Media

A line of dialogue eventually has a recording, a character has a portrait, a scene has a backdrop. ChatMapper keeps those files in the project, attached to the node, actor or place they belong to, so a writer can hear a take without leaving the editor and an exporter can deliver the script with its assets.

Where media attaches

• Nodes — the Inspector’s Media tab has four slots that match the ChatMapper format: Audio files, Video file, Animation files and Pictures. Audio and pictures take several files; video takes one.
• Actors — a portrait, shown on the node cards, in the simulator and in Play mode.
• Places — a scene picture, shown behind the dialogue in Play mode when a conversation is set in that place.

Attaching a file

In any slot:

• Upload — choose a file. Files up to 50 MB in any common audio, image or video format.
• Media URL — paste a link to a file hosted elsewhere. Nothing is copied; the project stores the URL.
• Generate with AI (✦) — see AI-assisted media.

Uploads are stored once per workspace by content: attach the same recording to three nodes and it is stored once. Detach removes the file from a slot but leaves it in the project’s media, so it is still there to reattach.

Previewing and playing

Every attached file previews in place — an audio player, a video player, a thumbnail — so you can check a take against the line without downloading it.

The simulator plays a node’s audio and video in order as the line appears (Auto media is on by default; untick it to read silently). ▶ Play mode does the same, full-screen, with the place picture as the backdrop and the actor’s portrait beside the speech bubble.

Sentence splits and multiple takes

A line written as First sentence.|Second sentence. plays as two successive lines. Attach two audio files and they pair up in order: the first file with the first sentence, the second with the second. This is how the voiceover sheet and the recording studio expect it.

A project can register a second Files field on nodes (Details → Custom field templates) for an alternate take of each line — a second voice, a calmer read. Exporters carry it as an ordinary field so an engine can choose which track to play.

Naming recordings

If a studio delivers files named by conversation, node and segment, they match up without hand-attaching. The convention ChatMapper Desktop’s Audio File Placer established, and the one to ask for:

003_002.mp3        conversation 3, node 2, first (only) segment
003_002_005.wav    conversation 3, node 2, segment 5
003/002/005.mp3    the same as a folder tree

Turn on ⋯ → Show node IDs to read the numbers off the cards, or export the Voiceover Script CSV, which carries conversation, node and line number on every row.

Media in exports

• CMPKG + media packages the project with every attached file, for the Desktop app or for hand-off to an engine team.
• ChatMapper JSON / XML reference media by filename; deliver the files alongside.
• Voiceover Script CSV lists every spoken line, one per row, with the markup stripped — the sheet you hand to talent.
• The standalone HTML player is deliberately text-only, so it stays one small file that runs from anywhere.

See Exporting and delivering and, for the filename conventions an engine will see, the developer data model.

Housekeeping

Media attachments are a workspace feature switch (Settings & Labs → Media attachments), on by default. Storage counts against the workspace’s plan.