ShortmakerCS Changelog

Version 1.7.0 — Caption Studio & Creator Workflow Update

Captions become a first-class creator workflow

• Story, Direct Video, and Result Review now share one canonical caption workspace and editor. Caption text, timing, review state, styling, preview, and render decisions stay on the same timeline instead of splitting into separate caption paths.
• A guided Create → Review → Style → Render flow keeps the next useful action visible without turning the editor into a mandatory wizard.
• Caption Health highlights what is Clean, needs Check, or needs Fix, so creators can focus on uncertain recognition, timing, readability, overlap, density, and layout issues instead of manually hunting through every line.
• Human review is tracked separately from the original recognition evidence, and edited text or timing automatically invalidates stale review confirmation.

Review faster instead of checking every caption manually

• Integrated Review Mode brings the video, caption list, issue reason, recommendation, and correction tools into one focused workspace.
• Apply & Next and keyboard-first review make it faster to work through only the captions that actually need attention.
• Creators can split captions, rebuild grouping, use Find/Replace, inspect advanced timing, listen to the relevant moment, trust reviewed words, and navigate directly between issues.
• Autosave, undo/redo, recovery, large-list virtualization, and background indexing are designed to keep longer caption projects responsive.

Local generation, languages, import, and targeted re-transcription

• Caption generation remains local-first through the existing Whisper bridge, with Auto Detect plus explicit language selection and request-aware cache identity.
• SRT and VTT files can be imported into the canonical caption timeline instead of opening a separate subtitle-only editing path.
• A selected caption range can be re-transcribed locally without replacing the rest of the timeline; the prepared result is only applied after the creator accepts it.
• The original source video is preserved while captioned versions and subtitle sidecars can be produced as separate outputs.

Style controls are faster and more reusable

• Caption presets now support creator-friendly lifecycle actions including save, duplicate, rename, and delete while built-in presets stay protected.
• Density choices such as Punchy, Balanced, and Readable make grouping easier to control without editing every phrase by hand.
• Caption motion supports restrained creator-facing choices including None, Pop, Fade, and subtle Bounce behavior.
• Position, spoken-word emphasis, active color, text color, size, speaker styling, and fine-tuning stay available through progressive disclosure instead of overwhelming the default view.

Preview, burn-in, and final render share the same caption truth

• The editor uses the shared media preview path and keeps preview behavior tied to the same canonical caption timeline used for final output.
• Native GPU caption-overlay work expands the accelerated render path while preserving a fallback route when a native path is unavailable.
• Burn-in rendering, SRT/VTT output, safe-zone guidance, and final caption review are connected to the same workspace instead of duplicating state between tools.
• Caption gaps, style changes, motion state, and render handoff received additional consistency work to reduce preview/final mismatches.

Accessibility and creator guidance receive a full pass

• Caption status is no longer communicated by color alone: Clean, Check, Fix, and Reviewed states also use explicit labels and visual structure.
• Keyboard routes cover Timeline, Review, Style, Render, workflow cycling, and Apply & Next.
• High Contrast behavior, automation names, help text, item status, visible focus, and live status feedback were added across the main caption surfaces.
• Beginner-facing guidance stays simple while experienced creators retain word timing, speakers, search/replace, advanced styling, shortcuts, and local render control.

Scene intelligence and the GPU foundation continue to expand

• Scene 3D work adds a broader geometry, camera, lighting, hero-protection, and safety-planning foundation for image-based cinematic motion.
• Semantic Director V2 expands deterministic scene-aware planning so automatic effects can better support the hero, composition, depth, and story beat instead of filling a generic effect quota.
• Deep Scene tools now include additional depth-aware focus, light, echo, and shockwave building blocks, with stronger compatibility and ownership rules.
• GPU pass contracts, output-safety work, surface-chain handling, and preview/final ownership checks were expanded across caption and Scene Director rendering.

Version 1.6.0 — Full Release

Full release begins with Version 1.6.0

• Version 1.6.0 starts the stable ShortmakerCS release line. The product is now presented as fully released Windows creator software.
• The release keeps the existing one-time purchase model and continues active development after launch.
• The version number deliberately continues upward from 1.5.2 instead of resetting to 1.0.0, so existing installations can receive the stable release through the current updater.
• The public product workflow is now centered on two clear creator paths: structured Story Shorts and music-driven Beat edits, connected by shared media, direction, rendering, and publishing tools.

