Your pictures, sorted for you

Words say what should change. A picture shows it. Add a picture of what a subject should become — a person, a garment, a product, a logo — and Optic puts exactly that into your video, while everything you did not mention stays as your video has it. One revision takes up to 500 of your own pictures, and you never have to sort them: Optic works out which subject each picture shows and uses it where that subject is seen.

#What a picture is for

A picture replaces a description. "A woman in her thirties with dark curly hair and a green silk blouse" leaves room for a hundred faces; a picture leaves room for one. Reach for a picture whenever words would be long or uncertain:

• a person or a character who should appear in your video, as you designed them;
• a garment, a bag or a pair of shoes, exactly as they are;
• a product or a logo, in its true shape and colours;
• an animal, a creature or an object as you drew it.

A picture is the whole new look. Everything it shows of the subject comes into your video — the face, the hair, what it wears, what it holds, even a tail. What it does not show stays as your video has it.

#What makes a good picture

• The subject is large, sharp and well lit. The face or the object fills much of the picture.
• It shows the subject as you want it seen. If the picture shows a cap you do not want, give a picture without it, or say so in your words: "…the person in @Image 1, without the cap".
• It shows everything that should change. A close picture of a face brings the face; the clothes it does not show stay as your video has them. If the clothes should change too, choose a picture that shows them.
• Its background, light and pose do not matter. They never come into your film. The place, the light and every movement are your video's — so a photo taken in your kitchen will do for a scene on a beach.

Pictures can be JPEG, PNG, WebP or GIF; a phone's HEIC photos are converted for you. See Lengths, formats and quality.

#Several pictures of one subject

You may give more than one picture of the same subject — from the front and from the side, in daylight and in lamplight, smiling and still. Optic reads them as that one subject, not as several. Name them together in your words:

"Replace the man in the grey coat with the person in @Image 1, @Image 2 and @Image 3."

Pictures of separate parts each show their own part. A picture of a jacket and another of a pair of shoes are two pictures with two jobs: name each one for its part — "Her jacket becomes the one in @Image 2, and her shoes the ones in @Image 3." When one picture shows the whole look, that is simpler still.

#How Optic sorts your pictures

In a longer stretch, or one with several people, not every picture is for every moment. Optic sorts them for you:

• It works out which subject each picture shows, and where in your stretch that subject is seen.
• A picture is used only where its subject is seen. A picture of the presenter does nothing in the shot of the product; a picture of the product does nothing in the shot of the presenter.
• Pictures of one and the same subject work as one. However many you give, together they set that one subject's look wherever it is seen. Pictures of two different subjects are kept apart.
• A picture your words give a job of its own keeps that job. "Her second outfit is @Image 4, from 0:30 to the end." — that picture is used for those seconds, and for nothing else.

So you can add pictures of everyone and everything that changes, in any order, and let Optic sort them.

#Mentioning a picture

Pictures are named in the order you add them: Image 1, Image 2 and so on. Type @ in the words box and choose one; it goes into your words as @Image 1. Your clip needs no @ — it is already the video being revised, and the box says so when you type @. Drag pictures to reorder them and your mentions follow; remove a picture and its mentions go with it.

A mention is the surest way to say which picture a sentence is about: it is one keystroke, and it leaves no doubt.

#A picture and a Focus together

A Focus says which subject in your video; a picture says what it becomes. Mark the subject with Focus, then write both in one sentence:

• "#Focus 2 becomes the person in @Image 3."
• "Replace #Focus 1 with the person in @Image 1, exactly as the picture shows her. #Focus 2 stays as he is."

This is the pairing to use whenever your words alone could mean two subjects — two men, several cars, a crowd. See Focus in your prompt.

#A cast or a crowd

A film with many subjects is written the same way, once per subject: one picture or one set of pictures for each, a Focus for each, and one sentence for each.

"#Focus 1 becomes the person in @Image 1 and @Image 2. #Focus 2 becomes the person in @Image 3. #Focus 3 becomes the person in @Image 4. Everyone else stays as they are."

Each picture goes where its subject is seen; a subject that appears in three shots gets its picture in all three. Everyone you did not name stays as your video has them. For a whole series made this way — the same set, a new presenter in each — see What you can use Optic for.

#What not to expect

• Never the picture's background, light or pose. The new subject stands where the old one stood, in your video's light, and moves as the old one moved.
• Not the performance. A picture does not change how the subject moves or speaks. The new subject's eyes, gaze, lips and every expression follow the original, at the same moments — and your film keeps the clip's own sound.
• Not the story. A picture shows what something becomes, not what happens. A change to what happens in the shot is not a revision — see What Optic does.

#Pictures and the price

The price is on the Revise button before you press. It depends only on the seconds you chose and the quality, never on the number of pictures — one picture or 500, the price is the same. The press holds it; it is spent only when your film is delivered, and every credit comes back if it is not.

#A real person in your picture

The Content Policy is plain: do not use a real person's face, body or voice without their consent. A change can be refused when what you sent shows a child or a real, well-known person; nothing is charged then, and the panel says so — see When a revision does not work out.

#Frequently asked questions

#Do I need a picture for every change?

No. Words alone are enough for most changes — a colour, a material, a caption, the light. Use a picture when words would be long or uncertain: a particular face, a particular garment, your logo.

#Does the number of pictures change the price?

No. The price depends only on the seconds you chose and the quality. Your words and your pictures never change it.

#What if I add more pictures than fit?

The Add chip counts the pictures you added and how many fit. If you add more than fit, Optic says how many it had room for. Within that, a revision is never turned down for carrying too many pictures.

#Can I attach the same picture twice?

No. If two of your pictures are the same file, the panel says "Two of the attached pictures are the same file, so nothing was made and nothing was spent. Attach it once and ask again." Remove one and press Revise again.

#Will two pictures of the same person be read as two people?

No. Pictures that show one and the same subject are read as that subject. If two pictures show two different people who look alike, say which is which in your words, and mark each person in your video with Focus.

#A picture seemed to do nothing. Why?

A picture is used only where its subject is seen: if its subject is not in the stretch you chose, there is nothing for it to change. Mention the picture with @ to say which subject it is for, and mark the subject with Focus when your words could mean more than one.

#Next

Open Studio, press Revise a clip, confirm the stretch, and press Add to bring your pictures in. Then write your words — Prompts for every level shows how, from a first try to a studio's work.