You can now import and work with Alembic geometries in Action. The Alembic (.abc) file format is an open-source format developed for exchanging complex 3D geometry data. Alembic files are highly portable and application independent so they can be shared, processed, and played back by a number of applications.
Complex scenes and animations can be exported as an Alembic file from Maya, for example. This workflow lets you easily pass complex scene data to various areas of your production pipeline, such as between animation and simulation or animation and lighting, without the large overhead of fully editable scenes.
In Action, you are now able to use Position maps generated by 3D applications or Action itself. A position map (sometimes called a world position pass), is an image where each pixel's R, G, B colour values represent the x, y, z coordinates of the corresponding vertex, in 3D world space.
See Position Mapping.
When adding a Lens Flare in Action, you can now include multiple Border FX objects to attach to the various texture components. The Border FX object settings were formerly located in the Lens Flare menu, but you were limited to global Border FX settings per Lens Flare. With this new workflow, you can attach lens flare components to different Border FX objects, with each Border FX object having different settings.
A new node is introduced in Action, Atomize. When you attach an Atomize node to a surface or geometry, the object becomes a configurable point cloud. The Atomize node inherits image or geometry properties of the parent object (transparency, blend modes, etc.), as well as any attached maps.
See Action: Atomize.
A new Substance Materialize node is available in Action, allowing you to easily create realistic material textures based on your own image inputs. When you add a Substance Materialize node to the Action schematic, you'll notice the familiar Substance tree of maps and shaders. Simply specify your input image, as well as optional Height and Details maps, and use the menu settings to fine-tune the results.
A new Use GroupId option is available in the Action Geometry menu's UV Map settings. When importing FBX models created in 3ds Max that have GroupId info, this option allows you to ignore or respect this property. By default, it is enabled, so that in Action, the model looks as similar as possible to how it looks in 3ds Max.
Improved Interactivity in Action
Improvements have been made to increase interactivity when working in Action. In particular:
You now have direct access to the stabilizer tool to add manual trackers. These trackers have higher importance than the automatic 2D trackers, and will persist regardless of the filtering options. They will greatly help with the predictability and quality of the 3D track. In addition they are convertible to point clouds and axes.
