DEVELOPMENT LOG
All updates
A dated record of the features and improvements shipped to SHOT OF THE DEAD.
2026.10
Official release on November 1.
SHOT OF THE DEAD becomes an official release on Sunday, November 1. Your beta account, projects, and locations stay as they are.
The keys you can use, at the bottom.
3D, Shoot, and Cut List now show a one-line bar at the bottom with the keys for where the pointer is. On narrow screens it shows what fits. Turn it off under Settings > Controls.
Capsule, a figure with no hands.
Assets now include a Capsule with a nose and ears. Set only Standing, Sitting on a chair, or Sitting on the floor and where the head faces. With no hands, hand actions are free to describe in the video AI prompt.
Space for the camera, X for the actors.
On the shooting tab, Space previews the camera (actors move too) and X previews the actors only, wherever you are in the panel. Either key pauses a running preview, and the point picked follows the key that started it. The buttons show the keys.
The actor panel shows the selected figure.
The shooting tab's actor panel now shows the motion of the figure selected in 3D. A figure with no motion shows an empty panel, so another figure's settings are never changed by mistake.
Shot actions as icons.
Duplicate, preview, Cut List, and download at the top right of SHOTS are now icons, plus a trash icon to delete. The download menu offers Image only or With AI info (zip). Deleting a shot keeps its cut in Cut List.
Shoot straight into Cut List.
Press C or the camera button in the top bar to save the shot and put it at the end of Cut List. Decide what to keep in Cut List. When you only need the image, the download button next to it (Shift+C) saves it.
Pausing picks a point of the preview you pressed.
On the shooting tab, pausing with Space selects a camera point for the camera panel preview and an actor point for the actor panel preview. A selected actor middle point no longer makes the camera preview start partway. Pausing after the camera finished before the actors selects the End point.
"Show 180° line", said plainly.
In the REV conversation pair panel, the toggle now reads Show 180° line and the details read 180° line display details.
Pause on a middle point and fix it there.
Select a middle point and play to start 2 seconds before it. Press Space while playing to pause: fix the point's facing, pose, and gaze in place, or add a middle point where there is none. Time camera middle points by the seconds from the previous point, the hold, and the seconds to the end.
Blockman gets a neck and eyes.
Blockman now has a neck, ears, and eyes. In pose fine tune, move the neck, show the eyes, close them, and set where the figure looks. A figure can also walk on keeping the gaze set at a middle point.
REV on the shooting tab.
The shooting tab's camera bar now has the same REV as the 3D view. It is unavailable during the countdown, recording, and MP4 export.
Reset Start and End per figure.
The figure motion header on the shooting tab now has the same Reset as the camera. It clears only that figure's Start and End. Both resets can be undone with Cmd/Ctrl+Z.
Resize without changing the shape.
The size panel now starts with Overall size, which keeps the width, height, and depth ratio, so a cylinder no longer turns elliptical.
Easier-to-read cut numbers.
With Active only on in Cut List, cards show just the playback order. Cut number size in Display settings scales the number from 1x to 3x.
Tell the video AI what the camera does not do, first.
The camera description handed to AI now starts with lock sentences such as straight line, height locked, and focal length locked, so raw numbers are not read as permission to change height or zoom.
Clearer storage folder setup.
First-time setup now explains that browsers do not let you choose Downloads or Desktop itself. If you close the picker, it suggests creating a new folder and choosing it.
Stronger, thicker floor grid.
Grid strength and Grid thickness are now in the floor settings, so camera movement still reads on a plain white floor.
Stop, turn, and strike a pose mid-move.
Actors and the camera can now have middle points. At each one, set how long to hold, which way to face, and a pose. Turn while walking, join the points with a smooth curve, or stop the camera together with the actor.
Tracking patterns and green screen on backdrop screens.
Backdrop and ground screens now offer checkerboards, cross markers, and green screen. They start still and move when you press Play. Adjust the color, pattern size, and cross size.
Pick a location by sight.
Add Location now shows thumbnail cards, so you can choose BASE, Marble, or GLB at a glance. Creating locations with AI is coming soon.
2026.09
Group figures and props together.
Select Blockmen, props, Boxes, or Walls and press Group. Groups can hold subgroups and move, rotate, and duplicate as one. Save a group to My Parts to reuse it in other scenes.
Move a whole group in a shot.
Set a start and end point, and a group such as a rider on a horse travels as one subject without falling apart. On curves it turns around the center of the whole group.
Re-export a take exactly as shot.
