Converting Scripts

Using Pandoc

Intro

These Pandoc Custom Writers use .LUA to translate more review/collaboration-friendly comic scripts into the paste-and-automate-friendly .TSV table format in seconds, helping you save time placing comic dialogue.

Pandoc has a Getting Started guide, but I'll relay how I use it to you, here.

Allegorically, Pandoc serves as the brains, these Custom Writers serve as instructions, and we have to use Terminal/Command Line because… there's no graphical user interface app for this use case. …yet?

How to Use

Single File

1. Download and Install Pandoc

• You'll then run it by calling it with one of the following. Double-clicking the app doesn't do anything.
  • Windows: Command or PowerShell
  • Mac: Terminal
  • Linux: Whichever terminal based on your distro.

2. Prepare Your Files

• Find your comic scripts. You'll typically want to run Pandoc in the same folder as them.
  • The filetype can technically be anything Pandoc supports, but different Custom Pandoc Writers might work better with different filetypes.
• Download one or more Writers in this repository, and place them somewhere handy on your computer.

3. Use Pandoc

• Open your command line terminal. It's handy to open it either within the folder containing your comic scripts.
  • On Windows, you can easily do this by navigating to the specific folder in File Explorer, then typing cmd in the Address Bar. -. Write instructions for Pandoc. Your terminal line should start with the directory up to the folder you're in. Now type or paste a Pandoc command to have it transform your comic script into a handy-dandy .TSV file.
  • Here's the most common format you'll use:

pandoc -f docx script.docx -t writer.lua -o output-table.tsv

4. Explaining the command

• The Pandoc command goes after the cursor that tells you what directory you're in.
• pandoc calls up Pandoc to convert your script.
• -f tells Pandoc the filetype you're converting from. docx in this example.
• -t writer.lua announces the output format you want. In our case, we'll want to choose a Custom Writer and call it by name with its wile extension, typically .LUA.
  • Because mine is in the same folder as my scripts, I'm allowed to just call it writer.lua. If yours is somewhere else… you'll have to either link it relatively ..\..\writer.lua, or absolutely from the root of your drive D:\Users\CoolGuy\Documents\writer.lua.
  • When looking up how to link relatively or absolutely, do look up instructions for your specific operating system.
• -o output-table.tsv tells Pandoc what we want to name the output file, and optionally, if you want it to be somewhere else.

[!todo] Add info on making drag-and-drop batch files for single-file use.

Multiple Files

[!todo] Add info on making drag-and-drop batch files for multi-file use.