Accessing Action From the Tools Tab

You can access Action from Batch or Batch FX, allowing you to be able to use the Workspace Media panel to add or organize clips and setups; or from the timeline, allowing you to apply the Action effect directly to your ongoing edit. But you can also access Action through the Tools tab, allowing you to create modified clips that you can use as a rendered result in the workspace.

To access Action from the Tools tab:

1. From the Tools tab, click Action.
2. Select an option from the Input Mode box.

   Select:	To:
   Front Back Matte	Select source clips from the workspace. The clips are selected in the order front, back, and then matte.
   None	Enter Action with no media or back clip. From the Resolution menu that appears, choose a resolution, width, height, pixel aspect ratio, bit depth, scan mode, and frame depth. If Action already contains a setup, entering with the None option keeps the objects present in the scene and creates empty media placeholders in the Media list for each object. Press the Alt key when you click the Action button to automatically select the None option. Press Alt when you select your destination to open Action with all media and nodes deleted and all parameters (except for resolution) set to default.
   Clear All	To reset all parameters (except for resolution), delete all nodes and media, and prompt you to select front, back, and matte clips. Press the Ctrl+Alt key when you click the Action button to automatically select the Clear All option.

   Although you can use differing resolutions per media, you cannot specify clips of different resolutions to act as the front and matte clip of media (except for 10-bit, 12-bit, and 12-bit unpacked clips, which are interchangeable). An error appears in the message bar if the specified clips are not able to be loaded to the same media.

   Tip: To standardize some of your clip resolutions, you can resize them before entering .
3. Select the Action front, back, and matte clip. If you selected None from the Input Mode box, proceed to the next step.

   You can press Ctrl to load multiple fronts and mattes. The Ctrl key changes the order of clips to front and matte of media 1, front and matte of media 2, and so on. The back clip and destination are selected after the last media is filled or when the Ctrl key is released.

   Tip: Pay attention to the cursor colours to know which clips you are selecting (front = red cursor, matte = blue cursor, background = green cursor, and destination = white cursor).
4. Select the destination.

   Action appears and the selected clips are loaded into the appropriate media. If Auto Image is enabled in the Action Setup menu, objects are automatically added to the schematic.

   The composite of the front, matte, and back clips appear in the image window and their names are listed in the Media list. The Total Frames field defaults to the length of the longest clip loaded.