Story Card becomes a clearer guided creator workflow

• Story Card now communicates the creation flow as Story → Images & Reveal → Voice, Captions & Render, reducing the amount of UI a creator has to interpret at once.
• Selected story images are shown directly inside the preview, making the connection between chosen media and the current Short immediately visible.
• Story guidance, focus cues, empty-preview behavior, and next-step messaging were modernized to keep the creator oriented without turning the workflow into a wizard.
• Story and Beat camera/effect ownership are more deliberately separated so changes in one creator path are less likely to interfere with the other.

Asset Commander is smarter and works beside the card

• Asset Commander received a substantial modern-UX pass focused on faster browsing, clearer hierarchy, and lower interaction overhead.
• Smart context can react to the current creator need instead of forcing the same media view for every task.
• Media guidance is designed to stay next to the work: find, inspect, select, and place assets without leaving the creator flow.
• The Story workflow can now make the relationship between selected assets and the live preview much more obvious.

Scene Director gets a modern direction workflow

• The Director Guide now keeps Focus, Look, and timeline readiness visible while recommending context-appropriate choices for the current moment.
• Look recommendations and creator-controlled overrides allow Shortmaker to suggest a direction without taking final control away from the creator.
• The timeline received a major usability pass with clearer lanes, improved navigation, zoom/snap behavior, markers, inline actions, and more efficient redraw behavior.
• Effect previews, motion-preview swapping, and Scene Director refresh behavior received extensive stability work so creators can iterate without constantly rebuilding the workspace.

Deep Motion 3D brings real scene depth into still-image motion

• Deep Motion 3D now uses the shared scene-depth pipeline to create visible depth separation and restrained 2.5D parallax instead of relying only on flat whole-frame transforms.
• Depth is cached for static sources and reused by eligible consumers rather than being inferred again for every effect or frame.
• Camera geometry, depth response, edge/disocclusion handling, finishing, and hero/silhouette protection were expanded to keep important subjects readable while the scene moves.
• Deep Motion remains a creator-selectable Base Motion option and is integrated into the Story/Scene Director preview and final-render planning path.

Cinematic Stage Motion and Deep Scene share more scene understanding

• Cinematic Stage Motion now combines full-stage camera movement with bounded real-depth response, source preservation, temporal stability, and Base Motion continuity.
• Eligible Scene Director effects can use shared depth information for more convincing placement, focus, occlusion, and response inside static image scenes.
• Power Surge, Reveal Pulse, Attention Sweep, Dust Burst and selected motion effects received depth-aware integration work.
• Ominous Pulse V3.3 now uses a depth-aware shock-shell approach with distinct procedural material behaviors instead of depending on a single flat overlay treatment.

Atmosphere grows into a spatial volume system

• Scene Dust, Directional Wind, Heat Haze, and Frost Lens can now use spatial scene-depth weighting rather than behaving only like flat screen overlays.
• Atmosphere authoring adds effect-aware presets and advanced controls while keeping simpler creator controls available for normal use.
• Quality tiers scale spatial detail for preview and stronger final output, with deterministic temporal behavior designed to reduce resets and visible instability.
• Stage-depth evidence and post-Stage routing allow Atmosphere to better respect the directed scene instead of ignoring its spatial context.

Beat Card, Beat Lab and Beat Director read as one workflow

• Beat Card now leads creators from media and music toward 4 Directions or one focused Beat Director edit instead of presenting the tools as disconnected experiments.
• Beat Lab remains the place to shape the vibe and stack effects, while Beat Director focuses on Look & Feel, key moments, directed preview, and render handoff.
• Impact, Cut, Hold, and Clean markers make moment-level intent explicit without changing the original performance speed.
• Docked preview, fullscreen preview, localized preview rebuilds, playback retention, and Beat/Story camera isolation received additional reliability work.

Publish Review closes the creator loop

• Creators can review cover frames, title, description, tags, language, captions, post readiness, and the final Post Kit before publishing.
• Cover-frame selection and post preview make it easier to judge how the Short will be presented before upload.
• YouTube publishing remains integrated into the final review flow, while local-first Post Kit options keep export usable without requiring an upload.

