An action modifies a clip’s properties over time. For example, if you want to slowly scale up your screen recording, you create a Video Action on the clip, then modify the Scale property in the Video Properties panel.
Actions are always part of a clip. They are represented in the Timeline with a colored rectangle.
Here is an example of a Video Action which starts at time 1.5s (1.5 seconds) and continues to time 2s (2 seconds):
There are four action types (Video, Audio, Callout, Screen Recording). Each action type controls different Properties. For example, the clip Scale property is controlled by a Video Action, whereas the clip audio volume is controlled by a Audio Action.
The duration of a Callout Action defines how long the callout is in effect. For example, if you have a Callout action that highlights the Mouse Pointer and starts at time 1s (1 second) and continues until time 2s (2 seconds), the Mouse Pointer is highlighted for 1 second. Before 1s and after 2s, the Mouse Pointer is not highlighted.
The other actions are different. They define how long to take
to transition between two states. For example, in the above image, if
the Opacity of the clip (see Video Properties) is set to zero at time
0, and is set to 100% at time 2s, then the purple Video
area
defines how long it takes for the Opacity to ramp up from 0 to 100%
– in the above example image, 2 seconds.
By default, actions are applied to the clip in a linear manner,
so that for example a scaling goes from the starting size to the
ending size, changing the size by equal amounts for each frame. This
may be perceived as too abrupt, so you can modify the rate with which
an action is applied. Curve Type
in the Actions
menu has
the following submenu options:
| Default | Linear transition. |
| Ease-In | Starting slow, speeding up towards the end. |
| Ease-Out | Starting fast, slowing down towards the end. |
| Ease-In & Out | Starting and ending slowly, faster in the middle. |
| None | Apply action immediately. The duration of the action does not matter. |
Actions can be overlapped as long as they are different types. For example, you can overlap a Video Action and an Audio Action, but you cannot overlap two Video Actions.
There are four actions available:
Video Action:
Overrides all properties in the Video Properties.
Audio Action:
Overrides all properties in the Audio Properties.
Screen Recording Action:
Overrides all properties in the Screen Recording Properties.
Callout:
Adds a Callout, which you can edit with Callout Properties.
