This guide assumes you are familiar with all the functions of the in-game VANILLA GPose Menu, and that you have already installed, and enabled, the Ktisis Plugin in Dalamud. If you haven't yet installed the Ktisis Plugin, please visit the Ktisis Discord using the Discord Icon at the top of the page for help installing it.

There are some interactions and controls in Ktisis that are not documented, listed, or otherwise noted anywhere within the plugin. I will be marking these interactions alongside the features they are associated with, with a [CONTROL NOTE] marker to indicate there is an undocumented control associated with the feature.

Please remember that Ktisis is still in Alpha Testing (as of writing this guide - Version 0.2.19)
The plugin itself is completely functional, but there is some minor Weirdness™ to be aware of. Meaning that some menus aren't graceful to navigate and some buttons have no description. Some buttons and functions of the plugin do not have a name, so I will be referring to them as how I personally refer to them.

When XIVLauncher/Dalamud are down during game patches, Ktisis will be down as well.

There are a few places within the plugin that you'll see an Information icon (represented by a lowercase "i" inside of a circle). These will provide some information related to the feature that it's placed near, however there are only a few of these, and they don't necessarily provide all the information needed.

[Actor] - Any Entity that can be manipulated within GPose. This includes (but is not limited to)
Players, NPC's, Monsters, Minions, and Props.

[Gizmo] - The fun looking UI Element within Ktisis that lets you dynamically Move, Rotate, and Scale your Actors.

[Game World] - Refers to the current Instance, or Zone you are in. This can be anything from an entire region (Lower La Noscea) to just a singular room (like an Inn room.)

[World Coordinates] - These are coordinates that are relative to the position in the Game World
(aka World Coordinates [0, 0, 0] correspond to the literal center of the current Zone).

[Local Coordinates] - These are coordinates that are relative to your currently selected Actor.

[.chara file] - File Extension used by both Anamnesis and Ktisis that is used to save Actor appearances.

[.pose file] - File Extension used by both Anamnesis and Ktisis to save Poses made using either Tool.

[.cmp file] - A depreciated File Extension used to save Poses that was used by an outdated app called the CMTool. .cmp files currently are not supported by Ktisis and as such, would need to be converted to a .pose file before being able to load it in Ktisis. As of Version 0.2.20, Ktisis now lets you load .cmp files!

[Posing Mode/Pose Mode] - The toggle that allows you to start (or stop) posing your Actor.

[Slider/Sliders] - A box that usually has numerical values in it that can be adjusted by Clicking and Dragging Left/Right on the box, or by CTRL+Left Clicking on the box to manually input the value.

[Skeleton] - The rig your Actor uses that contains all the individual Bones you can manipulate. This is visualized in Ktisis as Dots (Bones) connected by Lines (Skeleton)

[Bone] - The individual parts of your Actor's Skeleton that you can select to manipulate your Actor.

[Parent Bone] - The Topmost Bone that guides how any Child Bones will adjust when the Parent Bone is adjusted.

[Child Bone] - The Bones that a Parent Bone controls when it is adjusted.

[Redraw] - The act of re-rendering your Actor, usually used to fix something that broke horribly.

[Actor] This tab contains what I would describe as the "miscellaneous" features of Ktisis, and also contains the 5th menu I mentioned. You won't spend much time in this tab outside of your initial pose setup.

[Pose] This tab is where you'll spend most of your time in. It contains all the Transform options for Rotating, Moving, and Scaling all the Bones you can select. This tab is big and is probably the thing that will overwhelm you the most if you're coming from Anamnesis.

[Camera] This tab contains all the GPOSE camera manipulation options you'd find in the Vanilla game, and Anamnesis, along with some other extra features.

[World] This tab was introduced just recently, and lets you change Time, Weather, and even change the Zone's skybox texture to any other Zone's in the game!

[Edit Actor's Appearance] This is almost an entirely separate tool within Ktisis itself, and I will explain what all it does later on in the guide. The tl;dr is that it's basically a cut-down, mini version of Glamourer.

Displays the names of all Actors that are currently posable within GPOSE.

Clicking on an Actor's Name will select them for posing as if you had clicked on them in GPOSE.