Rendering and reliability received a large engineering pass

• Shared depth, GPU-resident scene processing, static-source safety, shader compatibility, and surface-chain handling were expanded across the Story and Scene Director pipelines.
• Preview/render handoffs, cache identities, motion ownership, and fallback behavior were hardened across Story, Beat, and Scene Director.
• A targeted Scene Director validation tool now recompiles only affected shader dependencies and performs focused source/build checks during development.
• Release-level visual and performance acceptance remains a continuing quality process; the architecture is designed to keep those checks separate from normal creator use.

Version 1.5.2

Beat Director gives music videos more direction

• Beat Card now includes a dedicated Beat Director workspace for shaping an existing dance or performance video around the music.
• Choose a creative direction such as Performance, Neon, Kinetic, or Cinematic, then adjust pacing, camera movement, and effect strength.
• Mark important moments as Impact, Cut, Hold, or Clean so the edit knows where to hit harder and where to leave the performance alone.
• The performer keeps the original playback speed while the edit, camera accents, and effects add more energy around the beat.

New Cinematic Orbit for Beat Card

• Beat Director can add a smooth left-and-right camera sweep around the performer without replacing the original dance or performance.
• Choose Off, Auto, 20°, or 35°. Auto is designed to pick a safer amount when the source needs more restraint.
• Longer videos can change direction repeatedly instead of feeling like one slow drift.
• The Orbit movement is built to keep the performer readable while giving otherwise static footage more cinematic motion.

Preview, compare, then use the directed edit

• Beat Director now brings the creative controls, moment markers, and directed preview into one focused workspace.
• A Compare view lets creators check the original source against the directed version before committing to it.
• The Beat Director workspace can be resized or maximized and adapts its layout when less screen space is available.
• Approved Beat Director choices can be carried forward for the final render instead of rebuilding the setup from scratch.

Story Card Stage Motion is smarter and more expressive

• Stage Motion can move the complete Story Card image scene with pullbacks, side movement, tilts, turns, perspective changes, and bend-orbit style motion.
• Different story recipes can now favor different movement strengths and styles, so calm stories stay more restrained while larger moments can feel more dramatic.
• Base Motion and Story effects keep moving underneath Stage Motion, so the scene stays alive while the complete stage changes perspective.
• Image scenes can also gain a subtle depth and hologram-style presence for a stronger 2.5D look without exposing a visible cutout mask.

Cleaner handoff and safer editing

• Story Card and Beat Card keep their own creative workflows, reducing the chance that changes in one card interfere with the other.
• Preview and comparison playback have received additional stability work for smoother reviewing.
• Stage Motion and Beat Director now include more safety checks so unsupported movement is reduced or rejected instead of silently producing the wrong result.

Version 1.4.2

New Stage Motion for Story Card

• Story Card still-image scenes can now use optional Stage Motion to move the complete animated image stage instead of only moving elements inside the frame.
• Six GPU-driven motion styles are available: pullback, side float, tilt swing, quarter turn, perspective flip, and bend orbit.
• Stage Motion can rotate, tilt, pull back, flip, and reposition the finished image scene while keeping the transformed card readable against a clean background.
• The selected motion is represented consistently in preview and final render planning, with refreshed cache identities for the new behavior.

Base Motion and effects stay alive during stage movement

• Base Motion now continues underneath Stage Motion instead of appearing to pause during a rotation or perspective move.
• Local Story Card effects remain animated while the complete stage is transformed.
• Effect time, progress, and fade remain continuous across clipped carrier windows, so an effect does not restart or disappear at a Stage Motion boundary.
• Transition safety now trims only the unsafe part of a movement window instead of disabling motion for the complete image scene.

Four clearer Beat Composer preview choices

• Beat Composer now presents four differentiated preview variants so creators can compare rhythm, visual energy, and edit direction before entering Beat Lab.
• The preview experience includes clearer play and pause behavior, scrubbing, mute, volume, and selection controls.
• The chosen variant is preserved more reliably when moving into Beat Lab and preparing the final render.
• Variant generation received stronger differentiation so the four choices are less likely to feel like minor copies of the same edit.

Stronger Beat Card effects and final-render consistency

• Beat Card visual effects received another quality and variety pass for stronger, cleaner, and more clearly differentiated moments.
• Automatic effect placement and target handling were improved so local effects stay closer to the intended subject or beat moment.
• Verified Beat effects are routed more consistently through the same GPU path used by the final render.
• Committed Beat Lab edits and automatic Beat Card effects are protected more reliably from preview through export.

