Exercise: Compositing a 2D scene in Action
Click on the icon for a quick preview of the exercise and the final result.

Download an archive that contains the footage as well as the setups used in this exercise.
Put these files in your Flame system: for example under the /usr/tmp directory.

To learn how to load material into the Flame Library, see the exercise:
“Loading an archive”
NOTE: If you have completed the previous exercise “How to Load an Archive” you don’t need to download these files again.

Footage courtesy of: VERSION 2 NYC
Flame artist: Kieran Walsh
Images are subject to copyright: please read the disclaimer at the end of this tutorial.

Start in Batch.
1.Click in the setup duration field and set it to 20 frames.
2.Drag an Action node to the Batch schematic.
3.Click the NodeSetup tab to the left of the interface to modify some of the Action settings.
Under the Rendering options, toggle Z-Buffer to Z-Buffer OFF.
Under the Miscellaneous options, be sure that Auto Image is selected.
Also, turn AutoKey OFF to prevent animating values over time.

You can work different ways with an Action node in Batch. In the following exercise, we are adding external layer nodes for each compositing element. Media can also be loaded directly inside an Action layer as we will see in later exercises.

1.Swipe left to access the Batch Node Bin.
2.Drag the Library node to the Batch schematic to access the Library.
3.In the Library, select the clip “Sky_bg”.
4.Press Load.
5.Connect the clip to the background tab:
Using the cursor, pull a link between the clip and the green tab of the Action node.

1. Drag the Library node to the Batch schematic to access the Library.
2. In the Library, select the clip “Moon_Surface”, hold CRTL for multiple selections and select the “Moon_Surface_Matte” as well.
3. Press Load.
4. Double-click the Action node to access its menu.
5. Select the <new media> layer in the Action Media menu.
Click on Add Input to add a little layer node to the schematic.
Note: If the option is set to Add Media instead, change it to Add Input first.
6. Connect the “Moon_Surface” clip to the blue front tab and the “Moon_Surface_Matte” to the red matte tab of the layer node.

7. Select the Result view in the view pull down list or press F4 on the keyboard.
8. Zoom out in the result view a little bit.

9. Toggle to ActionSchm view or press the (~) key to access Action Schematic.
10.Double-click the axis of the Moon image to display its controls in the Object tab.
11.Press F4 to go back to result.
12.Enter -400 in the Y Position field.
Note: You can also position the object with the cursor.

Hold the SHIFT key to Autolink nodes.

The zoom hotkey is CTRL + SPACE drag and the pan hotkey is SPACE drag. The Home hotkey is HOME.

CTRL-click a numerical field resets it to default value.

1. Swipe left to access the Batch Node Bin.
2. Drag the Library node to the Batch schematic to access the Library.
3. In the Library, hold CRTL for multiple selections and select the clips “terrarium”, “Glass_top” and “terrarium_base_matte”.
4. Press Load.
5. Double-click the Action node.
6. Select the layer in the Action Media menu and Click on Add Input to add layer node to the Batch schematic.
7. Swipe left to access the Batch schematic – or select Batchschm in the view list.
8. Connect the “Glass_top” clip to both the front and matte tabs.
9. Select and click on Add Input on the Media tab.
10. Connect the “terrarium” clip to the front tab and the “terrarium_base_matte” to the matte tab.
11. Select the Action node and press F4 on the keyboard to toggle to result view.

In this step, we will group the elements of the terrarium together under a parent axis. A parent axis controls all the elements connected below it but each component can be modified independently with the axis directly above.

1. Toggle to ActionSchm view or press the ~ key to access Action Schematic.
2. Add a new axis to the scene: Double-click the Axis node in the Action bin.
3. Connect the new axis to the two axes of the terrarium elements.
Use the cursor to pull links, or hold SHIFT and connect the nodes.
4. Select the parent axis and double-click it to access its menu.
5. Go back to Action result view, press F4.
6. Enter the following axis values:
Position X -60
Position Y 20
Rotation Z 5
Prop Scale 55
7. Toggle to Action schematic, press ~.
8. Double-click the “glass_top” image.
9. Go back to result press F4.
10.Change the Blend mode to Add mode under the Surface Settings

We will add a new element inside the terrarium group under the top axis.
1. Swipe left to access the Batch Node Bin.
2. Drag the Library node to the Batch schematic to access the Library.
3. In the Library, hold CRTL and select the clips “Flower_particles_01” and “Flower_particles_01_alpha”.
4. Press Load.
5. Double-Click on the Action node.
6. Select new media and click on Add Input on the Media tab.
7. Swipe left to the Batch schematic and connect “Flower_particles_01” to the front tab, and “Flower_particles_01_alpha” to the matte tab of the layer node.
8. Access the Action schematic, press ~.
9. Parent the top axis of the terrarium group to the axis of the flower clip.
Reminder: The parent axis is used to group elements and its values affect all of the
components below including the new image position, rotation, etc...
10.Look at the result view; press F4.
The flowers still need to be adjusted to fit inside the terrarium
11.Access the Action schematic, press ~.
12.Double-click the axis directly above the flowers image.
13.Change the Scale value to 85.
14.Change the Blend mode of the image under the Surface Settings to Add mode.
15.Scroll the playbar to see the result so far.

