ShortmakerCS Changelog

Version 1.0.0

Beat Card is now much more reliable

Beat Card now keeps the chosen variant, Beat Lab edits, and final render much better in sync.
Effects created by the automatic variant system are no longer lost when adding your own effects in Beat Lab.
Show Mix preview now shows the selected variant together with your added effects instead of showing only the newest edit.
Final render now keeps both automatic Beat Card effects and user-added Beat Lab effects.
Beat Lab editing is safer: adding, previewing, and preparing a mix for render should feel more predictable.

Stronger Beat Card visuals

Beat Card effects received a major quality pass so shockwaves, sparks, flashes, and body-focused moments feel cleaner and more powerful.
Effects are placed more consistently around the selected body area or beat moment.
Preview strength was adjusted so bright flashes are less likely to overpower the whole video.
Beat-driven effects are now easier to combine with manual Beat Lab edits.
The selected Beat Card version should now stay closer to what finally gets rendered.

Smoother Story Card motion

Story Card image motion has been retuned to reduce the strong echo-like distortion that could appear during depth movement.
Smooth, Cinematic, Max Impact, and Deep Motion now behave more clearly as separate motion styles.
Deep Motion is more careful with hard edges and detailed images, so depth should look less like a double image.
Motion is now more camera-like: less forced warping, less unwanted smear, and cleaner movement on still images.
Story Card keeps the stronger motion options, but the default result should be safer and easier to use.

Preview and render stability

Improved consistency between preview, Show Mix, and final render.
Reduced cases where a preview could turn black after adding an effect.
Reduced cases where effects appeared in preview but did not survive into the final render.
Improved handling when switching from automatic variants into manual editing.
Improved GPU render path reliability for video previews and final Shorts output.

Cleaner app feedback

Logs and app diagnostics are now much less noisy during normal use.
Repeated internal messages have been replaced with clearer summaries when possible.
When something fails, the app now tries to report the important step, the reason, and what it did next.
This should make support easier, because one test run should contain more useful information and less repeated noise.
Advanced diagnostic details are still available for deeper testing when needed.

Release note: Version 1.0.0 is focused on reliability, preview/render consistency, and better motion quality. Beat Card should now be much easier to test seriously, while Story Card motion should look cleaner and less distorted.

Version 0.9.0

Much faster GPU rendering

ShortmakerCS now uses the GPU much more aggressively while preparing previews, Show Mixes, and final renders.
Several heavy video steps were moved away from slow CPU paths so supported systems should feel much faster.
Preview and render stability was improved, including fixes for green preview frames, black first frames, and missing visual effects.
The app now handles GPU shader loading more reliably, so the newest effects are less likely to be hidden by older cached files.
Final MP4 creation was cleaned up to produce safer Shorts-ready output for upload testing.

New Beat Card workflow

Added the new Beat Card workflow for fast music-video style Shorts.
The Beat Card can create short preview variants so creators can quickly choose a rhythm, scene feel, and edit direction.
Added preview controls for playing, pausing, rerolling, favoriting, and selecting a version before moving into deeper editing.
Added Beat Lab as the editing area for adding visual moments and preparing the selected version for render.
The Beat Card is still Early Access, but it is now ready for wider testing and feedback.

New HeroFX visuals

Added early HeroFX support for more dramatic local visual moments.
Body Slam / Shockwave has been upgraded into a much stronger, cleaner local effect that fits better into the video.
Fixed the visible red target marker that could appear over effects during testing.
Added first experiments for spark-style effects. These are available for testing, but still need more polish before they are considered final.
Improved the way local effects use the selected target point, so user-placed effects are easier to test.

Scene Director and editing improvements

Improved Scene Director preview behavior so effects, audio moments, and timeline actions feel more predictable.
Improved copy and paste for selected Scene Director events.
Reduced cases where playing the preview accidentally interrupted editing.
Cleaned up several disruptive warnings and technical-looking UI details.
Improved handling for user-made edits so automatic refreshes are less likely to overwrite work.

Image motion and visual groundwork

Deep Motion and base motion received more GPU-side groundwork for future image-motion upgrades.
Still-image motion is being prepared for better depth, smoother movement, and stronger atmosphere support in later builds.
Atmosphere effects such as dust, haze, frost, and heat remain experimental and may still change image contrast too strongly in preview.

Early Access note: Version 0.9.0 is a big testing build. The biggest win is speed and the new Beat Card workflow. Some visual effects are intentionally still experimental, so feedback videos and logs are very helpful.

