v2.3.0: One sound block per segment, character sheets in stages, and props that hold their shape

v2.3.0: One sound block per segment, character sheets in stages, and props that hold their shape

An update to how production sound is written, and a set of character and prop techniques proved in production. No new styles.

Every segment gets its own [PRODUCTION SOUND] block. The template used to put one [PRODUCTION SOUND] block at the end of the prompt, after the last [ACTION] / [CAMERA] / [LIGHT AND IMAGE] trio. In production, VE binds that block to the last segment only and makes up sound for the earlier segments, often as music. Each segment is now a group of four, [ACTION 0-4s] → [CAMERA] → [LIGHT AND IMAGE] → [PRODUCTION SOUND 0-4s], with the sound block carrying its segment's time label.

• A segment meant to be silent says so in its own block instead of being left without one.
• Each block fills its own segment and closes with what is heard in that segment.
• A dialogue line is still quoted once, in [ACTION]; the sound block of the segment where it's spoken refers to it.
• In testing, one block per segment gave five music-free takes of a clip whose earlier versions had music. The unresolved climax-music case in the Sound section now points to this as the first thing to check.

Detailed character reference sheets, built in stages. VE's image model loses features buried in the middle of a long prompt; a detailed face dropped its defining features in prompts of about four thousand characters and held them under about fifteen hundred. For a highly detailed character, the bible now gives a staged route:

• A head shot first, with a short prompt that puts the face first.
• If VE can't draw the design from words, generate the head shot in another image tool, import it and put it in Consistent Character slot 1; the reference carries the design and VE redraws it in its own style.
• The full body next, with the head shot in slot 1 and a short prompt about body, outfit and props.
• A composite sheet (full body, large head shot, key props; one sheet per prop state, such as sheathed and armed) in slot 1, which leaves slot 2 free for a second character. In testing it gave exactly one figure with no layout bleed in every take.
• A reference's stance can carry into start images, so a start image that needs a turn puts the character mid-action.
• The long-prompt advice for style now notes this exception.

Props that hold their shape.

• Hybrid props collapse into their stronger half: a "sword-pistol" was drawn as a handgun with a blade attached, in VE and in other tools. Describe the parts and their layout as geometry, keep the stronger noun out, and simplify the design if it keeps reverting.
• A held prop that leaves the frame, through a push-in or a swing, is redrawn from the text and can come back a different object. Weapons stay fully in frame through their action, with the camera locked and the strike ending inside the frame.
• The failure table has four new rows: prop redraw, hybrid collapse, features lost in long image prompts, and a troubleshooting suggestion for metal spreading onto a body part named in the same sentence.

Where it changed. multishot-template.md (section order, per-segment groups, the sound section and all three templates), light-sound-dialogue.md, prompt-rules.md, camera-and-motion.md, bible.md, styles/README.md and the sound rule in SKILL.md.

Upgrading. Marketplace installs pick this up on their next sync. If you use the zip, remove the old skill and upload the new one. Prompt packs written with a single sound block at the end are worth updating before their next generation: split the block by segment.

Both builds (Claude, ChatGPT) are identical in substance. Scope remains VideoExpress 3.5 and later.