Set Up Two Characters, Their Social Accounts, and a Relationship

Before you begin

Sign in to AU Studio and open a project. This tutorial uses two fictional characters, Maya and Nina. You can use your own fictional names and optional avatar images instead.

You do not need real social accounts or passwords. The Instagram steps are optional if you only want a character-based chat.

1. Open Character Roster

In the project workspace, open Characters & Relationships, then select Character Roster.

Create your first character:

Field	Example
Character Name	Maya
Display Name	Maya Reed
Avatar	An optional fictional character image

Leave the optional primary account fields empty for this walkthrough. Select Save Character to AU Universe.

Create another character named Nina, with the display name Nina Vale. Save her character too.

You now have two people in your cast. You can already use them in iMessage, WhatsApp, LINE, Messenger, or TikTok Chat without creating social accounts.

2. Add an Instagram account for Maya

Skip this section and the next if you are creating a character-based chat.

1. Open Character Social Accounts.
2. Find Maya, using the Character filter if helpful.
3. Select Add Social Account under Maya.
4. Choose Instagram as the platform.
5. Enter maya.pages in Username / Handle.
6. Use Maya Reed as the Display Name, or leave it empty to use her character identity.
7. Choose Public visibility and keep Account Status set to Active.
8. Leave the optional settings at their defaults for this example.
9. Select Save Social Account.

The account appears under Maya. You can open its card later to change its bio, avatar override, privacy, verification, or other supported settings.

3. Add Nina's Instagram account

Repeat the process under Nina, using Instagram and the username nina.notes. Keep this account active too.

You now have one active Instagram account for each character, which keeps the initial Instagram DM setup straightforward.

You can add another account to the same character later, such as a private Instagram identity. Keep it attached to the existing character. Multiple accounts remain supported, but the scene must still have a resolvable identity under the existing account-resolution rules.

4. Connect the characters

Open Relationship Dynamics and find Link Two Characters.

Fill in:

Field	Value
Character A	Maya
Relationship Type	Friend
Character B	Nina
Custom Label	Childhood friends
Description / Notes	They reconnect after several years apart.

Select Save Relationship Link. The connection appears in the relationship list. Select View Map if you want to see the relationship map in a separate tab.

This link helps organize the story. It is not a requirement for creating a chat.

5. Start your scene

Return to the workspace and select Add Scene.

Choose the path that matches your story:

• Character-based chat: choose a chat with iMessage, WhatsApp, LINE, Messenger, or TikTok, then use Maya and Nina as the participants. Their character identities supply the names and avatars.
• Instagram DM: use the Instagram DM flow and select Maya and Nina. Their compatible active Instagram accounts can resolve automatically when each has one matching account.

Complete the existing scene setup, then add your opening messages in the editor. For example, Maya could write, “Are you still coming to the reunion?” and Nina could reply, “Only if you're going too.”

Review the preview to check the participants and identities before continuing your story.

Common problems

The social accounts tab has no characters

Return to Character Roster and save a character first. Accounts must belong to a character in the project.

Instagram DM reports a missing account

Check that each participant has an active Instagram account. An X or TikTok account cannot substitute for Instagram. Use the missing-account action offered by the scene to create the required account, then return and check the scene setup.

A character has several Instagram accounts

AU Studio preserves its existing account-resolution rules and saved scene identity. It does not choose randomly between multiple matching accounts. Check the scene's existing identity state and any validation message before continuing; adding more accounts alone does not resolve ambiguity.

The chat still shows the character avatar

iMessage, WhatsApp, LINE, Messenger, and TikTok Chat use character identity. Update the avatar in Character Roster for those chats. An Instagram account avatar override belongs to that account's identity.

The relationship form is unavailable

Save at least two characters in the project, then return to Relationship Dynamics.

Facebook is missing from the new-account list

New Facebook accounts are currently hidden. Existing Facebook account data remains available for management.

A private account does not show a verified badge

Private identities display a lock instead of the verification badge. Public visibility and verification are separate settings.

What you have created

Your project now has two characters and a friendship link. If you followed the Instagram steps, each character also has an active Instagram identity. Return to the appropriate tab whenever you want to change the person, their online account, or their story connection.

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Editorial handoff — exclude from the published body

The Learn agreement requires tutorial screenshots. Capture the following using fictional demo data after manually checking the current flow. Insert each image beside the corresponding step before publication; no screenshots have been fabricated or attached to this draft.

Placement	Screenshot	Suggested alt text
Step 1	Character Roster with Maya and Nina saved	Character Roster containing Maya Reed and Nina Vale
Step 2	Maya's Instagram account form	Instagram account settings for the fictional character Maya
Step 3	Accounts grouped under Maya and Nina	Character Social Accounts showing one Instagram account per character
Step 4	Saved friendship link	Relationship Dynamics showing Maya and Nina as childhood friends
Step 5	Completed example scene preview	A fictional conversation between Maya and Nina

Category is proposed; confirm or map it to an existing Learn category. Copy metadata into the Learn fields and use the body above this separator. Save the draft before previewing. Review the screenshots and manually follow both scene paths before publication. This Markdown file does not create or publish a Learn record.