Compositing in 3D Space with Action >

# About Action

Action is a multilayer compositing tool for creating complex visual effects. Use Action to animate clips in 3D and add camera, lighting, and shadow effects.

You create effects and animations by manipulating objects in the scene. Objects you work with include surfaces, light sources, axes, shadows, and the camera.

## Action Concepts

The following concepts are used throughout the Action topics to describe the workflow and user interface.

Scene
  The scene is Action's representation of 3D world space. It is where objects are placed and animated. World space has three directions: X (left/right), Y (up/down), and Z (in/out).
Object
  An object is any element in a scene. An axis, a camera, a surface, a light, or a model can also be referred to as an object.
Media
  Media consists of a front and matte clip only.
Surface
  A surface is a special type of 3D geometry onto which media is mapped.
Geometric Object (Models)
  A 3D geometric object can be something as simple as a cube, sphere, or cone, or as complex as a character. Although some basic geometric objects are included with Smoke, most geometry is imported from a 3D application such as Maya and 3ds Max. A model is another way to refer to a geometric object.
3D Models and Text
  You can import 3ds Max files, FBX format files, Alembic format files, Wavefront files, Inventor files, and Paint geometry into Action. Also, you can create 3D text with custom beveling.
Camera
  The camera represents the 'eye' you are using to see the scene. The camera is used to “record” the scene in Action. By default, the camera consists of two objects: the camera eye and the point of interest (the coordinates the camera is 'looking' at).
Axis
  An axis is the element of an object or media that can be manipulated to determine the object's 2D or 3D space, position, and movement.
Schematic
  The Action schematic is an icon representation of the scene. It shows all the objects in the scene and their relationship with each other. The Action schematic is different from the ConnectFX schematic (which is more of a process tree view).

#### Topics in this section

- About Using Floating Point Images in Action
- Action Interface Overview
- About the Schematic and Menu Tabs
- Setup and Processing Options
- Saving, Loading, and Importing in Action
- About Rendering Outputs from Action