# Locations

> Build a reusable place in Location Studio with an approved main image, time of day, weather and angle variants, and motion clips, then reuse it in every scene.

Source: https://nodaro.ai/docs/guides/locations

A **location** is a reusable place, such as a street or a room, that looks the same in every image and video of a project. You create it once in Location Studio from an approved main image, then add variants such as night, rain or an aerial view. Connect the [Location Asset](https://nodaro.ai/docs/nodes/assets/location) node wherever the scene happens, and every shot starts from the same place.

## What a location holds

| Part | What it is |
| --- | --- |
| **Main image** | The approved establishing shot. Every variant and motion clip is made from it. |
| **Canonical description** | A description of 80 to 120 words, written from the main image when you approve it. Connected nodes add it to their prompts. |
| **Variants** | Pictures of the same place at other times, in other weather and seasons, from other angles and under other light. |
| **Motion clips** | Short videos made from the main image, such as drifting fog or a slow dolly-in. |
| **Reference photos** | Up to 20 photos of what the place should look like. |
| **Style Lock** | Keeps every variant anchored to the main image. On by default. |

## Create a location

### Add the node and open the studio

Press Tab on the canvas and choose **Assets › Places › Location Asset**. Click **Open Studio** on the node, or select the node and click **Open Location Studio** in the settings panel.

### Add reference photos

On **References**, add photos of what the place should look like. They matter most for unfamiliar or imaginary places, which the model does not know. Three to six photos are usually enough.

### Name and describe the place

On **Appearance**, enter a **Name** and a **Description** of what makes the place distinctive. For example: "Neon-soaked alley with mismatched vending machines, wet concrete and a tangle of overhead cables."

### Generate and approve the main image

Choose 1, 2 or 4 **Candidates** and click **Generate**. With one candidate, the result becomes the main image automatically. With two or four, click **Approve** on the one you want, or **Discard** on the ones you do not.

### Save

Click **Save** in the header to keep the name, the description and Style Lock. Generated pictures and clips are saved to the location on their own, even if you close the studio.

Approving costs no credits and writes the **Canonical description**. The description appears under the main image. For an unfamiliar or imaginary place, generate 2 or 4 candidates, because the first one is rarely the right one.

## Reference photos

Each reference photo has a kind that tells the model what the photo is for.

| Kind | Use it for |
| --- | --- |
| **wide-angle reference** | A wider view of the same place. |
| **interior reference** | The inside, when the main image shows the outside. |
| **exterior reference** | The outside, when the main image shows the inside. |
| **detail reference** | A defining detail, such as a statue, a sign, a plant or a material. |
| **mood-board reference** | The mood, palette or aesthetic you want. |
| **reference** | Anything else. |

Choose the kind, paste the photo's URL and click **Add**. A location holds up to 20 photos, and you can add several of the same kind. Before the first photo, tick the box that confirms you have the rights to the photos and that any people in them consented. The page then shows the date of your consent.

Reference photos travel with the location. Every node that uses the location receives them as extra references.

## Variants: time, weather, seasons, angles and light

Each variant page shows the same place in one kind of change.

| Page | Presets |
| --- | --- |
| **Time of Day** | dawn, morning, noon, afternoon, golden hour, dusk, blue hour, night, midnight |
| **Weather** | clear, cloudy, light rain, heavy rain, storm, snow, blizzard, fog, mist |
| **Seasons** | spring, summer, autumn, winter |
| **Angles** | wide, medium, closeup, aerial, low-angle, eye-level, bird's-eye, dutch tilt |
| **Lighting** | soft natural, harsh sunlight, golden, blue hour, neon, candlelit, cinematic, dramatic chiaroscuro |

- Click a preset to generate that variant. A preset you already made shows as done.
- **Generate All** generates every preset that is still missing on the page.
- Type in **Custom prompt (free-form)** and click **Generate** for any other variant, for example "flooded street after a storm".
- Search the variants by name, select several, and delete them at once.

Each variant costs one image on the location's image model. Name variants carefully: the name is what you mention, as in `@old-library:1:weather/rain`.

## Style Lock

Style Lock is the main consistency switch of a location. It is on for every new location.

| | Style Lock on (default) | Style Lock off |
| --- | --- | --- |
| **Variants** | Generated from the approved main image. The same building, materials and layout. | Generated from text only. The model may reinterpret the place each time. |
| **Other nodes** | Receive the canonical description as fixed context. | Receive the canonical description as a loose guide. |
| **Use it for** | Everything that must feel like the same place across shots. | Alternate designs, mash-ups and A/B comparisons. |

Turn Style Lock on or off in the studio header or in the node's settings panel. The node shows "Style locked" next to the style when it is on.

## Motion clips

The **Motion** page turns the approved main image into short ambient clips: drifting fog, slow camera moves, parallax and fly-overs. Use a clip as an establishing shot, or as B-roll between scenes.