Takes now keep the lens, focus, and moving-ground state from the moment of shooting. Preview, recording, and MP4 re-export match in motion and focus, and Cut List durations follow the actual video frame count.
Multi-cut actions in the right panel.
Select several cuts to see the count and total duration in the right panel, then duplicate, delete, show, or hide them together. Exclude from playback is now called Hide.
Fixed black first frames in MP4
Fixed an issue where the first frame of a per-cut MP4 export could be black.
Fine-tune poses in close-ups.
The pose fine-tune handle now stays on screen even when the camera is close to a figure.
Two time references for every video cut.
Video cuts now show sequence and clip timecodes. MP4 export can burn in Sequence TC, Clip TC, or both for precise AI video instructions.
Find recordings from their storage root.
Missing recordings now show their filename and saved location. Choose a root folder to search its subfolders and reconnect matching cuts together.
Read notes while arranging cuts.
Marker notes appear below thumbnails, while shared comments identify groups of cuts with subtle colors. Ungrouping keeps the comment on the first cut.
Safer deletion for commented cuts.
Deleting cuts that carry individual notes or shared comments now confirms its targets. Cut deletion and review-comment changes can be undone and redone.
Clearer Cut List timing and settings.
Switch the total between all and active cuts, enter used durations in tenths of a second, and find Export and Display settings in their streamlined positions.
Find the reverse angle with REV.
Outside the conversation pair, REV moves the camera to the counterpart angle; inside, it pans in place. The 180° line and reverse calculation follow posed head positions, including leaning figures. REV also works with the line hidden.
Keep selected figures in sight.
In BASE, image, and GLB locations, selected figures now have Pink silhouette outlines. Adjust line width, last selected opacity, and other selections opacity in Advanced settings. SPZ locations keep the previous selection frame, and neither guide appears in saved images or exported video.
Give your blocking a turn.
Asset motion now includes waypoint and L-shaped paths, with corners you can adjust on the map. Cut List inspector markers now apply to all selected cuts.
Bring a GLB location onto the set.
Import a GLB 3D location, place figures and cameras, and find a shot in the scene.
Separate GLB location imports
Fixed previous buildings and figures appearing in GLB imports. The original location is saved before opening the import as a separate location.
Lighter camera interaction
Reduced hidden Motion Map updates and temporary objects used for focus and shadow tracking while preserving camera saves and focus tracking.
Consistent saving and recording
Scene autosaves stay in order. Preview, REC, and offline export now match figure position and facing and the camera lens at the same time.
Reliable editing and saving
One drag takes one Undo step, while quick separate drags and button commands remain individually undoable. Pending Cut List saves stay with their original project.
Protected Cut List saves
Overlapping local saves stay in order. If saved data cannot be read, it is left unchanged and further saves are paused.
Stable view proportions
Camera projection now matches the live viewport when switching locations to prevent stretched people and objects.
Safer local location history
Local history is less likely to lose entries when saves overlap and keeps more than 50 locations without silently dropping any. Unreadable saved history is not overwritten. The Web version rejects over-limit imports and saves before changing the existing project.
Export active cuts in playback order
Cut List shows total and active counts together, while Active only hides paused cuts without deleting them. In that view, Board keeps the original all-cut number as 15 and shows playback order 1, 2, 3... in pink. On-screen numbers are not zero-padded; export alone uses four-digit names such as 0001. You can also select a joined MP4, per-cut files, and video first-frame PNGs.
Overlay the same composition guides across cuts
Cut List Player now shares thirds, center, golden-ratio, and manual guides with 3D and Shoot. Drag from the rulers to align head or eye position between adjacent cuts.
Choose subtler blur in smaller steps
The blur scale adds weaker f/16- and f/22-equivalent steps with visible ticks, keeps the focus plane clearer, and moves one step at a time with [ / ].
Organize large location layers by structure
Expand a group to inspect its blocks, create one level of subgroups, duplicate them, or detach them from a parent. Drag to reorder items within the same level, and each action menu now opens inline one at a time.
Edit without losing the object you selected
Keep Layers visible while using the same Inspector, with the target name, Basic or Pose, expand, and collapse in one row. Stage and Add open editing only when requested.
Zoom into Motion Map detail in large locations
Zoom up to 6400% and keep separate zoom and pan positions for View and World, so switching orientation no longer loses your working area.
Place multiple groups exactly where you click
Select individual objects and multiple groups together, then click the desired point on a floor, rooftop, or Box top to move them there without breaking their arrangement.
Lock a group's placement together
Toggle placement lock from a group row, see partial or full lock state at a glance, and use the same behavior from the P shortcut.
