Cutline Free User Manual

Version: 1.0.6
Updated: 2026-08-10
Published by: Beloved Dog

A desktop app that turns a plain-language brief into a video generation prompt with references, timing, camera, audio, and end state all worked out. It supports Seedance 2.0 and 2.5.

This manual is written to be followed alongside screenshots. The red boxes and the numbers ①②③ mark what to press and what to look at on each screen.

00 Read this first: your OS will show a warning

When you install and launch the app for the first time, your operating system will show a security warning. Nothing is broken and no file is damaged.

This app does not carry a paid code signature, so the OS reports that it cannot verify the publisher. You can continue with the steps below.

• Windows: "Windows protected your PC" → More info → Run anyway
• Mac: "cannot verify the developer" → right-click the app (or Control-click) → Open → Open again

On a Mac this is only needed the first time. From the second launch onward, a normal double-click works. A plain double-click on the first launch shows "cannot be opened because the developer cannot be verified" and the app will not start.

Step-by-step instructions with screenshots are in "02 Installing and first launch".

01 Introduction

Cutline Free walks through the conditions a video generation needs, in order, and assembles them into a prompt you can copy.

Cutline Free and Cutline Studio are independently developed prompt design tools. They are not supplied or endorsed by ByteDance, Seed, Dreamina, or BytePlus. Names such as Seedance are used to identify the models these tools support. All names and trademarks belong to their respective owners.

What this app does

• Turns your brief into an ordered video generation prompt
• Gives you 27 knowledge entries, filterable by model and by evidence level
• Organises reference numbers, roles, and which attributes to use or exclude
• Runs 25 static checks over your input and points out contradictions and weak phrasing
• Lets you edit the finished prompt directly, and save and restore it as TXT and JSON
• Shows the model conditions we could confirm in official documentation, with the source and the date it was verified

What this app does not do

• It does not generate video or audio. Generation happens on the video service you use
• It does not include LLM drafting (that is a feature of the paid edition, Cutline Studio)
• It does not upload, store, or transmit your asset files. It works only with their numbers and roles
• It does not guarantee the quality of a generation. Character consistency, physics, dialogue, pronunciation, subtitles, and sound must be checked in the real output
• It does not guarantee model or service specifications. Official specifications change without notice and differ by plan and region. If the app and the service disagree, the service is right.

About changes to external services

This app helps you write prompts. It does not guarantee what a video generation service produces. If Seedance or ByteDance change model names, prompt interpretation, reference-image behaviour, duration, resolution, input limits, UI, safety limits, or regional availability, the same prompt may stop producing the same result. When that happens, treat the service's own screen as authoritative and carry on — the way this app builds prompts is unaffected.

02 Installing and first launch

The trial is the same desktop app as the paid edition. No extra software such as Node.js is needed.

Mac

1. Double-click Cutline-Free-1.0.6-English.pkg.
2. The Introduction screen opens. Press "Continue" at the bottom right.
3. Read the terms on the Licence screen, then press "Continue" → "Agree".
4. Work through "Destination Select" and "Installation Type", then press "Install". Enter your administrator password when macOS asks.
5. When it finishes, open "Cutline Free English" in the Applications folder.

Windows

1. Double-click Cutline-Free-1.0.6-English.exe.
2. If "Windows protected your PC" appears, press More info → Run anyway. This appears because the app is unsigned; it is not a fault.
3. Installation proceeds automatically and the app opens when it finishes. After that, launch "Cutline Free English" from the desktop or the Start menu.

The loading screen

This appears when you open the app. Just wait.

The first-launch screen

The knowledge base opens first. ① is the heading for this screen and ② is what the app contains. To start building a prompt straight away, press "Design a new prompt" at the top right, or "Prompt builder" in the left menu.

Normal use needs no Node.js, no npm, no terminal, no PowerShell, and no browser work. Do not use files from an unknown source or a modified installer.

03 Reading the main screen

What is in the menu

Those five are the whole trial menu. There is no AI settings screen (that is a paid-edition feature).

Switching the theme

The button at the right of the title bar switches between dark and light. Your theme and working draft are saved inside the app and are still there next time you open it.

