Story elements and relationship graph

Five tabs

In the center of the top bar on the story elements screen, there are five tabs:Worldbuilding · characters · locations · props | relationships. The first four are areas of cards. The last one is the relationship graph.

Worldbuilding is special, so it has its own article: “Worldbuilding”. This article covers characters, locations, props, and relationships.

One element card

At the top of each card is a 3:4 image. In the upper-left corner, a white nameplate shows the name. Click it to rename the card.

At the bottom left of the card, you can switch between “Image” and “Story elements”. The story elements page has two fields:

• Description: who this is, where this is, and what role it plays in the story;
• Appearance notes: what it looks like, and “what not to draw”. This field directly affects the generated image.

In the lower-right corner is the red image generation button. In the upper-right corner, “Zoom in” lets you view a larger image and write in a larger text area. When you stop typing for a moment, your changes are saved automatically.

Why does every card need an image? When Wapopo draws the storyboard, each panel follows the images on the cards that appear in that panel. With images on the cards, the same person can look the same in panel 1 and panel 100.

Create, organize, and delete

• Create: click “Add” in the upper-right corner of the top bar. This creates a card of the same type in the current tab, then opens its “Story elements” page so you can write.
• Move: hold and drag a card, then release to save its position. If the layout gets messy, click “Rearrange” in the bottom toolbar to bring everything back into a neat grid. If you only want to see everything, click “Fit” on the right. The canvas will zoom so all cards fit on screen.
• Delete: select a card, then press Delete or click “Delete”. Its relationships are deleted too. You can undo within 5 seconds.
• Import from a source work: when making a fan comic, create character cards from the source work’s characters. See “Start from a source work”.

Card images: who draws them and how to redraw

During planning, the assistant first decides the names that appear in the full episode, creates empty cards, then writes the description and appearance notes one by one and draws each card after writing it. These images cost credits per image: 100 credits each.

After that:

• You can click image generation or redraw at any time. Each time costs 100 credits;
• The assistant only draws the first image for cards that do not have an image yet. If a card already has an image, it cannot redraw it for you.

If you edit the story elements, the image will not change by itself. Click “Redraw” to replace it. After redrawing, the old image stays in the image library.

What happens if I edit the appearance notes? Panels that use this card and have already been drawn will be marked as “Old draft”. This reminds you that those panels were drawn from the old appearance. They will not redraw themselves. You decide whether to redraw them. See “Old drafts after changes”.

Connect relationships on cards

Hover over a card, and red connectors will appear on its four sides. Drag from one connector to another card in the same tab, then release. The relationship will be created, and Wapopo will ask “What’s the relationship between these two?”:

• A is B’s: for example, “granddaughter”;
• B is A’s: for example, “grandma”;
• Dynamic (optional): for example, “the older sister is lazy, and the younger sister complains but often comes over to take care of her”.

If you do not want to write it now, click “Skip for now”. The relationship stays, and the line shows a faint “Write relationships”. Usually, each line only shows what the two ends are addressed as. Click a card, and its lines turn red while the others fade. Next to each card on the other end, you will see a full sentence like “who is whose what”.

Relationship graph

The “Relationships” tab turns all characters, locations, and props into small image cards. The lines are relationships. Worldbuilding cards do not appear in this graph.

• Create a relationship: hover over a card, and ⊕ will appear on both sides. Drag to another card, fill in what each side is addressed as, then click “Connected”. You can also click “Add” in the upper-right corner of the top bar, then choose the other card.
• View one card: click it to open the same pop-up as zooming in on a card, with an extra “Relationships” section that lists each of its relationships. At the top are “Only show its relationships” and “Go to this card”. Clicking × here deletes the relationship immediately, with no undo.
• Filter and lay out: at the bottom, you can show only characters, locations, or props. Cards you have dragged remember their positions. New cards automatically find empty spots. To lay everything out again, click “Auto-arrange again”.

The assistant also connects relationships during planning. Each character will have at least one relationship.