Actors
ACT3 AI uses Digital Actors — AI-generated characters that perform scripted roles in your productions. They combine realistic visual rendering, customizable appearance, and controllable performance styles, replacing traditional casting while preserving creative control.
Characters vs Digital Actors
Characters are the narrative foundation — a character has a name, role, personality traits, backstory, and relationships. Characters exist in your script and story.
Digital Actors are the visual expression of a character — the physical appearance, wardrobe, voice, and movement style that appears on screen. A character is assigned a digital actor to bring it to life visually.
Think of it like traditional filmmaking: the character is the role in the script, the digital actor is the performer.
The Actor Library
The Actor Library is the central repository where all digital actors are stored. From here you can:
- Browse available actor presets organized by type (hero, villain, narrator, background)
- Create new actors from scratch with custom attributes
- Search and filter by appearance, style, or use case
- Save actors for reuse across multiple projects
- Share actors within your organization for consistent casting across a series
Access the Actor Library from the sidebar in any project, or from the main navigation.
Creating a Character
- Open the Character Editor from the sidebar
- Click New Character
- Fill in the profile: name, role, age, personality traits, motivation, and backstory
- Define the character arc (growth arc, fall arc, flat arc)
- Assign a voice profile or link an audio track
- Optionally assign a digital actor for visual representation
- Save to the Actor Library
A well-defined character sheet produces better AI dialogue generation and more consistent performance across scenes.
Example character sheet:
| Field | Example |
|---|---|
| Name | Detective Carter |
| Role | Protagonist |
| Age | 42 |
| Traits | Rugged, skeptical, morally conflicted |
| Motivation | Solve the case to protect his daughter |
| Arc | Doubtful investigator → driven protector |
Creating a Digital Actor from a Reference Image
See Actor from Image for the full step-by-step walkthrough.
- Go to the Actor Library and click New Actor
- Upload a reference photo — a clear, front-facing image works best
- ACT3 AI extracts appearance characteristics from the photo (face structure, skin tone, hair)
- Confirm or adjust the appearance settings
- Set wardrobe, performance style, and voice
- Save the actor — they are now available in all your projects
You can upload photos of yourself or consenting individuals. For real public figures, ensure you have the rights and comply with applicable laws. ACT3 AI requires consent affirmation before creating likeness-based actors.
Customizing a Digital Actor
Each digital actor can be customized with:
- Appearance — Age range, gender expression, ethnicity, body type, facial features
- Wardrobe — Clothing, uniforms, accessories, period-specific costumes
- Hair and styling — Color, length, style
- Performance style — Emotion, body language, gesture range, movement energy
- Voice — Select from AI-generated voice options or import a recorded audio track
To edit an existing actor, open them in the Actor Library and click Edit. Changes apply to all future generations using that actor. Previously generated shots are not automatically re-generated.
Changes are applied consistently across all shots where that actor appears.
Wardrobe and Costume Design
Each digital actor can have multiple wardrobe variants. Wardrobe is managed separately from the actor's base appearance, so you can dress the same actor differently for different scenes without creating a new actor profile.
- Open the actor in the Actor Library and click the Wardrobe tab
- Click Add Outfit and describe the clothing: garment type, style, color, era, accessories
- Name each outfit variant (e.g., "Business Attire," "Evening Gown," "Combat Gear")
- Assign specific outfits to scenes or acts in the Scene Editor
- AI Auto-Dress: click AI Suggest Wardrobe and the AI proposes outfits based on the scene context and character description
See Costume Design for the full wardrobe workflow.
Assigning Actors to Scenes
- Open a scene or shot in the editor
- Go to the Cast panel
- Assign a digital actor to each character appearing in the scene
- Position actors in the 2D/3D set layout via Top-Down View
- Characters carry their assigned digital actor identity into every AI-rendered shot
Cast Management
The Cast panel in each project shows:
- All characters defined for the project
- Which digital actor is assigned to each role
- Scenes and shots where each character appears
- Voice and performance settings
Use the Cast panel to ensure every scene is correctly populated before rendering.
Voice Acting and TTS
Every digital actor has a voice profile that controls how dialogue sounds in your production.
Selecting a Voice:
- Open the actor profile and click the Voice tab
- Browse AI-generated voice options — filter by language, accent, gender, and age
- Preview each voice with sample lines before committing
- Select the voice that fits the character — consider tone, pace, and register alongside personality
- Optionally upload a reference audio recording to fine-tune the match
Voice Actor Requests: Non-voice roles (directors, writers) can submit voice recording requests to voice actors:
- Open a scene or shot and go to the Cast panel
- Click Request Voice Recording for a character
- A task appears in the Voice Tasks inbox, visible to all assigned voice actors
- Voice actors see their to-do list: character, line text, scene context, and deadline
- The voice actor records in-browser or uploads a file and submits
- The recording replaces the TTS placeholder in the timeline
See Voice Casting for the complete voice workflow.
Continuity Across Scenes
Once a character is assigned a digital actor, that appearance is maintained consistently across every scene in the project. This includes:
- Wardrobe consistency (unless you specify a costume change)
- Facial features and body type
- Voice profile
- Movement style
For series or episodic content, save your cast as a named ensemble in the Actor Library so the same actors appear across multiple episodes without reassignment. See casting an actor in a scene for the step-by-step workflow.
Ensemble Scenes
When placing multiple actors in one scene:
- Use Top-Down View to position each actor with spacing and directional markers
- Stagger body movement settings to avoid robotic uniformity in group shots
- Check camera angles cover all actors required in the scene
Best Practices
- Define character motivations and backstories early — they produce better AI-generated dialogue
- Keep a consistent naming convention for actors (e.g., "Hero — Season 1") to find them quickly
- Store alternate looks (different costumes, aged versions) within the same actor profile
- Lock character assignments once a project is in final production to prevent accidental changes
- Use low-resolution draft previews when testing new actor setups to save credits
Character Consistency Across a Series
For TV series and multi-episode projects, actors and sets are shared at the series level. Any digital actor you create is available across all episodes without reassignment. Apply the same Style Preset to the whole series to lock in consistent lighting, color, and visual mood for every episode.
Troubleshooting
Actor not appearing in a scene — Check that the actor is assigned in the Cast panel for that specific scene.
Voice mismatch — Verify the correct voice profile is selected in the actor's profile settings.
Performance lag in preview — Switch to lower-resolution draft previews during the creative phase.
Actor looks different between shots — Character appearance drift can happen when the reference image is low resolution, the shot prompt overrides the character description, or the lighting/style preset is creating very different shadows. Update the actor with a higher-quality reference image, ensure the prompt does not contradict the actor definition, and check that the style preset is not drastically altering the look. Make sure the same actor profile (not a duplicate) is assigned across all shots.