04 The knowledge base

• Type things like "camera", "@Image", "dialogue", or "30 seconds" into ① to narrow the list.
• Use ② to filter by Seedance 2.5 or Seedance 2.0.
• You can also filter by category (generate, sequence, camera, consistency, audio, edit, advanced) and by evidence level.
• ③ shows how many entries match the current filters.

Guide details

Pressing a row in the list opens the details from the right. The tabs at the top move you between the template, worked examples, variants and edge cases, what breaks it, parameters, and official sources. Close it with the "×" at the top right or the Esc key.

Evidence levels

05 Building a prompt

Project toolbar

Start by opening a sample project

One minute with a sample tells you what goes where. Everything stays editable afterwards. Your current input is replaced, so save anything you need as JSON first (a confirmation appears).

STEP 00 Production presets

A preset is a starting point. There are five — live action, animation, music video, commercial, documentary — and every field stays editable after you apply one.

• Preset names match the options under "Basics > Production type".
• The selected preset is marked with a blue border, a check mark, and a "Selected" label. Changing any value by hand clears the marking.

About the grey example text in empty fields

Empty fields show light grey example text such as "e.g. school rooftop after classes". It is only a hint about how to write. It is never treated as input, and never appears in the finished prompt, in Save JSON, or in Save TXT. An empty field stays empty.

STEP 01 Basics

STEP 02 Reference assignments

You do not upload asset files here. You map the order in which you upload them to the video service onto the numbers used in the prompt.

First image on the Seedance side = @Image 1
First video on the Seedance side = @Video 1
First audio on the Seedance side = @Audio 1

For each asset, separate what to take from it and what not to take. For a character image you might take appearance and clothing but not the background.

"Use images 1 to 4 for the characters" leaves the mapping ambiguous. Say it one at a time: character A is @Image 1, character B is @Image 2.

STEP 03 Character profiles

Use these when the same character appears in several scenes. You can record the name, references for appearance and clothing, props that must stay fixed, where they appear, a motion reference, and attributes that must not bleed in from other characters. For a simple single-scene video, leaving them empty is fine.

STEP 04 Timeline

Time ranges must not overlap, and should run continuously from start to end.

0-5s:   Setup. The character enters from frame left.
5-10s:  They stop centre frame and look at their hands.
10-15s: The camera pushes in and ends on their expression.

Each beat takes a subject, action, location, camera, dialogue, audio, and the state at the end of the beat.

STEP 05 Continuity and end state

• Continuity: face, hair, clothing, props, weather, time of day, left/right positions — whatever must hold across every beat
• Exclusions: subtitles, logos, extra people, unwanted camera moves — whatever must not appear
• End state: in the final frame, who is where, holding what, and where the camera comes to rest

An end state can be reused as the opening condition of the next cut.

06 Switching models (2.0 / 2.5)

Switching the target model changes conditions throughout the app. Match it to the Seedance version you actually use.

With Seedance 2.5 selected

After switching to Seedance 2.0

Switching changes the durations and aspect ratios you can choose in STEP 01, how references are written, the structure of the finished prompt, and the conditions the quality checks apply. If the duration you had chosen does not exist on the new model, it moves to the nearest one available.

Each row carries an evidence level — official, derived, or recommended — and the date it was last verified. Official specifications change without notice. Check the service you are using before you generate.

The 2.0 / 2.5 comparison screen

"2.0 / 2.5 comparison" puts duration, aspect ratios, references, native audio, multiple shots, and more side by side. The badge beside each value is its evidence level; ② below is the caveat.

Official sources

This is where you check which document a claim in the app rests on. Links open in your default browser.

07 The finished prompt, copying, Save TXT

STEP 06 assembles your builder input automatically. The field is directly editable.

Drafting and rewriting the prompt with AI is a feature of the paid edition, Cutline Studio. The trial has no AI button.

Quality checks (STEP 07)

25 static checks point out problems before you send anything.

• Error: structural problems to fix first, such as exceeding the duration or overlapping beats
• Warning: conditions that often lead to failure, such as ambiguous references or a missing end state
• Info: things to verify for the target model, or production notes

Passing the static checks does not prove a generation of video or audio will succeed.