Right Clicking an Actor that is not currently selected, will remove them from the Actor List (But not the game!). If you wish to add them back to the list, simply click on their actual model in GPOSE.

The + Icon will open a menu of all available Actors that are currently rendered around you in the Game World. Clicking on an Actor from this menu will add them to Actor List.

Animation Control allows you to control your Actor's currently playing animation.
The Seek slider allows you to pause on any frame of the current Actor's animation.
The Speed slider will allow you to control how fast your Actor's animation will play.

To access the sliders, you must not have Posing Mode toggled on, and you must pause your Actor's movement as you would normally in Vanilla GPose.

Gaze Control combines the Vanilla GPOSE functions "Face Camera" and "Track Camera" into a tool that gives you greater control.

The 3 Values on each slider correspond to X, Y, and Z World Coordinates.

Clicking the Eyeball Icon (aka Camera Tracking) will make your Actor's Head, Torso, and Eyes, track the Camera's current location. To keep where the Actor is looking, click the Eyeball Icon again and your Actor will stop tracking.

Clicking the Arrow Icon (aka Gizmo Tracking) will spawn a Gizmo in the Game World that you can manipulate that your Actor will track. Clicking the Arrow Icon again will hide the Gizmo and your Actor will stop tracking and continue looking in the direction before the Gizmo was hidden.

Clicking the Chain Icon will toggle between Linked and Unlinked.
- Linked Gaze Control will make your Actor's Head/Torso/Eyes all track together.
- Unlinked Gaze Control will separate the Head/Torso/Eyes into their own Sliders so that each part's tracking can be toggled on/off and can be saved separately.

Whenever you enable either Camera Tracking or Gizmo Tracking, the Icon you clicked will turn Blue indicating that your Actor is currently using that Tracking method.

If you wish to have your Actor revert to where they were looking before, uncheck the checkbox on the part you wish to reset.

The Import button will bring up an explorer menu that lets you import .chara files. These files contain Actor Appearance, and Equipment data that you can load onto your selected Actor.

The Export Button will bring up an explorer menu that lets you save your selected Actor's current Appearance and Equipment.

The checkboxes under Equipment and Appearance decides what gets imported and exported in the .chara File.

Import NPC will open up a searchable dropdown list that lets you turn your Actor into almost any other Actor in the game!

Revert Changes will attempt to revert any changes you've made to your Actor back to the state they were in when you opened GPose.

[1] - The Camera Lock Button will Lock/Unlock the camera focus onto your current target Actor. Meaning that if you click onto another Actor while the Lock is active, the camera won't move.
When unlocked, selecting a new Actor will snap the camera to your new target, just like in Vanilla GPose.

[2] - The Actor Snap Button will instantly snap your camera to your currently selected Actor. This function respects the Camera Lock feature so if you click this while the Camera Lock is active, your camera will not move.

[3] - The Saved Camera List is a dropdown menu that lists all of your saved Cameras.

[4] - The Create New Camera button will create a new entry in the Saved Camera List. Each entry dynamically remembers the last position of your Camera when you switch to a new one.
To explain a bit more clearly, let me give an example... (Skip to [5] if this already makes sense to you or you're already familiar with this feature.)

Say you want a camera angle for a shot that shows your Actor's entire body, but also a camera angle of a closeup of just the face. Move the camera to your desired spot for a full body shot, then click the Create New Camera button. Now move your camera to a close up of your Actor's face. If you select your first camera from the Saved Camera List, it will instantly swap to the camera of your full body, and then if you select the second camera, it will swap back to the face! Be careful though, as it doesn't remember the position from when you clicked the Create New Camera button, it just remembers the last position it was at when you switched to a different saved camera.

[5] - The Work Camera is a form of Freecam. Meaning the camera is not bound to a target, you can move around freely with your movement keys as if you were in an FPS game.
- While the Work Camera is enabled, you will not be able to adjust your Camera Rotation or Field of View.

[6] - The Camera Coordinates are a set of 3 boxes that reference the X, Y, and Z coordinates of the camera using the World Coordinates.

