Do I have to letter every view and format separately?

No. Balloons are stored relative to the artwork, and PanelWave letters them per view and format automatically. You place and size them once; the editor shows you how each view looks.

Do I lose control over the size?

No. Font, font size and balloon box are yours. The adjustment per view is never saved — your authored size stays as you set it.

Do timed balloons need a video?

No. On a video panel the clock follows the clip; on any other panel it starts when the panel is shown.

Feature 07of 11 · Dynamic balloons

Lettering that knows where it is

Dynamic balloons: the right size, at the right moment

A balloon that suits a panel filling the screen is too small on a full page — and one that suits the page covers half the art in panel view. PanelWave letters every balloon for the view it appears in. In panel view it shrinks with the artwork and leaves the picture room; in page view it is lettered at one readable size, so it is relatively larger. On a video panel a line can wait for its speaker, and readers can switch balloons off to see the whole drawing.

Try it as a Founding Creator Publisher? Request a pilot

Pencil sketch of the same comic panel twice: large on a tablet with small speech balloons, and as one panel of a page where its balloons are relatively larger.

Fig. 7How it works

Fig. 7 — Dynamic balloonsBalloons are lettered for the view they appear in, can wait for their cue on a video panel, and can be hidden by the reader.

views, each lettered to fit: 2
minimum lettering size: 9 px
button to hide all balloons: 1

Parts listDynamic balloons

In detail

What you get

Panel view: room for the art

When one panel fills the screen, its balloons scale with the artwork and keep their place on it. The picture gets the space; the tail stays on the speaker.

Page view: readable on the page

All panels of a page are lettered at one size, as in print — so a balloon in a small panel reads as easily as one in a big panel, and is relatively larger.

Never too small to read

Where lettering would drop below a readable size, the balloon grows — away from its tail tip, so the tail still points at the speaker, and never beyond its panel.

Lines on cue

Set when a balloon appears, 2.4 seconds in, say. On a video panel the clock runs with the clip and pauses with it, so the second line arrives when the second actor speaks.

Balloons off, art on

One button in the reader hides every balloon, so readers can take in the full drawing.

One rule set, everywhere

The editor, the open-source player and the lettered PDF export follow the same lettering rules. What you letter is what readers get, from phone to 4K.

The second line waits 2.4 seconds into the clip (panelwave.json)

{
  "id": "sb-12",
  "characterId": "jonas",
  "text": {
    "en-US": "Then we go tonight.",
    "de-DE": "Dann gehen wir heute Nacht."
  },
  "shape": { "x": 0.56, "y": 0.08, "w": 0.3, "h": 0.14 },
  "showAtMs": 2400
}

Who gainsCreators · publishers · readers

What it means for you

For creators

Letter once. Your balloons work in panel view, on a full page and on a 4K screen — and a video scene plays like a dialogue, not a wall of text.

Apply as a Founding Creator

For publishers

One lettering pass for every format and edition, from phone reading to the print PDF.

Request a publisher pilot

For readers

Text you can read on any screen, lines that arrive when they're spoken — and the full drawing whenever you want it.

See an example

NotesQuestions & documentation

Questions

Read the docs

Every great story starts as a sketch.

Open the drawing board and start with your script, the smoothest way in, or with the art you already have: panel images, video clips or pages without lettering. Add balloons, shape the story, and see your first chapter running on a screen.

Apply as a Founding Creator Request a publisher pilot