Version 0.8.0

Deep Motion for still images

Added Deep Motion, a new optional base motion mode for still images.
Deep Motion gives images a stronger 2.5D-style feeling with subtle depth, tilt, and layered movement.
The existing motion modes stay untouched. Smooth, Cinematic, Max Impact, and Off still work as before.
Deep Motion is built for images. Video sources skip it unless a future user-controlled video option is added.
Added a dedicated Deep Motion render path so the new motion does not get hidden by older cinematic motion behavior.
Improved Deep Motion logging so it is easier to see when the new mode is active in preview and final render.

Creator News

Added a new Creator News area on the left side of the app.
Creator News can show update notes, Early Access deals, Discord actions, and community messages from a remote JSON file.
Added visible Early Access license prices directly inside the app: 3 Days, 7 Days, and 1 Month.
Added Discord buttons and a copyable license message to make buying a license easier.
Added the Feature Bounty message: if a user suggests a feature and it ships in a public EA build, they can get 1 month free.
Creator News now stays out of the way while working in cards or Scene Director and no longer shifts the Story Card layout.

Sound Moments in Scene Director

Audio files can now be placed on the Scene Director timeline.
Timeline sounds can be previewed with the normal Scene Director play button.
Added quick sound editing actions for cutting, trimming, moving, and deleting timeline audio clips.
Final renders can now include these placed sound moments alongside narration and other audio.

Scene Director workflow fixes

Cleaned up the Scene Director top controls and moved player-style controls closer to the preview area.
Improved Recipe behavior so recipe-made events can be refreshed without touching user-made Scene Director edits.
Fixed cases where Hook suggestion entries could stay visible after Hide or Delete.
Improved timeline refresh behavior after recipe changes and motion changes.
Improved several logs around Scene Director, Deep Motion, recipe refresh, and timeline state.

Early Access note: Deep Motion is new and intentionally visible in this build so it can be tested. It may still be tuned in future updates.

Version 0.6.0

New visual guide

Added a new Guide me button to help new users understand the app without reading a long tutorial.
The guide now opens a clean Shortmaker-style menu with small visual lessons instead of a wall of text.
The guide can walk users through creating and using a Story Card step by step.
Added visual hints for adding images, script text, audio, video, settings, and ElevenLabs setup.
Guide steps are optional, skippable, and can be closed at any time. No media is required just to learn the flow.
If the user has no media ready yet, the guide can still explain the idea with placeholders and show where media folders can be added.

Cleaner start screen

Cleaned up the first-start area so the guide becomes the main help entry point.
Removed older helper buttons that made the start area feel busier than needed.
The guide button is highlighted until it has been opened once.

Story Card workflow improvements

Improved the guided Story Card flow so users can better understand the order of work: style, story, images, narration, audio, captions, preview, and render.
Added clearer visual guidance for where content belongs inside the Story Card.
Improved the top navigation explanation so users understand it is not only a status bar, but also a place to move through the workflow.
Made guide text more creator-friendly and less technical.

Asset Commander and media flow

Improved visual guidance for images, text, audio, and video.
Added clearer hints for where selected media should be dropped or used.
Added a path for users who have not added any media folders yet.
Kept the flow light: users can explore first and add real media later.

Scene Director usability fixes

Cleaned up the Scene Director working area so fewer technical labels appear over the video.
Improved target and toy placement stability after the UI cleanup.
Fixed cases where placing a toy could appear to do nothing or make the timeline feel empty.
Reduced cases where old selected effects stayed visible after the playhead moved away.
Improved handling so effects are less likely to be spawned twice from one action.

Atmosphere effects

Added early Atmosphere / lens-style effects such as Scene Dust, Heat Haze, Frost Lens, and Moving Air.
Improved the intended timing so Atmosphere effects should stay closer to the current shot instead of stretching over the whole timeline.
Started connecting Atmosphere effects more directly to preview and render planning.

Experimental note: Atmosphere effects are still experimental. They are meant to become subtle lens and environment effects, such as dust on the lens, heat distortion, cold frost, and moving air. They may still need tuning and may not always match the final render perfectly yet.

Version 0.4.0

Scene Director controls are calmer and easier to edit.
Effects can use real visual evidence from the image instead of only guessing.
Render and Scene Director diagnostics are clearer and less noisy.
The effects and controls are still evolving. Suggestions are welcome on Discord.