[7] - The Camera Offset sliders are used to adjust your camera along X, Y, and Z Axis (Red, Green, and Blue respectively).

[8] - The Camera Position Lock will Lock/Unlock the position of the camera, allowing you to move the coordinates of the camera without adjusting how it is offset
- Something to note is that this will disable letting you adjust your Camera Distance (Scroll Wheel).
- Also note that this feature should mostly only be used when you're ready to take your final screenshots, as locking the camera again will snap it back to its original position that you unlocked it from.

[9] - The Camera Orbit Angle sliders work exactly as if you were Left/Right Click dragging in Vanilla GPose, just with finer control as it only moves along the selected Axis.

[10] - The Camera Pan sliders work exactly as if you were using WASD in GPose but again, with the added benefit of finer control as it only moves along the selected Axis.

[11] - The Camera Rotation slider will tilt your camera as if you were pressing Q or E in Vanilla GPose.

[12] - The Field of View slider works just like the same slider in Vanilla GPose and will change the camera's Field of View.

[13] - The Camera Distance (alternatively called Camera Zoom) slider will move your camera closer or farther as if you were using the Scroll Wheel in Vanilla GPose.

[14] - The Delimit Camera checkbox disables the in-game minimum and maximum Camera Zoom while in GPose. With this box checked, there is functionally no limit to how far you can Zoom in or out.
For reference, The Vanilla minimum Camera Zoom is a value of 1.5 (The distance right before it would put you into the 1st Person Camera.) and the Vanilla maximum Camera Zoom is a value of 20.

[15] - The Disable Collision checkbox will allow your camera to clip through everything (including the game world) as if you had a NoClip cheat enabled.

[1] - The Time Control slider adjusts the time of day in-game. You can either adjust the slider, or input a manual value in box on the right side.

The Time Value represents the minute of the day, and as there are 1440 minutes in a day, Value 0 and 1440 both would be Midnight 12:00am. Value 360 would be 6:00am, Value 1140 would be 7:00pm, and so on.

[2] - The Weather Control dropdown allows you to change the weather of the zone you're currently in. Only weathers that naturally appear in that zone will be shown in the dropdown.

[3] - The Sky Texture selector allows you to change the texture used in the Zone's Skybox.
Note in the example picture below that the clouds from the Clouds weather does not change, but simply the background texture.

[4] - The Freeze Water checkbox simply makes any water stop moving (such as the waves hitting the beach). Note that it does not freeze Weather such as Rain.

The Customize tab allows you to change basically anything that the in game Character Creator would allow you to change, along with letting you toggle the Legacy Tattoo.
Along with the obvious Sliders and +/- buttons to change various things, You can also click on each icon's picture (including Colors) to bring up a gallery list of all of the selections available.

Clicking on the pictures of the racial customizations at the bottom will toggle that feature on or off.

The Shirt Icon near the top will open up a list of every single Glamour Plate, and Gear Set, that you have saved on your current character. Selecting one will load that Plate or Set onto your current Actor

The Paint Roller icon will allow you to Dye every piece of Equipment the same color at the same time.

Clicking on an icon of any of the Equipment slots will open a searchable list of every gear piece in the game for that Equipment slot. Clicking on the name will then equip that piece of Equipment to your Actor.

Right Clicking on any on the Equipment Icons will remove that piece of Equipment from your Actor.

The 1st value next to each Equipment Slot is the Model ID of that piece of Equipment.

The 2nd value is the Variant ID of that specific piece of Equipment. (The Model A-2 Tactical Top, for example, shares the same Model ID, but the A-1 version uses Variant ID [1], while the A-2 version uses Variant ID [2].

The 3rd value is Weapon specific, and is mostly used for Prop items (such as things used in cutscenes or by NPC's).

The Color box next to the ID boxes can be left clicked to pull up a Dye menu to change the color of the Equipment.

The Eye Icon (exclusive to the Mainhand Weapon, Offhand Weapon, and the Headpiece Equipment) is used to toggle the visibility of that piece of equipment. It works exactly like the Vanilla in-game feature in your Character menu.