Turn a still cut into video from the same composition
Restore a still cut's saved 3D state in Shooting, then replace that same cut with one selected take. Saved MP4s from unselected takes remain in the recording folder.
See motion endpoints at a glance
Asset and camera motion now show both endpoint states in the header. Apply switches on when both are ready, and configured buttons clearly become update actions.
Resize Shooting and Cut List to fit your work
The right Inspector in Shooting and Cut List now resizes by dragging its boundary, resets on double-click, and opens or closes from the triangle rail.
Explore alternatives without replacing a saved shot
From a saved-shot preview, restore its location, placement, poses, lens, and camera to explore another angle in 3D. The original stays unchanged and the result saves as a new shot.
Added a Marble location import guide
The beginner guide now covers creating a Marble World, choosing SPZ / OpenCV / Ground level / Textured, importing the Splats and Collider Mesh pair, checking orientation, floor, and scale, and fixing common failures.
Marquee-select and reorder cuts together
Drag across empty Board space to select multiple cuts, then drag any selected card to move the group while preserving its internal order.
Pose and orient a figure in one place
After choosing a figure pose, continue directly below it with the pivot, facing, forward or side tilt, angle snapping, and whole-figure size. The same controls remain available in Basic.
Never lose the cuts that need another look
Give any Cut List color or icon marker a name such as Needs review and a multiline note, then filter by that marker. Press O to explore another angle without replacing the original cut.
2026.08
Faster action blocking and reliable reshoots
Asset motion now includes dash and extreme-speed ranges. Reshooting a video cut restores its saved actor path, speed, and camera motion before the next take.
Safer saved-shot re-editing
Choose Re-edit this shot to adjust a saved composition, then press Enter to update the same shot. We also fixed a stale capture request that could replay during Cut List revisions and replace a thumbnail with an unintended frame.
Prevent accidental playback from the preview
Clicking the large Cut List Player preview no longer starts or pauses playback unexpectedly. Use the fixed transport, Space, or K when you intend to play or pause.
Lens-aware blur with reliable focus tracking
The lightweight preview now gives longer lenses stronger blur on distant backgrounds. Composition lock and the eyedropper can be used in either order while keeping the same target in focus through lens changes.
Keep floors, walls, and backgrounds in place
Added placement lock separately from edit locking. Press P to prevent moving, rotating, resizing, or grounding while keeping selection and appearance controls available.
Location cards now follow the latest saved shot
Saving or reshooting a shot updates its location card with the latest finished frame, making duplicated locations with different blocking or compositions easier to distinguish.
Targeting and Escape now stay in the current workflow
Turning a look target off clears its old position so the next activation starts fresh. Escape no longer jumps from Shooting or Cut List back to 3D; it only clears or re-picks the current operation.
Smoother camera control in 3D and Shooting
Drag control now shares Off, Low, Medium, and High inertia across both workspaces. Speed and inertia are directly selectable in the Shooting bar, with Shift axis locking for parallel moves.
Lens, focus, and blur shaped for shot finding
Added FF / S35 framing, click-to-focus subjects, lightweight foreground and background blur, and an optional focus plane without changing the scene brightness.
Preview time of day with sun-driven shadows
Characters and sets now receive lightweight shadows driven by sun direction and height, from long dawn and dusk shadows to shorter midday shadows.
Saved Shots and Cut List now scale to longer edits
Removed the fixed 24-shot and 120-cut limits, and moved heavy restore states plus video first and last frames into separate storage so duplication and revisions no longer inflate project data.
One-touch reverse angles for dialogue
REV / Shift+B now reverses toward a conversation partner while preserving camera position and lens. Saved shots can also be inserted mid-sequence, and the tutorial key display is clearer.
More control in Cut List playback
Pause cuts from sequence playback without deleting them, navigate with Home / End and arrow keys, and use editor-style J / K / L playback at 1x, 2x, 4x, or 8x.
Faster location and shot workflows
Duplicate a location, select and add multiple saved shots to the Cut List, and return from the Cut List without losing your camera position.
AI video handoff updated
Real generation tests with MiniMax H3 and Seedance 2.5 now inform how reference media and prompts are packaged for current models.
Guides caught up with Studio
Help in Japanese, English, and Korean now covers Stage, sun controls, surface snapping, and double-click camera travel.
Public beta security hardened
Added rate limits for external AI APIs, atomic generation quotas, upload limits, duplicate-request protection, conflict detection, and safer public errors.
Finer pose control
Character poses can now be shaped in finer detail — seated, standing, or in stance.