Actors and Wardrobe

An Actor is one of three asset types in PrePrompt, alongside Props and Sets. Each Actor has a Hero Look — the canonical image of the character — and optional Wardrobe Variants for scenes where the character appears in a different outfit, time period, or state.

Getting the Hero Look right is the single highest-leverage thing you can do for frame consistency. Once it’s locked, every storyboard frame that features this character will reference back to it.

The Hero Look

The Hero Look is your actor’s default appearance — the version of the character PrePrompt uses unless you tell it otherwise. It captures face, build, signature clothing, and overall presence in a single canonical image.

1. Open the Actor Node. Every named character in your script gets one automatically after Script Node analysis. The node sits on the Flow canvas next to your Props and Sets.

2. Describe the character. Physical features first (age, build, hair, eyes, skin), then signature clothing, then anything else that defines how this person reads on screen. Be explicit — PrePrompt’s AI fills gaps, and the less you leave blank, the more consistent the result.

3. Pick a style and aspect ratio. Style shapes the overall look (photoreal, stylized, illustrated). Aspect ratio typically inherits from your project but can be overridden per asset.

4. Generate. The Hero Look renders in a few seconds. If it’s close but not right, adjust the description and reshot — the older versions stay in the node’s history.

5. Approve. When the Hero Look is locked, mark it approved so it can pass through the Director Review Board.

Wardrobe Variants

Wardrobe Variants are alternate looks for an Actor — same face, same identity, different presentation. Use them when a character changes clothes, ages, gets wet, bleeds, goes formal, or does anything else that materially alters appearance across scenes.

When to use a variant

A tuxedo for the ballroom scene. A bandaged version for after the fight. A high-school flashback. A rain-soaked version for the third act.

When to stick with the Hero Look

Small lighting or mood shifts. A slightly different angle. Ordinary scene-to-scene continuity. The Hero Look already carries these.

Each variant is a child of the Hero Look. It inherits the character’s identity and then specifies the difference — which clothes, which condition, which era. The storyboard will pick the right variant based on the beat’s context, or you can specify one manually.

Describe the change, not the whole character

When writing a variant description, don’t re-describe the face or build — those are carried from the Hero Look. Write only what’s different: “Black tux, bow tie, clean-shaven.” PrePrompt handles the rest.

Approve, reject, reshot

Every Actor image — Hero Look or variant — moves through three states:

• Pending — just generated, awaiting review.
• Approved — locked in. Downstream frames will reference this image.
• Rejected — blocked from use. The node needs a new generation before the pipeline can continue.

To reshot, open the Actor Node and generate again. A reshot rebuilds every downstream storyboard frame that used this actor — that’s the point. It’s how you fix a character design globally without touching 50 frames by hand.

Reshot is not the same as regenerate

Regenerating a single frame re-rolls that one image with the same actor. Reshooting the actor reruns every frame that uses it. Use regenerate for a bad frame; use reshot for a bad character.

Tips for consistent actors

Describe physical features explicitly

“Late 30s, shaved head, dark brown eyes, olive skin, faint scar over the left eyebrow.” Specificity is what gives you a character, not a type.

Use real-world reference analogues

“Built like a middleweight boxer.” “Voice of early Tom Waits.” Reference analogues anchor the generation to something grounded.

Avoid contradictions

If the Hero Look has curly hair, don’t write “straight-haired” in a variant unless that’s the intentional change. Mismatches between Hero Look and variant are the biggest source of drift.

Lock the Hero Look before making variants

Approve the Hero Look first. Then every variant you build branches from a stable foundation.

Related

Props Single-image assets for objects — swords, mugs, cars, letters.

Sets Environments and locations. Interiors, exteriors, panoramas.

Director Review Board The approval gate every asset must pass before storyboarding can run.

Generating Frames How your approved actors get used downstream in the Storyboard Node.

FAQ

How many variants can one Actor have? There’s no practical limit. Most characters need zero to three variants across a project. Build them as the script demands — don’t pre-generate outfits you won’t use.

What if my actor looks different in every frame? That almost always means the Hero Look was never locked. Open the Actor Node, approve one version as the canonical Hero Look, then reshot the storyboard frames. Consistency will snap into place.

Can I upload my own reference image for an Actor? Yes. Drag an image onto the Actor Node and PrePrompt uses it as the hero reference instead of generating from a description. Useful when you already have concept art or a real person you’re basing the character on.

What happens when I reshot an Actor after the storyboard is built? Every frame that used that Actor rebuilds on the next storyboard run. The old frames are preserved in the node’s history — nothing is lost.

Why do some actor generations come back blank or with a warning? An AI provider’s safety filter may have blocked the prompt. Adjust the description (often simpler, less ambiguous wording helps) and reshot. See Safety blocks.

Do Actors use credits every time I generate? Yes. Each generation consumes credits, whether it’s the first Hero Look or the tenth reshot. Credits are held when the job starts and released if generation fails, so only successful results are charged.