Check access

ETCH / THE PIPELINESEVEN STAGESONE PROJECT

The row is the product.

Etch is not seven tools that integrate. It is one project holding seven stages of a single job, passing the same objects along — which is why the editor who opens Planner is looking at the post the brief started.

Get EtchWalk the seven stages
  1. 01Explore
  2. 02Chat
  3. 03Whiteboard
  4. 04Shotlist
  5. 05Looks
  6. 06Assets
  7. 07Planner

Brain / outside the row

Not a step. What every step reads.

The client's voice, rules, and what already got approved. One Brain per client or channel, kept separate from the others. Chat drafts against it, Looks compiles it into the frame, and Planner inherits the same rules — which is why the caption and the picture agree without anyone checking.

It is deliberately not stage zero. A stage is something you pass through once; the Brain is read every time, by all seven.

How the Brain works

The row

What each stage receives, does, and sends.

Remove one and the process has a hole in it — which is why they are tabs rather than plugins, and why there are seven rather than nine. The handoffs are the argument: work done in one stage shows up in the next without being exported, renamed, or re-explained.

  1. 01Explore

    Pull the look for the series. References live here, not in a hidden folder.

    Opens with

    The client's Brain — the look this channel already owns.

    The work

    • Search the wall and pin what fits this series.
    • Save a still into the project, not into Recents.
    • Seed a Look, or seed the shot the A-roll has to match.

    Out to Chat

    A pinned reference becomes the brief's first picture.

  2. 02Chat

    Hook, offer, product, who it is for — with the Brain already in the room.

    In from Explore

    The pinned references, attached as pictures rather than described.

    The work

    • Hook, angle, product, who it is for — one thread for the whole team.
    • Mention a teammate, a Look, or a document instead of pasting it again.
    • Send the direction out to be marked before anyone makes anything.

    Out to Whiteboard

    The direction is saved as a Look, not retyped.

  3. 03Whiteboard

    Pick the cover, the three slides, the thumbnail. On one wall, together.

    In from Chat

    Frames from Looks, references from Explore, selects from Assets.

    The work

    • Pin the cut up and arrange it live, with the team on the same wall.
    • Mark the cover, the three slides, the thumbnail.
    • Set a status, so everybody knows which one is going out.

    Out to Shotlist

    The selects go back to Chat as the next brief.

  4. 04Shotlist

    If you are filming Friday, the list is already the Look.

    In from Whiteboard

    A draft from the Look, and the shots seeded back in Explore.

    The work

    • Order the day: A-roll, B-roll, inserts, product, talent.
    • Time it, so the shoot day is not a guess.
    • Open on-set mode on a phone and work the list on the day.

    Out to Looks

    Once a shot is captured it becomes a Planner draft, dated for the feed.

  5. 05Looks

    Make the frames. The brief compiles into something you can run.

    In from Shotlist

    The direction saved in Chat, with its references and the Brain.

    The work

    • Compile the brief into a route you can actually run.
    • Work simple, or open the node graph when it has to be exact.
    • Pull a select back from Assets and run version two.

    Out to Assets

    Every render lands in this project's Assets as it finishes.

  6. 06Assets

    Cull, then send Review to the brand. The library belongs to the job.

    In from Looks

    Every render from Looks, and everything shot on the day.

    The work

    • Cull, rate, tag, and stack versions of the same frame.
    • Send a guest review link — the client marks it without an account.
    • Deliver a package named for this client and this project.

    Out to Planner

    The client marks the work in a share link — no new login.

  7. 07Planner

    Compose it, see it in the feed, schedule it. Posted.

    In from Assets

    The selects from Assets, and the day from Shotlist.

    The work

    • Write the caption against a platform mockup.
    • See how the grid reads before committing to it.
    • Move it Idea → Draft → Scheduled on the studio calendar.

    Back to the Brain

    The caption sits next to the frame you picked out of Assets.

Go deeper

Five things with more underneath them.

Outside the rowBrainOne Brain per client. Every stage reads it, and none of them is it.Stage 02ChatOne shared thread where the concept gets set — then saved as a Look, not retyped.Stage 05LooksA Look is the assembled direction — words, references, Brain, assets — as something you can run.Under stage 05Model controlsPick the route a Look runs on from the managed catalog — image, video, or text — without moving the work.Across the rowCollaborationThe editor, the shooter, whoever is managing the deal — and the client — meet the same seven stages.

What it runs on

A desktop studio, stated plainly.

Etch runs on macOS today. A Windows build exists and is not yet signed, so it warns on install; Linux is planned. The project records stay local on the machine — team sync is something you turn on when more than one person is on the row, not a condition of using it. Looks run on Etch-managed image and video models, and switching routes does not move the work.

Etch / get started

Seven stages.
One project.

Get Etch