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

# Sets

> Environments and locations that anchor your scenes — interiors, exteriors, and panoramas.

A **Set** is the environment your story happens in. It's one of three asset types alongside [Actors](/user/assets/actors-and-wardrobe/) and [Props](/user/assets/props/), and it does the heavy lifting for location consistency across every frame in a scene.

Sets can be generated as a single **hero image** (the default) or as a **panorama** for more complex establishing shots where you want a wider sense of the space. The right choice depends on how much coverage the scene needs.

## Generate a Set

1. **Open the Set Node.** Ozu creates one for every location surfaced in your script — `INT. KITCHEN`, `EXT. ROOFTOP`, and so on. You can also add Sets manually for unscripted locations.

2. **Describe the environment.** Interior or exterior, time of day, lighting, period, and mood. "A cramped Brooklyn walk-up kitchen, late afternoon sun coming through the window, mid-1970s appliances" is a lot more useful than "a kitchen."

3. **Choose hero or panorama.** A hero image is a single framed view, good for most scenes. A panorama is a wide environmental plate, good for big establishing shots or scenes with a lot of spatial coverage.

4. **Pick a style and aspect ratio.** Style inherits from the project. For Sets, aspect ratio matters more than for other assets — a 16:9 hero image and a 9:16 hero image are composed differently.

5. **Generate.** The image renders in a few seconds.

6. **Approve.** Mark the Set approved so it can pass the [Director Review Board](/user/assets/director-review-board/) and feed the Storyboard Node.

## Hero images vs. panoramas

<Columns cols={2}>
  <Card title="Hero image">
    A single framed view of the location. Fast to generate, simple to iterate on. The right choice for most scenes.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Panorama">
    A wider environmental plate that gives the Storyboard Node more spatial range to pull framings from. Useful for big establishing shots or scenes that move significantly through space.
  </Card>
</Columns>

<Tip>
  **Start with a hero image**

  Unless your scene obviously needs a panorama, start simple. You can always reshot as a panorama later if a scene turns out to need more environmental coverage.
</Tip>

## Approve, reject, reshot

Sets move through the same three states as every other asset:

* **Pending** — awaiting review.
* **Approved** — locked in, ready to use downstream.
* **Rejected** — blocked until regenerated.

**Reshot** the Set from its node to rebuild every frame in the scene that referenced it. Use this when the environment itself is wrong — wrong era, wrong lighting, wrong overall feel. Use single-frame regenerate for a specific frame that misrenders an otherwise correct Set.

## Tips for grounded Sets

<Columns cols={2}>
  <Card title="Describe lighting and time of day">
    "Golden hour," "overcast noon," "single practical light, deep shadows." Lighting is the most visible thing in any environment — specify it.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Interior vs. exterior matters">
    Always say which. Ambiguous prompts produce ambiguous results. "A small chapel" can be inside or outside — tell Ozu which.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Anchor the period">
    "1920s speakeasy." "Mid-century suburban kitchen." "Near-future corporate lobby." Era cues sharpen architecture, materials, and props in one word.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Specify mood and texture">
    "Warm and lived-in." "Clinical and sterile." "Damp concrete, flickering overhead fluorescent." Mood language shapes the entire image.
  </Card>
</Columns>

## Related

<Columns cols={2}>
  <Card title="Actors and Wardrobe" href="/user/assets/actors-and-wardrobe">
    Hero looks and wardrobe variants for your characters.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Props" href="/user/assets/props">
    Single-image assets for the objects your story depends on.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Director Review Board" href="/user/assets/director-review-board">
    The approval gate every Set passes through before storyboarding.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Generating Frames" href="/user/storyboard/generating-frames">
    How your approved Sets feed the Storyboard Node.
  </Card>
</Columns>

## FAQ

**When should I use a panorama instead of a hero image?**
When a scene covers a lot of spatial ground — a character walking through a long hallway, a crowd scene in a market, a shot that pulls back from a detail to a wide. For tight, contained scenes, a hero image is faster and easier.

**Can one Set be used across multiple scenes?**
Yes, and it's a good idea when the same location recurs. Wire the same Set Node to each scene that uses it, and every frame will stay visually consistent across them.

**What if my Set looks different in every frame?**
Either the Set wasn't approved before the storyboard ran, or different scenes are pulling different Sets. Verify the Set is approved and that every frame that should share a location is wired through the same Set Node.

**Can I upload my own photo or concept art as a Set?**
Yes. Drag an image onto the Set Node to use it as the hero reference. Useful when you have location scouting photos, a specific painting you want to match, or real-world reference you want the storyboard to respect.

**What happens when I reshot a Set?**
Every frame in every scene that uses the Set rebuilds on the next storyboard run. Use this when you want a global environment change. The old frames are preserved in the node's history.

**Do Sets consume credits every time I generate?**
Yes. Credits are **held** when generation starts and **released** if it fails, so only successful generations are charged. Panoramas typically cost slightly more than hero images because of their wider dimensions.