The woman clip was shot horizontally to take advantage of the HD resolution width. We need to include this clip in the terrarium group, and then modify the image attributes using its own axis.
1. Click on the Media tab.
2. Select new media and click on Add Input.
Note: Scroll down the list if needed.
3. Swipe left to access the Batch Node Bin.
4. Drag the Library node to the Batch schematic to access the Library.
5. In the Library, hold CRTL and select the clips “Spinning_Woman4” and “Spinning_Woman4_Matte”
6. Press Load.
7. Connect “Spinning_Woman4” to the front tab and “Spinning_Woman4_Matte” to the matte tab.
8. Access the Action schematic, press ~.
9. Parent the top axis of the terrarium group to the axis of the woman clip.
The woman clip is controlled by the parent axis and inherits its values, but we still need to adjust her inside the terrarium.
10.Double-click the axis directly above the woman to access its controls.
Note: The axis directly above an element only affects the elements connected below.
11.Toggle to result view, press F4.
12.Modify the following axis values:
Position Y -90
Rotation Z -90
Prop Scale 160

There are flowers already in the back of the woman but we also want some flowers swirling in front of her.
1. Click on the Media tab.
2. Select new media and click on Add Input.
3. Swipe left to access the Batch Node Bin.
4. Drag the Library node to the Batch schematic to access the Library.
5. In the Library, hold CRTL and select the clips “Flower_particles_02” and “Flower_particles_02_alpha”.
6. Press Load.
7. Connect “Flower_particles_02” to the front tab, and “Flower_particles_02_alpha” to the matte tab of the layer node.
8. Access the Action schematic press ~.
9. This time, parent the axis that is directly above the first flowers clip to the axis of the second flower clip.
Note: No adjustments are necessary this time because the values of the first flower particles clip are also apply to the second flower particles clip.
10.Change the image Blend mode of the flowers clip to Add mode.
11.Scroll the result so far.

We will add the title image in the back.
1. Click on the Media tab.
2. Select new media and click on Add Input.
3. Swipe left to access the Batch Node Bin.
4. Drag the Library node to the Batch schematic to access the Library.
5. In the Library, hold CRTL and select the clips “momat” and “momat_alpha”.
6. Press Load.
7. Connect “momat” to the front tab, and “momat_alpha” to the matte tab of the layer node.
8. Select the Action node and press F4 (Result).

Because the Z-Buffer option is OFF in this Action scene, the priority of the elements is determined by the Priority Editor.
NOTE: If a composition is not using Action 3D environment, it is easier to work with Z-Buffer OFF.
When Z-Buffer is ON, the priority of the elements, i.e. which element is on top; is according to the Z position of the element in the Action 3D space.

1. Select the Media tab in Action.
2. Swipe down to access the Priority Editor tab.
3. Use the up and down arrow of the Priority Editor menu to change the element priority.
4. Select the icon of the title image in the priority list (should be the one on top of the list).
5. Press the down arrow to push the image in the back of the other elements, but in front of the moon.
6. Select the icon of the terrarium base image (normally it would be image3).
7. Hold CTRL to also select the glass_top image.
8. Use the up arrow to push the elements on top of the woman and the flowers.

1. Select the axis of the momat image in the Action schematic and reposition the title.
Position X -130
Position Y 275
2. Select the parent axis of the terrarium group, scale it up a little bit and move it to slightly the left.
Prop Scale 60
Position X -330
Position Y -85

To hide/show the scene icons (axis and image frames), toggle I on the keyboard.

To be able to render a Batch setup, you need an Output node.
1. Swipe left to access the Batch Node Bin.
2. Drag the Output node to the Batch schematic.
3. Connect the yellow Output tab of the Action node to the Output node (red tab).
4. Double-click the Output node and look at the settings:
The name of the node will be the name of the rendered clip; you can change the name by clicking on it.
The duration should be 20 frames.
You can change the clip destination by choosing a different Library in the list.
5. Save your setup:
Click the Save arrow and choose Save Setup As.
By default the setup is saved under the project-Batch directory, but you can change the folder.
Type a name for the setup and click Save.
6. Press the Process button in Batch.
7. When the render is finished, you can play it in Batch by clicking on the Play button.
Note: The final clip resides in the output Library.

If you want to know more about the interface and the functionalities covered in this exercise, watch the following overview:

To continue practicing with the exercises, click on the following exercise link: