Xscripts

Artists were extending the tools beyond our imagination

Even with 156 built-in tools, artists still needed their own. Presto offered a powerful toolkit, but no single system could support every workflow. To fill the gaps, artists created custom scripts, often independently, with limited ways to share, maintain, or evolve them as the software changed.

So we needed a system

I led the strategy and design for a plugin management system that turned these personal scripts into supported, shareable tools. Artists could build tools without deep technical expertise, keep them compatible with software updates, and create flexible interfaces that could be used across departments.

The first step was identifying a place for these tools to live

Every script lives in one searchable library, organized by department and author, so artists can see what already exists before building something new from scratch.

Then defining a way to allow shareability

Turning a script into a shared Xscript takes seconds: name it, describe what it does, tag it, and choose where it lives in the library.

Publishing a script would mean automatically managing it for them

Scripts move through clear states (local, checked out, modified, and published) so artists can experiment freely without accidentally overwriting a script the rest of the studio depends on.

The next step was to help users discover scripts written by others

I designed a fast, filterable search built around how artists actually think (by author, department, and tag) with smart suggestions that surface the most relevant scripts first.

And then allowing artists to build their own UIs with their own scripts

Xscripts also plugs into Xpad, letting artists bind any script directly to a custom button so their most-used tools are one click away instead of buried in a menu.

Why not help artists author scripts with AI?

I explored how AI could help artists write and edit their own scripts, from prompting a script into existence to a full in-tool code editor for refining it.

Organic adoption over time was a key signal of success

Usage grew steadily across departments (lighting, animation, layout, simulation, and more) with 300+ scripts created in the first week alone.

Closing

Building a tool that artists trust to extend their own pipeline taught me how much clarity and safety matter when you’re handing people the power to automate their own work. The best version of Xscripts got out of the way and let artists’ own creativity scale.