# Era / Period

> Pick one of 28 eras, from Ancient Egypt and Victorian to 1980s Neon and Cyberpunk Future, and Nodaro adds its fashion, places and film look to your prompt.

Source: https://nodaro.ai/docs/nodes/creative-controls/era

The **Era / Period** picker sets the decade or historical period of an image or a video. You choose one era from its catalog, such as Ancient Egypt, Victorian, 1970s Disco or Cyberpunk Future. Nodaro adds that era's fashion, surroundings and photographic look to the prompt of every node you connect it to. The picker never calls a model, so it costs no credits.

- Found in: Creative Controls › Scene
- Output: text
- API type: `era`

## When to use it
- Lock a period look for a narrative or a documentary-style piece.
- Keep every shot of a story in the same time period.
- Strengthen a retro trend together with the [Aesthetic / Microtrend](https://nodaro.ai/docs/nodes/creative-controls/aesthetic) picker.

## How to use it
### Add the picker

Open the node picker and choose **Creative Controls › Scene › Era / Period**.

### Choose an era

Select the node and choose an era in the settings panel. The tiles are grouped as 20th-Century Decade, Pre-Modern and Speculative. On Nodaro Cloud, each tile shows the same base frame rendered in that era.

### Connect it

Drag from the picker's output to the **Look** 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. You can also connect it to a [Text](https://nodaro.ai/docs/nodes/automate/text) or [Prompt](https://nodaro.ai/docs/nodes/automate/prompt) node to include the wording in a longer text.

### Run the image or video node

The era's wording is added to the end of the prompt when the connected node runs.

Workflow: Era / Period and Camera / Film Stock pickers feed the Look input of Generate Image to date the scene and its photograph.

- Text → Generate Image (prompt)
- Era / Period → Generate Image (look)
- Camera / Film Stock → Generate Image (look)

## Settings
| Setting | What it does |
| --- | --- |
| **Era / Period** | The era to add. The default is **1990s Mall**. |
| **Custom text (before)** | Your own words, added before the era's wording. |
| **Custom text (after)** | Your own words, added after the era's wording. |
| **Prompt hint** | **Full** adds a description of the era's fashion, surroundings and look. **Compact** adds only its short term. See [Creative Controls](https://nodaro.ai/docs/guides/creative-controls). |

To see the exact words the picker will add, switch the node to the **Prompt** or **Both** display mode. The settings panel shows the same text under **Will inject into prompt**.

## What it adds to the prompt

Each era bundles the details that make a time recognizable: clothes, places, lighting and the look of photographs from that time. For **1990s Mall** it adds this text in **Full** mode:

```text
set in the 1990s mall era — denim and crop tops, slip dresses, chokers and platform sneakers under fluorescent food-court lighting, with slight VHS-grain and a warm disposable-camera flash cast
```

In **Compact** mode, it adds only `1990s mall culture`.

## Every era

The catalog has 3 groups: 20th-Century Decade, Pre-Modern and Speculative. Search it or filter it by group. The words under each name are the term the picker adds in **Compact** mode.

**20th-Century Decade**

- 1920s Flapper
- 1930s Art Deco
- 1940s Wartime
- 1950s Diner / Pin-up: `1950s diner pin-up`
- Atomic Age 50s: `1950s atomic age`
- 1960s Mod
- 1970s Disco
- 1980s Neon
- 1990s Mall: `1990s mall culture`
- 2000s Tabloid / Y2K: `2000s tabloid y2k`
- Gen Z 2020s: `2020s gen z`

**Pre-Modern**

- Medieval
- Renaissance
- Victorian
- Edwardian
- Wild West
- Ancient Rome
- Ancient Egypt
- Feudal Japan
- Fin-de-siècle (1895-1905): `fin-de-siècle 1900s`
- Pre-War Roaring: `late-1910s pre-war`

**Speculative**

- Near-Future
- Far-Future
- Dieselpunk
- Atompunk
- Cyberpunk Future
- Post-Apocalyptic
- Retrofuturism

## Pictures on Cloud and self-hosted installs

On Nodaro Cloud, every era is pictured with a real render: the same base frame put through that era. Era has no drawn illustration, so it offers no switch between a render and an illustration. On a self-hosted install, each tile shows the era's name and a short description instead. The pictures never change the prompt.

## Tips
- **Date the photograph too.** Pair the picker with [Camera / Film Stock](https://nodaro.ai/docs/nodes/creative-controls/camera-format), for example **1980s Neon** with **VHS**.
- **Dress the cast for the period.** Add [Styling](https://nodaro.ai/docs/nodes/creative-controls/styling) for specific pieces, and [Vehicle](https://nodaro.ai/docs/nodes/creative-controls/vehicle) for the cars on the street.
- **Change the season or the texture.** Use **Custom text (before)**, for example `late summer`, or **Custom text (after)**, for example `with VHS grain`.

## Frequently asked questions

### What does the Era / Period picker do?

It sets the decade or historical period of an image or a video. The picker adds the fashion, surroundings and photographic look of that time to the prompt of every connected node. It never runs a model and costs no credits.

### Does the Era / Period picker cost credits?

No. Pickers only change the prompt. You pay only for the generation node that uses it.

### Which eras are in the catalog?

28 eras in 3 groups. 20th-Century Decade runs from 1920s Flapper to Gen Z 2020s. Pre-Modern covers periods such as Ancient Rome, Medieval and Wild West. Speculative covers futures such as Cyberpunk Future and Retrofuturism.

### Why do the Era tiles have no pictures on my self-hosted install?

Era tiles show a real render of each era on Nodaro Cloud only. Era has no drawn illustration, so on a self-hosted install each tile shows the era's name and a short description.