The Model ID changes the model your Actor uses. Meaning you can turn your Actor into any other Actor as long as you know the Model ID. This is an alternative way to use the Import NPC function from the Actor Tab with the added benefit of being able to change into an Actor whose Model ID might not be displayed in the Import NPC list.

Linked below this paragraph is a handy searchable spreadsheet that lists all of the known Ktisis Model ID's. Please note that these Model ID's are not always the same as the ones that were used in Anamnesis.

Link to Spreadsheet

You can interact with the Gizmo in a number of ways, all of which involve clicking + dragging the different parts.

You can Left Click + Drag the Red, Green, and Blue element to interact with that Axis.

There is also a White element that will interact with all three Axes at once. I'll do my best to explain what each White element does, but it's hard to describe in words, so I encourage you to mess around with each one for yourself to get a feel for what they do.

The Move portion of the Gizmo is represented by 3 Colored Arrows, 3 Colored Squares, and a single White Dot.

The Colored Arrows will move the Bone along a single Axis. If no Bone is selected, it will move your Actor instead.

The Colored Squares will move that Bone along two Axes at once.

The White Dot here will move all three Axes in relation to your camera.

The Rotate portion of the Gizmo is represented by 3 Curved Lines along a Single White Sphere.

The Curved Lines will rotate the Bone in place along that corresponding Axis

The White Sphere will Rotate the Bone in relation to your camera.

The Scale portion of the Gizmo is represented by 3 Colored Lines that end with a Dot, along with a Single White Dot in the center.

The 3 Colored Dots will increase the scale of that Bone along the corresponding Axis.

The White Dot will increase the scale of all 3 Axes at once

[1] - The Posing Mode Toggle turns On/Off the ability to actually begin moving your Actor's Bones.

Enabling Posing Mode will stop all movement and freeze all physics for every Actor that is rendered. This means even other Player Characters, NPCS, etc. This allows you to begin adjusting all the Bones on Actor's so you can start making a Pose.

Disabling Posing Mode will completely reset any bone adjustments made to your Actors, and will disable most of the functions in the entire Pose Tab.
In case it wasn't clear, I cannot stress this enough. If you toggle this off by accident, and you haven't saved your pose, you will LOSE your pose.

If you attempt to adjust your Actor's Bones while the Posing Mode toggle is off. You'll find that it will either ignore your adjustments, or will constantly attempt to snap your Actor back to their original position. This is intended behavior. The only adjustments you can make while Posing Mode is toggled off is rotating and scaling the whole Actor.

[2] - The Info Display will show you 3 seperate pieces of information.

Whether your selected Actor has their movement/animation playing, or if they're paused.

The name of your Actor

The currently selected Bone

[3] - The Orientation Mode button will adjust your Gizmo between World Coordinates and Local Coordinates.

World Coordinates Mode (represented by a globe icon) will have your Gizmo stay in a static position in relation to the World Coordinates, meaning that it won't spin or rotate itself to adjust to your Actor or their Bones as you interact with them.

Local Coordinates Mode (represented by a house icon) on the other hand, will adjust your Gizmo dynamically as you interact with each Bone, making it easier to see exactly how your next adjustment will interact with it.

[4] - The Display Skeleton/Bones button will toggle the visibility of the White Dots, and Lines, that are displayed over top of your Actor.

[5] - The Sibling Link button will toggle between 3 ways that opposite Bones Rotate with each other.
I'll be using the Left Arm and Right Arm bones as an example for the following explanation.

No Sibling Link (represented by an up arrow) means the opposite Bones will have no interaction with each other.

Link Rotation (represented by a chain) will rotate both Arms exactly the same. If you rotate the Left Arm away from the body, the Right Arm will rotate towards the body. Basically, it is copying the Rotation.

Mirror Rotation (represented by a half moon circle) will mirror the arms movements. So this time if you rotate the Left Arm away from the body, the Right Arm will also rotate away from the body.

[6] - The Deselect Gizmo button will deselect whatever Bone you have selected, therefore removing the Gizmo from the screen.

[7] - The Undo Button will undo your previous adjustment.
This also includes adjustments made to the Camera from the Camera Tab

[8] - The Redo Button will Redo your previously Undone adjustment.
This also includes adjustments made to the Camera from the Camera Tab

[9] - The Parenting checkbox will toggle whether Parent Bones will control Child Bones.
It is generally advised to keep this checked on unless you're doing something advanced.

