At the beginning of July, we shared a pretty ambitious list for RanGen Studio:

Set Design
HoloDeck
RanG Tokens
A more personal Studio UI
Mobile
Capture tools

The idea behind all of it was simple:

What if your film tool felt less like software and more like a creative room?

A place where you could explore a location before choosing the shot. Block a scene before committing to the frame. Change the environment you work in. Carry parts of the Studio with you.

Some of what we planned worked exactly as expected. Some of it changed while we were building it. Some took considerably longer than we thought. And a few things never made it past the roadmap.

That’s what these Build Logs are going to be about.

From now on, we’re doing one every month.

At the beginning of each month, we’ll share what we’re planning to build. As the month comes to an end, we’ll update that same log with where each feature actually landed. Not just what shipped. What changed. What didn’t. And what we learned while making it.

So, here’s July.

1. SET DESIGN · LIVE

We wanted locations to come first.

One of the main things we wanted to change was how early you could start thinking about the physical space of a scene. Instead of generating a shot and figuring everything else out afterward, we wanted you to be able to begin with the location itself.

Generate or upload a 360° environment.
Explore it.
Add hotspots.
Mark potential camera positions.
Start understanding the scene before committing to the final image.

Because a location isn’t just a background. It affects where actors can stand, where the camera can move, what coverage is possible, and eventually how the scene feels.

Set Design is now fully functional inside RanGen Studio.

You can work with generated or uploaded 360° locations and begin designing around the space before moving further into the shot. This ended up taking more work than we initially expected, but it also became one of the foundations we wanted to get right rather than something we rushed out just to move on to the next feature.

2. HOLODECK V2 · BETA

We wanted a place to scout the shot before shooting it.

The original idea behind HoloDeck was straightforward: Don’t guess the angle. Scout it first.

Place actors.
Test the environment.
Block the scene.
Move the camera.
Find the frame.

It was meant to give you a rough spatial playground before committing to the actual generation.

The original HoloDeck is now working properly. (Legacy LIVE)

But while fixing and improving it, we started asking a different question: What would HoloDeck look like if we rebuilt the experience with fewer constraints?

That became HoloDeck_v2.

Instead of immediately replacing something that already works, we’re keeping the Legacy HoloDeck available while HoloDeck_v2 develops alongside it. V2 has now entered beta.

Two approaches. Same goal: Give filmmakers more control over how a scene is built and framed before they commit to it.

3. RANG TOKENS · IMPLEMENTED

We wanted paying for generations to disappear into the workflow.

AI generation usually comes with a meter somewhere. Credits. Limits. Usage. Costs.

We knew we needed that layer too, but we didn’t want managing it to become part of the creative process. So we built RanG Tokens. Choose Token Mode, top up when you need to, and keep creating.

No subscription required just to access another generation.
No stopping every few minutes to think about the mechanics behind the tool.

RanG Tokens are now implemented across the Studio.

You can purchase tokens, see your balance, and use them across supported generation workflows. The goal remains the same: Make the movie, not the math.

4. STUDIO THEMES · LIVE

This was supposed to be a UI refresh.

Then we got carried away.

We wanted RanGen Studio to feel a little less like traditional software. Creative tools are places people spend hours inside. We didn’t think there needed to be one objectively “correct” way for the Studio to look. So alongside Focus and Creative modes, we started experimenting with themes.

A couple became a few. A few became more.

There are now nine themes inside RanGen Studio.

Some are polished. Some are cinematic. Some are clean. Some are loud. And some are slightly ridiculous. In a good way.

This is one of those features that wasn’t really about adding another capability to the product. It was about making the Studio feel more like your Studio.

And apparently nine themes still aren't enough. We already have ideas for number ten.

5. MOBILE · IN PROGRESS

We wanted the Studio to travel with you.

Filmmaking doesn't conveniently happen while you're sitting in front of one computer. Ideas happen everywhere. Locations get discovered while you're outside. Characters, references, notes, and things worth remembering show up when you aren't expecting them.

So one of July's bigger goals was bringing more of RanGen Studio to mobile:

Projects
Characters
Locations
Quick tools
And eventually, tools designed specifically around having a camera and a filmmaking workspace in your pocket.

RanGen Studio already works through the mobile browser. Android users can also try the APK.

The Play Store and App Store versions are still in progress. Those need more work before we're ready to call them finished.

So mobile is here. It just isn't done. And we'd rather describe it that way than put a giant LAUNCHED sticker on something before it's ready.

6. CAPTURE TOOLS · NOT STARTED

We wanted your phone to become part of the pipeline.

This was probably one of the more ambitious pieces of the July list: Character Capture. Location Capture. Reference Capture.

Mobile-specific tools that could let you capture something from the real world and bring it directly into your RanGen workflow.

See a location? Capture it.
Meet someone who inspires a character? Bring that reference into the Studio.
Find an object, texture, composition, or idea worth remembering? Save it as part of the filmmaking process instead of letting it disappear into your camera roll.

That's still where we want to go.

We haven't started building these tools yet.

And this is probably the most important part of the July Build Log. The things we did build took longer than expected:

Set Design needed more attention.
HoloDeck needed more attention.
Mobile needed more attention.

And at some point we had a choice: Start everything so the roadmap looked complete, or properly finish the things already in front of us. We chose the second one.

The capture tools are still on the roadmap. They just aren't built yet.

So, where did July leave us?

We started the month with an ambitious list. We didn't finish everything on it. But here's where the Studio stands now:

Set Design — Live
Legacy HoloDeck — Live
HoloDeck_v2 — Beta
RanG Tokens — Implemented
9 Studio Themes — Live
Mobile Browser — Live
Android APK — Available
Play Store — In progress
App Store — In progress
App-only Capture Tools — Not started

And we think that's a more useful update than pretending every item on the roadmap turned green. Because that's what building a product actually looks like.

You build something. You use it. You discover the part that isn't good enough. You change it. Something small turns out to be much bigger. Something you thought was three weeks away suddenly works. Something you thought would be easy stays on the roadmap.

Then you keep building.

The Build Log is now monthly. July is the first one.

Going forward, every month will have its own RanGen Build Log. When the month begins, we'll share the features and improvements we're planning to work on. Then, as the month gets closer to its end, we'll return to the same Build Log and update each feature with where it actually stands.

Planned. Building. Beta. Live. Delayed. Not started. Whatever the real answer is.

So next up: The August Build Log

We'll share what we're building for August now that the month has started. And toward the end of August, we'll come back and tell you what actually happened.

Until then:

Build. Test. Learn. Improve. Repeat.

Still making. Still shipping. Keep following the build.

The July Build Log