Playback, audio, cache, and render reliability

• Fixed preview cases where MP4 audio could stop or the interface could appear frozen shortly after playback started.
• Improved preview Play/Pause behavior and remembered preview playback settings.
• New runtime checks prevent Stage Motion from being reported as active when its real GPU pass was not executed.
• Render and preview caches now distinguish the updated Stage Motion execution and continuity contracts.
• Diagnostics now report missing movement, invalid runtime plans, and GPU pass failures more directly instead of silently producing a static result.

Version 1.3.2

One-time purchase distribution

• ShortmakerCS is distributed through Lemon Squeezy for €29 as a one-time purchase.
• No subscription is required.
• The former temporary free-access messaging has been removed from the current release information.

New Promo Studio for finished Shorts

• Result Review can now open a dedicated Create Promo workspace for finished Story Card and Beat Card results.
• Promo Studio automatically adapts its proof flow, timing, and audio behavior to the card type instead of forcing one generic template onto every Short.
• Creators can export a promo video or hero image and choose quick 6-second, standard 15-second, or detailed 30-second video lengths.
• Three presentation styles are available: Punchy, Clean, and Cinematic.
• Story promos can animate source images with Fan In, Stack Slam, Grid Burst, or Diagonal Sweep entrances before revealing the finished result.

Promo text, design, audio, and branding controls

• Promo copy, labels, typography, colors, and field placement can be customized inside the editor.
• A selected Result Review moment can lead the promo so the strongest part of the finished Short becomes the proof point.
• Creators can keep relevant Story narration, preserve the finished Beat track, add background audio, and assign image entrance sounds.
• The optional ShortmakerCS marketing call-to-action can be disabled for neutral creator showcases.
• Promo choices are remembered so repeated exports do not require rebuilding the same setup every time.

Beat Card and Beat Lab now match the final render more closely

• The committed Beat Lab variant, carrier, and edited effects are now locked through final render preparation instead of being replaced by a preview selection.
• The preview deck no longer overwrites the version explicitly chosen for rendering.
• Verified Beat effects now use the same first-class GPU effect path in the final render, reducing cases where the preview looked stronger than the exported video.
• Cross-variant preview paths are rejected before they can silently attach the wrong preview to a Beat Lab result.
• The duplicate Beat Card render action was removed so the normal Use for render flow remains the single source of truth.

Cleaner effect placement and safer visual recipes

• Recipe-made effect bundles now separate strongly overlapping targets instead of stacking several effects onto the same small area.
• Placement guards now apply to fallback recipes as well as normal recipe plans.
• Target visibility is measured more accurately, helping effects stay on-screen and closer to the intended subject.
• Unsupported or parked spark and color-trail effects are kept out of automatic variant previews unless verified replacement evidence is available.

Promo export and editor fixes

• Beat promo proof timing now scales more appropriately across 6, 15, and 30-second exports.
• Finished Beat audio can loop across longer promos instead of ending early.
• Locked Beat variant overlays are saved more reliably.
• The Promo Studio received a larger working area, clearer help previews, styled selection menus, and safer initialization behavior.
• Several export and editor edge cases now fail safely without changing the finished Short.

Version 1.2.1

Temporary free-access testing phase

• Version 1.2.1 temporarily opened the current feature set for broader testing and feedback.
• The previous 24-hour trial gate and payment prompts were disabled during that testing phase.
• Discord remained optional for community support and feedback.

Current availability

• The temporary free-access phase has ended.
• ShortmakerCS is currently sold through Lemon Squeezy for €29 as a one-time purchase.
• No subscription is required.

Version 1.2.0

Story Card now works better with your own audio

• Story Card can now use a creator-provided narration audio file as the main timing source, even when no script text is entered.
• Shortmaker can prepare captions from external narration audio through the existing transcription bridge and burn them into the final render.
• Finished videos with audio can be recognized as source material, while Shortmaker avoids duplicating the same audio into the final mix.
• Scene Director previews now stay clean: captions are prepared for final output but are no longer shown inside the Scene Director preview.
• Custom audio and generated narration are handled more consistently across Story Card duration, preview preparation, and final render setup.

Resource Hub now exposes Story Card resources

• Resource Hub now scans more generated Shortmaker files, including generated audio, caption sidecars, Scene Director previews, timing maps, and audio proxies.
• Story resources can be exported more easily, including Base Motion preview files together with their timing maps when available.
• Audio resources from the Resource Hub can be dragged back into a Story Card and used as custom narration.
• Base Motion resources are checked before reuse so missing timing maps or duration mismatches are rejected instead of silently causing broken previews.
• The Resource Hub now acts more like a control center for files Shortmaker creates while working on a Short.

