Have more creative control over your compositions when working with lights in Action, with these new effects.
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Action now supports additional light types. In addition to Point Lights and Spotlights, Action can now generate:
All of the light types have a Decay parameter that you can use to adjust the way the light intensity decreases with distance. See Light Menu Settings. |
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Action lights can now simulate volumetric effects with the new Rays object. Rays can also use the same texture components as the new Lens Flare and it is also possible to generate rays that use the colour of an object in your Action scene. See Relighting: Rays. |
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Action now supports IBL (Image-Based Lighting) maps. IBL maps are a type of high dynamic range image that can be used like lights in a scene. Using an IBL Map in Action open up many creative possibilities, such as being able to light 3D objects from every direction using the colours in the environment. |
Action's 3D environment is now easier to work in, with the improved Analyzer, and new GMask object.
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Action's 3D Tracker has been updated with an improved workflow. 3D tracking is now attached to an Analyzer node that links to specific media. There can be multiple Analyzer nodes referencing the same media in the Action scene. This allows different analyses to coexist within the same Action scene. Each analyzer node has an FBX camera attached to it and a child surface perfectly framed by the camera. See Action Analyzer. |
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The GMask is a new object that can create regions of transparency in the Action scene. The mask supports open splines with a thickness parameter, making it an effective tool for outlining wires or rigs. It also includes new gradient controls that no longer tie the shape and form of the gradient to the vertices of the garbage mask. Multiple points can be selected and moved or translated as a around a pivot as a group. See Masks. |
Working with FBX and other geometries in Action is more manageable with the following improvements and new features.
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Improved FBX Support in Action Flame supports the 2012 FBX SDK, in sync with all Autodesk 3D applications. To ensure compatibility, all applications must use the same version of the FBX SDK. The following FBX features are now preserved in Action:.
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The Material node creates a central hub to control the specular, ambient, diffuse, transparency, and shininess of a geometry's children maps and substances. See Material Node. |
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Delaunay and Medial Axis Tessellation Is it now possible to use Delaunay or Medial axis tessellation in 3D Text and Gmask. See Changing Tessellation Properties. |
The following updates help you move around in Action quicker.
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New Action Node Bin Menu with Dynamic Tabs The Action node bin is now located in a dedicated menu, and offers similar dynamic functionality as the Batch Node bin. It is possible to Add, Delete, Rename tabs and move nodes between them. It is also possible to Save and Load a Bin Layout. See Using the Node Bin. |
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Changes to the Action Media List Workflow Work more efficiently in the Action Media List with the following changes:
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Finally, these Action updates do not fit into the above categories, but are no less helpful in creating great effects.
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Camera Displace is a new option available in the Direction settings of the Displace Map object. This option forces the displacement to occur along the frustum of the camera you select. Surface polygons are extruded. The extrusion effect is only visible when seen through any camera but the displacement camera. |
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You can now use a Projection mapping type to project textures on the following maps (Diffuse, Normal, Specular, and Emissive). When you apply a texture to one of these maps, the texture behaves as if it were projected by the selected camera. Projection mapping can be used as an alternative to Projector nodes, especially when it is necessary to project while preserving a specific camera POV. |
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Improved Support for Third Party Substances You can use third-party Substance textures available in Autodesk Maya, Autodesk 3ds Max, or created with the Substance Designer from Allegorithmic. |