What the assistant can and can’t do

Where it is

After you open a comic, there is a capsule labeled “Assistant” in the lower right. It is on every screen. Click it to open the chat panel. At the top, you will see “Memory” and “Collapse”. You can also “Widen” it.

A comic has only one conversation, and switching screens will not break it. Every time you send a message, it knows which screen and which episode you are on. But it cannot see your screen, and it does not know what you have selected. So it works better if you include the location when you ask, such as “page 2, panel 3”.

Before you have sent any messages, the panel shows a few starter prompts you can click. They change based on the screen you are on. For example, in thinking, you may see “Give me three options”, and in storyboard, you may see “Finish the description”.

What it can do

If the job is writing or editing text, it can do it:

• Planning: build a full planning set at once; edit the synopsis; add an episode, delete an episode, or change an episode title and intensity; pin beats or edit beats;
• Story elements: create cards, edit cards, and delete cards; connect relationships, and edit addressed as and dynamic; draw the first image for a card that does not have one yet; write a cover and then draw the cover;
• Thinking canvas: place sticky notes, text, and frames, and connect them with lines; draw the first image for a frame that does not have one yet;
• Production: finish a whole episode (write the synopsis for this episode → split it into pages → split it into panels → fill in text), or edit just one part of it: change the layout, edit the description, edit the appearances cast list, or edit the dialogue;
• Memory: remember preferences you have mentioned and decisions you have made. See “Memory”;
• Full rewrite: if you want to change direction, it will redo the whole planning set instead of patching the old one.

Every time it changes something, the conversation leaves a receipt: one gray line says what changed. Open it to see every change. Click the link on the right to jump there.

Why does it finish everything in one go instead of asking step by step? Text is almost free to change. Instead of stopping in the middle to ask you, it is better to finish a full version first, let you look it over, and then you can say what is wrong. It will ask you first in only three cases. See “Checklist”.

What it can’t do

• Draw storyboard images: you need to click yourself to draw a panel, a page, or an episode. It only prepares the description and cast list, then tells you where to click.
• Redraw something that already has an image: once a card, frame, or cover has an image, you need to click to redraw it.
• Change the art style: once the art style of a comic is set, it cannot be changed. If you want a different style, create a new comic.
• Edit source work characters: names, appearances, outfits, and personas are locked. It also cannot change the relationship between two source work characters. To edit them, change them on the element card.
• Customize layouts and text boxes: there are only six official layouts, and only six types of text boxes.
• Hit the brakes, export, buy credits, or change account settings: these are all in the interface, and you click them yourself.

Why do I have to click to draw storyboard images? Every image costs your credits. Let it write as much text as it wants, but the moment that costs money is left to you.

Images it will draw by itself

For planning images, it will draw the first one: element cards, the tone-setting image on the thinking canvas, and the cover. This happens when it builds planning, and also for new cards you add later and frames that do not have images yet.

These images cost the same as other images: 100 credits each. If you do not have enough credits, it will tell you exactly how many you are short in the conversation. Placing an order does not mean the image is finished. It will say “Drawing”.

Interrupt it

While it is answering, the send button turns into a square. Click it to stop this round. Changes already made will not be rolled back. Images already ordered will not be canceled either. To stop image drawing, use “Stop” in the storyboard.

Only one round can run in the same comic at a time. If the previous round has not finished and you send another message, it will tell you to wait until it is done.

What it remembers

• The comic itself: every time it starts a round, it reads the comic first and follows what is actually written in the comic;
• Recent conversation: it can see the recent conversation for this comic. It cannot see conversations from other comics;
• Memory: there are two layers of memory, and it reads both in every round. See “Memory”.