Safer recipes, renders, and finished-video handling

• Recipe compatibility checks now warn creators when a recipe needs image boundaries but the current project only contains one finished video.
• Render preflight can now stop dangerous raw-frame paths before they overload RAM or SSD activity.
• Long finished videos are clearly limited in the current Story Card workflow instead of being treated like normal image-based stories.
• Scene Director now blocks unsupported long source videos before wasting time on a Base Motion preview render.
• A new Shortmaker-style source-video limit dialog shows the first frame, detected duration, frame estimate, current limits, and what needs to change.

Feedback and first-use learning improvements

• After the first successful final render, Shortmaker can ask for lightweight feedback directly inside the app.
• Creators who skip feedback now receive a friendly thank-you message instead of being pushed toward Discord.
• The source-video limit dialog includes an optional future-support feedback field so creators can say what video support they want next.
• Demo project assets are now included so new users can reach a successful first render faster.
• Feedback is designed to be lightweight and optional, with no account or Discord join required.

Review and maintenance tools

• Result Review now includes a caption review option for editing generated subtitle sidecars while keeping their timing intact.
• Resource Hub now includes a storage view for generated audio, captions, previews, temp files, and review snapshots.
• Storage cleanup moves files into Shortmaker Trash instead of permanently deleting them immediately.
• Result Review can run a lightweight proof check to compare before/after sample frames and estimate whether a visible change was produced.
• Render results now explain more clearly which Scene Director events, captions, and output resources were actually applied.

Version 1.1.0

Schedule Assist calendar

• Added a stronger Schedule Assist calendar for planning Shorts directly inside the Publish window.
• Creators can now switch between Day, Week, and Month views to see upcoming slots and recent channel activity more clearly.
• The calendar now separates exact-date posts from same-weekday history so planning no longer mixes old Mondays with the current week.
• Selected days now show a clearer decision view with posts on that date, same-weekday guidance, suggested slots, and the planned upload time.
• Schedule cards received a visual polish pass with stronger hover feedback, calmer backgrounds, and clearer creator-focused labels.

Planned YouTube uploads are now visible

• Videos already scheduled on YouTube are now shown in the Day, Week, and Month calendar views.
• Scheduled videos use their own status badge so creators can tell them apart from already-published posts and local Shortmaker drafts.
• Occupied time slots are marked so it is easier to avoid planning two Shorts for the same time.
• Time suggestions now avoid known scheduled YouTube slots when possible.
• Scheduled cards show the planned local time instead of fake views or likes that do not exist yet.

Clear local time and YouTube time

• Schedule Assist now shows the creator's local time and the UTC time sent to YouTube in the same decision area.
• The app now explains that creators should pick the time they want on their own clock while Shortmaker handles the YouTube conversion.
• This reduces timezone confusion when scheduling Shorts for a specific release time.
• Suggested slots can be applied with one click, but creators can still choose a custom time.
• The planning UI is clearer about what is a suggestion and what is already scheduled.

Cover and publish flow improvements

• Shorts covers are now prepared as upload-safe 1080x1920 sidecar files next to the final video.
• The app also reports when the YouTube API accepts a thumbnail upload, while staying honest that Shorts surfaces may still choose a video frame.
• Publish progress feedback is clearer and no longer jumps from around half complete straight to done for YouTube-only uploads.
• The Publish window now shows better status feedback during preparation, upload, processing, and completion.
• Creator-facing publish messages were cleaned up to avoid developer-style wording.

Caption style and workflow fixes

• Story Card caption style choices are now remembered more reliably when opening Scene Director before rendering.
• Selected caption styles are stored as a user choice and applied again before the render job is built.
• This helps avoid cases where a chosen style such as Punch could fall back to the default style.
• Beat Card Quick Fix controls were hidden from the normal user interface so the main workflow feels cleaner.
• The Publish flow keeps more of the important creator decisions visible without exposing unnecessary internal controls.

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.

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.

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.
• Earlier license cards were retired during the temporary free-testing phase used at that time.
• Discord remains optional for community and feedback, but it is no longer required for access.
• Added feature feedback messaging so user suggestions can help shape the future roadmap.
• 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.

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.

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.