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Hi everyone, Grant Kay here for the Flame Premium Learning Channel.
In the previous video, we looked at the COMP Timeline FX tool
and how it plays an integral part in the sequence when doing layer compositing.
In this video, we will take a look at another big change in the timeline.
With the Reactor 2.0 Batch processing engine directly in the timeline,
Action is now able to make its appearance in the sequence as a Timeline FX.
This means that almost all of the action functionality is now accessible
as a quick Timeline FX tool without having to go into BFX, Batch or the desktop tools.
You can get started with quick and easy action tasks in the sequence
but still have the choice to expand into BFX and Batch as you iterate your composites.
For existing Flame Premium Artists and Smoke Advanced Artists,
this is a major shift from what you are used to.
The old AXIS SoftFX tool that originally handled layer-based composites
in the sequence has now been retired.
As a reminder, you do have the 2D transform Timeline FX tool for quick composites.
But you now have Action for more advanced work.
This should cover everything you used to do with AXIS
however you now have one interface to learn between creative core areas in the application.
Action also brings its enhanced compositing functionality to the timeline level
including the surface tools, 3D lighting, 3D tracking, filtering and motion blur.
So a few things have been done in order to support Action as a Timeline FX.
For example, Iíll call up the FX ribbon and apply Action as a Timeline FX to this segment.
The Action Timeline FX also has its own mini-toolbar.
Here you have access to the image axis, the camera, surface, light and rendering settings.
The mini-toolbar also gives you access to the action Lens Flare presets
that come installed with your software.
So for example, I could select the default coloured lens flare and load it into action.
Just using the light menu in the mini-toolbar,
and you can adjust the settings for this particular lens flare.
At any time, you can jump straight into action and start changing settings
and adding nodes like you have done in the past.
So for example, if I wanted to push the lighting effect further,
I could add a BLOOMING node into the action schematic and use it to enhance the impact of the lights.
For existing artists that have applied Actionís toolset in the past,
you will know what to do from here.
However, being a Timeline FX, Action has a few workflow changes
because it is directly applied to the selected segment.
So Iíll come back to the sequence and delete the
Action Timeline FX.
Letís reapply it again to this segment and examine what you need to know.
The first understanding has to do with actual compositing in the sequence.
As I have mentioned in a previous video,
the general working of the FX pipeline and layer-based compositing is that the COMP Timeline FX
is used to composite layers together in the sequence.
And as part of the workflow, it is the last process in a segmentís FX pipeline.
So if I scaled this segment down with action and COMP is off,
you will see the result of Action but it is not compositing over the background layers.
So if you turn COMP on, than the COMP Timeline FX will take the RGB and alpha from action
and perform the layer composite AFTER the Action process.
And if you entered into the Action editor,
the default result view will show you the layer over black.
To see the context of your composite, you would have to press 3 for the Primary Track Context view.
This workflow is currently using action as a transformation tool
and the COMP Timeline FX at the end of the FX pipeline is doing all the combining.
This may be useful for certain instances but not truly practical
since Action is a compositor and it makes sense to use it as its intended purpose.
So back in the sequence, turn COMP off.
In order to use Action as the compositor between the current segment and the underlying video tracks,
ensure you can see the Action Mini-tool bar.
At the far right on the mini-toolbar, turn on USE BACK.
You will get an instant composite in the player as before
and if you enter into the Action editor, your default result viewers will work as expected.
This might be the most preferable option
for Flame Premium Artists and Smoke Advanced Artists using Action as a Timeline FX.
The second workflow change has to do with the fact that Action is being applied to the segment.
And like the previous AXIS SoftFX tool,
Action in its current state as a Timeline FX, can only load the current segment as its media.
If you go into the Action Media Menu, you will find all the ADD options greyed out.
You cannot load more layers into the media list at this point.
Your options would be to promote this into BFX or Batch in order to load more media layers into Action.
On the plus side, if you created anything using the Action,
you have the same flexible workflow common with all Timeline FX.
For example, you can copy Action between segments in the sequence and to the desktop.
So versioning, presets and iteration is still possible at the Timeline level.
In the next Timeline FX video,
we will look at promoting your Timeline FX layer composites into the BFX node compositing environment.
Comments, feedback and suggestions are always welcome and appreciated.
Thank you for watching and please subscribe to the Flame Premium Learning Channel for future videos.