08 Save JSON, load, reset

Save JSON (backup)

Save any project you plan to keep as JSON. The filename comes from the project name (for example my-project.cutline.json). Where it lands follows your browser and OS download settings.

Load JSON (restore)

Press "Load" and pick a JSON file to restore the whole project. This is also how you move a project to another computer or OS account.

When a load fails

If you pick something other than this app's JSON, or the file is damaged, the reason appears as in ①. Your current work is not lost. Pick a file that was written with "Save JSON" instead. This app does not load image, video, or audio assets.

New (reset)

"New" returns the current input to its initial state. It cannot be undone. Save anything you need as JSON first. Choosing "Cancel" in the confirmation changes nothing.

Automatic saving

Your builder draft, your direct edits to the prompt, and the theme are saved automatically inside the app. They are restored the next time you open it. Storage is separate per computer and per OS account.

Save TXT

Use Save TXT when you only need to hand over the finished prompt.

What goes over the network

There is no way to upload reference images, video, or audio into this app.

09 Checking your computer's specs

Even in the trial, you can find out in advance how well the paid edition's AI features would run on your computer.

Before pressing

After pressing

The app measures installed memory and the processor, and shows roughly how well the paid edition's local AI would run. The guidance comes from measured memory usage and is not a guarantee. This trial runs no AI and sends no measurements anywhere.

The three steps on "Getting started"

10 What the paid edition adds

The trial has no time or usage limit. JSON created in the trial loads directly in the paid edition.

The paid edition is licensed one computer per licence (the trial has no limit on the number of computers).

11 About this app and terms

The version and terms are at the end of "Getting started".

• The trial edition is free. There is no limit on the number of computers, and no time or usage limit.
• Prompts you create with this app are yours to use for personal or commercial work without restriction. Rights and terms for your input assets, third-party content, generative AI output, and the services you use remain with their respective owners and providers.
• Modifying and redistributing the application is prohibited, as is reverse engineering, decompiling, or disassembling it to obtain or reuse its internal implementation. Please download it from the official page.

12 Uninstalling

Before uninstalling, save anything you want to keep as JSON. Files you saved as TXT or JSON are not deleted by a normal uninstall.

Mac

1. Quit "Cutline Free English".
2. Move "Cutline Free English" from the Applications folder to the Trash.
3. Only if you also want to erase the app's automatic saves, use Finder's "Go > Go to Folder" to open ~/Library/Application Support/Cutline Free English and delete the folder.

If you skip step 3, your earlier drafts are available again after reinstalling.

Windows

Use either:

1. "Uninstall Cutline Free English" in the Start menu, or
2. Settings > Apps > Installed apps > Cutline Free English > Uninstall.

A normal uninstall on Windows keeps the app's data so a reinstall can use it. To remove everything, back up your JSON files and then delete %APPDATA%\Cutline Free English.

13 When something is not working

The trial has no Diagnostics screen (that is a paid-edition feature). Working down this list recovers from almost any state.

The app will not start

1. Check that installation finished.
2. If a copy is still running in the background, quit it and open it again.
3. Check whether security software is blocking it.
4. Restart the computer, then open it again.
5. If that does not help, uninstall (chapter 12) and reinstall. Your drafts survive.

It stays on the loading screen

Starting takes a few seconds up to about ten. If it goes on longer, close the window and open it again.

The builder contents disappeared

• Check that you have not opened it under a different OS account or on a different computer.
• Check that you have not run an OS or app data-clearing function.
• If you have a saved JSON, restore it with "Load" (chapter 08).

A JSON will not load

• Check that the file was written with "Save JSON".
• Even when a file is damaged, your current work is not lost (see the error display in chapter 08).

Last-resort sequence

1. Save your project as JSON.
2. Quit the app completely and restart it.
3. Check whether the same steps reproduce it.
4. Troubleshooting notes, when updated, are available on the download page.

When the displayed specification differs from reality

The duration or reference limits shown in the app can disagree with the service you are using. Seedance and ByteDance change specifications, and the app's model information can fall behind the service's own screen. When that happens, work from the service's current display. The numbers or the model name may differ, but the way you assemble a prompt does not change, so you can carry on as normal.