To explain further with an example, if Parenting is on, rotating the Left Arm Bone will also rotate the Left Elbow, Left Forearm, Left Hand, and the Left Hand's Fingers along with it. If Parenting is off, rotating the Left Arm Bone will rotate only the Left Arm Bone.

[10] - The Move button, will place the Move Gizmo over top of the selected Bone, allowing you to move the Bone.

[11] - The Rotate button, will place the Rotate Gizmo on top of the selected Bone, allowing you to rotate the Bone.

[12] - The Scale button, will place the Scale Gizmo on top of the selected Bone, allowing you to scale the Bone.

The Bone List displays all the Actor's Bones in a Parent/Child dropdown hierachy starting with the Abdomen Bone.

Left Clicking on a Bone name will select that Bone with the Gizmo

If you refer to the picture above, you can see how this hierachy works as each Parent Bone will dropdown into other connected Child Bones. If this still doesn't seem clear, I'll provide an explanation below.

Left Clicking the checkbox next to each of these Bone Categories will enable corresponding Dots to appear visible on the Skeleton. (Refer to Pictures above)

You can enable multiple categories at the same time.

Right Clicking a Category will enable that Category, while disabling all other categories.

Clicking the Select All Categories button near the bottom of the dropdown (represented by a double checkmark) will enable every possible bone on the Actor.

Clicking the Deselect All Categories button (represented by an X) will disable every Bone instead.

To Enable Overload Visibility, you must Shift+Left Click on a Bone Category, which will show a Green Checkmark when enabled, instead of a regular white one.

When an Overload Category is enabled, the Select/Deselect All buttons at the bottom will be replaced with a Clear Overload Category button, which will disable all currently enabled Overload Categories.

Shift+Left Clicking on an enabled Overload Category will disable only the Overload Category, leaving all of your normal categories enabled.

Shift+Right Clicking on a category will enable that Overload Category and disable all the other Overload Categories

The Transform checkboxes denote what adjustments get loaded when you Import a pose onto your Actor. Unless the Pose Creator specifically notes to enable these, it's generally advised to only have the Rotation checkbox enabled, unless you want your actor to load in as some sort of eldritch abomination.

The Mode checkboxes denote what part of a Pose gets imported when you load a .pose file.
Enabling the Body checkbox will load everything from the .pose file except the Actor's facial expression.
Enabling the Expression checkbox will load the Facial Expression from the .pose file.
Enabling the Weapons checkbox will any adjustments made to Weapons in the .pose file. Generally you can leave Weapons disabled unless you're specifically loading a Pose made with a Weapon in mind.

Having both Body and Expression enabled will load the entire Pose.
Having only Body enabled will load the Pose but keep your Actor's current Facial Expression intact.
Having only Expression enabled, will load the Pose but keep your Actor's body adjustments intact.

The Import button will bring up an explorer menu where you can select a saved .pose file to load onto your selected Actor. This button respects all of the checkboxes enabled or disabled in the Transform and Mode sections

The Export Button will bring up an explorer menu where you can save your currently selected Actor's entire pose. This button ignores the checkboxes in the Transform and Mode sections.

Reset Current Pose will reset your Actor to whatever pose they were in when you enabled Posing Mode. So if you were in the middle of doing the Moogle Dance Emote when you enabled Posing Mode, this button will reset your Actor to the middle of the Moogle Dance.

Set to Reference Pose will load an A-Pose onto your Actor (Pictured below)

Store Pose will temporarily store your selected Actor's current Pose.

Apply Pose will load the Stored Pose from the Store Pose button, onto your selected Actor.

Force Redraw is the only function here that I would consider advanced. What it does is force the game to reload your Actor. Sorta like turning them off and on again. This can sometimes have unintended consequences, and should usually only be used when an Actor seems to be completely broken, such as Equipment pieces being warped, or Hair being broken or missing. Or if the spirit of an unholy entity has manifested itself in your Actor.
That last one was a joke... probably.