> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://support.myapps.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Storyboards

> Plan a sequence frame by frame before generating it

Storyboards are the planning layer of [Cinema Studio](/create/cinema-studio). A storyboard is a saved sequence of frames — each with its own description, shot language, and reference images — that you build before spending credits on video.

## Why storyboard

Video is the most expensive output in Pixio, and the least predictable from a prompt alone. A storyboard front-loads the decisions that are cheap to change:

* What's in each shot
* How it's framed
* What it references
* What order it goes in

Change a frame's framing in a storyboard: free. Discover the framing was wrong after generating six clips: expensive.

## What a frame holds

|                      |                                                                                        |
| -------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Description**      | What happens in the shot                                                               |
| **Shot language**    | Framing, lens, movement — generated from your description if you'd rather not write it |
| **Reference images** | Per frame, so look is controlled shot by shot rather than globally                     |

<Tip>
  Per-frame references are the feature to exploit. A single global style reference flattens a sequence; per-frame references let a scene shift look deliberately while staying coherent.
</Tip>

## Working with them

<Steps>
  <Step title="Build the sequence">
    Lay out frames in order. Describe each shot plainly — shot language can be generated from the description.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Attach references">
    Add reference images per frame for subject and look.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Generate in place">
    Generate a frame from the board and the result comes back to it, so the storyboard stays the source of truth.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Commit to video">
    Once the frames are right, generate the clips — via [Video Agent](/create/video-agent) for episodic work with character memory, or [Generate](/generate) for single shots.
  </Step>
</Steps>

## Where storyboards live

Storyboards are saved and listed on their own page, separate from timeline projects.

<Info>
  Storyboards intentionally don't appear in the [Video Editor](/video-editor) library — they're plans, not footage. The editor works with clips.
</Info>

## Related

* [Cinema Studio](/create/cinema-studio) — the studio around storyboards
* [CamView](/advanced/camview) — block a specific shot in 3D
* [Video Agent](/create/video-agent) — generate a multi-segment episode
* [what you can automate](/integrations/what-you-can-automate) — storyboard CRUD and prompt-to-storyboard direction are scriptable