Preferences Tab

Surfaces Settings

Default Resolution field

Displays the default geometry resolution (number of polygons) of all surfaces. You can also change the geometry resolution of specific surfaces in the Surface menu. For projects with resolutions of 1920X1080 HD and higher, the default in this field is 12. For projects with resolutions lower than 1920X1080 HD, the default is 6.

The lower the value, the better the resolution and the greater the processing time required to interact with the image. A value of 1 creates one polygon per pixel on a surface, affording accurate displacement and lighting.

Use this field when exploding a surface with a particle generator and when using hardware texture mapping. See Exploding Objects and Surfaces.

Apply Resolution To All button

Click to apply the geometry resolution in the Resolution field to all surfaces. Since you can change the resolution of specific surfaces in the Surface menu, you can use this button to re-apply the default resolution to all surfaces.

Filtering Settings

Default Filter box

Select the type of filtering to be set as the default when creating surfaces and maps.

Apply To All button

Click to apply the default filter to all existing surfaces and maps.

Miscellaneous Settings

Animation Update button

Enable to update properties such as position, rotation, and colour in the scene. This button is enabled by default.

When disabled, animated objects do not move, but keep the position of their current value. Disable when you want to copy keyframe values from one frame to another.

Play Lock button

Enable to update the animation settings according to the frame or timebar position as you move through the clip while keeping it locked at the current frame.

When Play Lock is disabled and you use > or < to play the resulting clip, each frame is loaded and displayed in sequence in the image window.

Undo Levels field

Displays the number of operations you can undo. The Undo and Redo buttons each have a list allowing you to select the most recent operations to undo or redo. You cannot undo a Delete operation for media.

Setting the undo levels to a large number uses more memory. The default is 10.

Backup button

Enable to back up your Action setup automatically. A backup copy of current Action settings is saved in the _action.bak file in the Action directory.

Backup field

Displays the number of minutes between backups.

Show Front Only button

Enable to display only the front media in the Media menu. Disable to display both the front and matte media.

MK As Default button

Enable to set the Modular Keyer as the default keyer when accessing the Keyer from the Media menu.

Auto Image option box

Select an option for creating nodes in the schematic when new media is added.

Use Proxies button

Enable to use proxies for media in Action. Using proxies increases interaction speed, especially when working with high-resolution images.

Proxy Media option box

Select which media proxies are used for. Press Shift+P to toggle the proxy media behaviour.

When you are ready to process your final output, disable Use Proxies. If you process with Use Proxies enabled, the processed clip will be rendered using the proxies.

Display Settings

Icons box

Select object (axes, borders, control points) display options. The selected option displays icons only for the object currently selected in the scene.

Icon Transparency field

Displays the transparency for icons that represent axes, lights, motion paths, and 3D geometry in the scene.

Ruler button

Enable to display the ruler in the scene area.

Use the arrows at each extremity of the ruler to place the beginning and end of the ruler anywhere in your scene view.

Ruler Define button

Enable to define real unit measurements, such as feet, metres, or inches, instead of pixels. All camera distance or axes measurements thereafter use the defined scale.

Ruler Length field

Displays the length and measuring unit (feet, metres) to use.

When you enter a length, click Define again to apply the new scale to the ruler and all pertinent fields, such as position, rotation, and scale.

Grid Colour pot

Displays the custom colour for the grid.

Grid box

Select the type of grid to display in the scene. Use to position objects in the scene more accurately.

Resize Back box

Select a resize setting for the background media. Affects Colour Corrector and Keyer operations on media, to temporarily provide them with the proper resolution when you enter these modules. This option does not affect the render.

Back Fill Quality box

Select the quality of the resize defined in the Resize Back box.

Ortho Near field

Displays the value of the near view in the image window when using Camera or an orthographic view.

Ortho Far field

Displays the value of the far view in the image window when using Camera or an orthographic view.

Schematic Settings

Display Info box

Select what clip information is displayed in the schematic.

Schematic Transparency field

Displays the level of transparency of unselected nodes in the schematic.

Auto Parent button

Enable to automatically parent nodes in the schematic. Press Alt and drag a node in the schematic to disable Auto Parent temporarily.

Proxy Update button

Enable to automatically update proxies in the Schematic view. Interaction is slower when this button is enabled.

When Proxy is disabled, Action updates proxies when you switch views. You can also update proxies by clicking Update.

Snap To Grid button

Enable to position objects with precision in the scene. When you move an object in the scene, the object is automatically aligned to the snap grid.