- **Approve a main image first.** Until then, **Generate** is disabled.
- **Presets**: slow dolly-in, slow pan-left, slow pan-right, push up, drone fly-over, gentle drift, parallax, static atmospheric.
- **Custom prompt**: describe what moves and how, for example "fog rolls in from the left while light beams shift slowly".
- **Models**: [Kling 2.6](https://nodaro.ai/docs/models/video/kling-2-6) (the default), [Kling 2.5 Turbo Pro](https://nodaro.ai/docs/models/video/kling-2-5-turbo-pro), [Kling 3.0](https://nodaro.ai/docs/models/video/kling-3-0), [Wan 2.6 I2V](https://nodaro.ai/docs/models/video/wan-2-6-i2v), [Wan 2.7 I2V](https://nodaro.ai/docs/models/video/wan-2-7-i2v) and [Seedance 2](https://nodaro.ai/docs/models/video/seedance-2).
- **Frame**: clips are `16:9`, like a cinematic establishing shot.
- **Cost**: a clip costs the same as an image-to-video run on the chosen model.

## Use a location in your scenes

Connect the Location Asset node's **Location** output to the **Assets** input of a [Generate Image](https://nodaro.ai/docs/nodes/image/generate-image) or [Generate Video](https://nodaro.ai/docs/nodes/video/generate-video) node. The node receives the main image, the reference photos and the canonical description.

Workflow: A location and a character feed the same image node; the image then becomes the first frame of a video.

- Location Asset → Generate Image (assets)
- Character Asset → Generate Image (assets)
- Generate Image → Generate Video (start frame)

To place the location exactly where you want it in the sentence, mention it in the prompt. The mention name comes from the location's name: "Old Library" becomes `@old-library:1`.

| Mention | What the node sends |
| --- | --- |
| `@old-library:1` | The main image, as "the location from reference image A". |
| `@old-library:1:background` | The main image, used only for its background. |
| `@old-library:1:weather/rain` | The rain variant instead of the main image. |
| `@old-library:1:weather/rain:lighting` | The rain variant, used only for its lighting. |
| `@old-library:1~lock` | Adds a line that asks the model to match the architecture, layout and lighting exactly. |

A variant is written as page and name, for example `weather/rain`, `seasons/winter`, `angles/aerial` or `lighting/neon`. Spaces in a name become dashes, as in `weather/light-rain`. The easiest way is to type `@` and choose the variant from the menu, which lists every variant of every connected location.

The roles for a location are **location** (the default), **background**, **atmosphere**, **as-is**, **empty background**, **layout**, **lighting** and **style**. **empty background** takes the background without the objects in front of it. **as-is** uses the picture without a role phrase. Read [Reference roles](https://nodaro.ai/docs/guides/reference-roles) for the full grammar.

The **Image** output of the node is the main image as a plain picture. Use it where you want only the picture, without the description or the variants.

In the settings panel of an image or video node, the **Injected references** list shows every picture the node will send. Remove the location's pictures from one node there, without disconnecting it.

## Use a location you already have

Click **Choose existing** on the node, or **Choose from Library / Gallery** in the settings panel.

- **My Library** lists your own locations.
- **Public Gallery** lists locations shared by the community. Choosing one copies it into your library first. The tab appears on multi-user installs, such as Nodaro Cloud.

Choosing or replacing a location brings its main image, every variant and every motion clip, so connected nodes use it at once.

## Delete and restore a location

In the asset picker's **My Library** tab, point at a location and click **Delete from library**. The location is archived, and nodes that use it keep working.

The **Location Library** page, at `app.nodaro.ai/library/locations`, lists your locations in two tabs: **Active** and **Archived**. An archived location has **Restore** and a permanent delete. To delete permanently, type the location's exact name to confirm. This removes the location and its pictures for good.

If a restored location's name is already taken, "(restored)" is added to it.

## Tips

- **Approve before you vary.** Variants, motion clips and the description all come from the main image.
- **Keep Style Lock on inside one film.** Turn it off only when you want a different take on the place.
- **Give imaginary places a mood board.** Three to six reference photos give the model the context it needs for a faithful first main image.
- **Use one style for every location in a project.** Mixed styles break the look of a story.
- **Make a motion clip for every location you revisit.** A 5-second drift or dolly works as an opening shot and as B-roll.

## From code and agents

The REST API, the SDK and the CLI create locations, generate and approve main images, add variants and motion clips, and archive and restore locations. They also set the category and the style, and rewrite the canonical description from the current main image. See [Locations](https://nodaro.ai/docs/developers/api/locations).

On Nodaro Cloud, the API can also build a 360-degree look-around of a location without visible seams, one ring view at a time.

The MCP tools include `create_location`, `update_location`, `generate_location`, `approve_main_image`, `recaption_location`, `generate_location_motion`, `list_locations` and `get_location`. They cannot delete or restore a location. See the [MCP tools](https://nodaro.ai/docs/mcp/tools).

## Frequently asked questions

### How do I keep the same background in every shot?

Create a Location Asset and approve its main image in Location Studio. Then connect the node to the Assets input of every image and video node in the scene. Nodaro sends the main image and its description with each prompt.

### What does Style Lock do?

With Style Lock on, the default, every variant is generated from the approved main image, so the building, the materials and the layout stay the same. Turn it off when you want the model to reinterpret the place, for example to try another design.

### How do I use the rainy version of a location in one image?

Mention the variant in the prompt, for example @old-library:1:weather/rain. The node then sends the rain picture instead of the main image.

### Can I animate a location?

Yes. The Motion page turns the approved main image into short clips, such as a slow dolly-in or a drone fly-over. A clip costs the same as an image-to-video run on the chosen model.

### How do I delete or restore a location?

Delete from library in the asset picker archives a location, and nodes that use it keep working. The Location Library page lists archived locations with Restore and a permanent delete.