frame is immediately right. For a real prop, go to the model library or import your own (see 8.5).

Adjusting a character

Select a character and the right-hand side switches to its properties.

CharacterName, Position / Rotate / Zoom on all three axes, Uniform scale (all three at once) and Color. When the handles won't land where you want, type the numbers here.
1 / 4
The right panel with a character selected: transform, build, pose.

Body can be swapped at any time — no need to delete and re-add. The two buttons under it are the rig:

Body What it is When to use it
Stand-in One cylinder for the body, one for the head, a small bump for which way they face, and whatever is in their hands carried across the chest For a shot that is only about where people stand, which way they look and what the camera does
Simple rig A torso and limbs built out of primitives — no download, opens instantly, limbs pose freely You have to see what the limbs are doing (kicking a door, a hostage hold, hands up, going down on one knee)
Realistic rig A skinned human model, with proportions and joints closer to a real body. The first time you use it, a small model file downloads, and it holds things in its hands The default: this is what previz people are

Switching keeps the pose — all three read the same set of joint angles; the stand-in just collapses them into one column (crouch and it gets shorter).

Color is a character's role tag, not their clothing. The previz does not convey wardrobe, expression or lighting (that belongs in the shot prompt); color only lets whoever reads the clip tell people apart — so it is one color per character per shot, a clash is swapped for an unused palette color, and the exported previz is handed to the video model with a line saying which color is whom.

The two dropdowns under the rig are what they are carrying: one item per hand (pistol, rifle, flashlight, knife, baton, radio, phone, plus cup, bag, umbrella, book, tray, microphone, sword). Each item knows which hand it belongs in, so "pistol in one hand, flashlight in the other" is two picks and nothing else. Every rig holds things: the realistic rig in its hand bones, the stand-in across the chest, the simple rig in the palm.

Posing has two layers. Start from Pose presets to get roughly there, then open Pose controls and turn each joint into place: body, torso, head, left and right shoulder, elbow, hip and knee, one slider each, in degrees. The presets come in two batches: ones that strike an attitude (Stand, Walk, Run, Sit, Crouch, Kneel, Hands on hips, Bow, Think, Wave, Arms crossed, Checking phone…) everyday actions (Point, Open door, Carry, Handshake, Offer, Look back, Hand to mouth, Seated typing, Read, Lie down, Hands over face, Weapon ready), and police-action ones (Aim, Low ready, Fire, Crouch aim, Kick door, Take cover, Drag, Hostage hold, Hands up, Hit, Cuff, Sweep).

Placing things

  • Drag the gizmo: select something and a single gizmo appears on it in 3D with all three in it: drag an arrow or a small square to move (the square lying flat slides it along the ground), a ring to rotate, and a small cube on an axis to scale (cameras only move and rotate).
  • Type the numbers: when dragging will not land it precisely, type into the fields on the right. Uniform scale changes all three axes at once — use it when you want the thing bigger or smaller overall, instead of going axis by axis.
  • Snap to grid: turn it on under Toggles in the scene panel and things move a meter at a time, which helps when several people have to line up.
  • Lock: lock anything you have placed from the scene tree and dragging other things will not disturb it.
  • Duplicate: ⌘D / Ctrl+D. Placing a second identical figure beats adding a fresh one and setting it up all over again.
  • Delete: Delete, or the trash icon on that row of the scene tree.
Try it in DOTVReading only goes so far: open DOTV and make an AI video with the feature this section covers.