Video | LightAct 4 Docs

Render

Blend mode: determines the blend mode that's going to be used when rendering the texture onto a mapping. The options are the familiar ones such as Normal (alpha), Screen, Multiply etc.
Opacity: determines the opacity with which texture when rendered onto the mapping.
Mapping: determines the mapping through which the texture is going to be rendered onto the object. Options are directly onto one of the viewport objects, such as the a video screen, on one of the canvases for further splitting or on one of the throwers for 3D dependent mapping of the content.
Clip mode: determines how the content is rendered onto the mapping. Options are:
- Pixel perfect: renders the texture as it is without and stretching, scaling or cropping
- Fit: scales the texture proportionally so that it fits the mapping. If aspect ratios are different, there will be empty areas in the mapping.
- Crop: fills the mapping in its entirety. If aspect ratios are different, the texture is going to get cropped
- Stretch: fills the entire mapping but if the aspect ratios of the texture and the mapping are different, there will be stretching
Angle: rotates the texture by the specified angle in degrees.
Anchor at center: if unchecked the texture is going to be rotated around the top left corner, if checked, it's going to be rotated around the center.
X: moves the texture by X pixels horizontally
Y: moves the texture by Y pixels vertically

Media

Video asset: select the video asset you want to play.
Speed multiplier: adjusts the playback speed of the chosen video asset. 1 means unchanged.
Free run: if checked, it will cause the video to ignore position of the play head and to play even when the timeline is in pause mode.
Loop: if checked the video will loop when it reaches the end.
Hold last frame: if checked and Loop is unchecked, the video will hold the last frame after the end is reached. Otherwise, you'll see a black texture.
Frame blending: if checked, 2 consecutive frames of the video will get blended proportionally if the framerate of the video is different from the project's framerate. This should be left checked in 99% of cases.
Video texture: the video frame is saved into this texture variable which is then passed through all texture processing steps. Useful for layer connections.
Auto rename: if checked the video layer is going to always take the name of the video asset that's currently playing.

Audio

Volume: determines the volume of the playback of audio embedded in the chosen video file.
Audio output: determines the Audio output device through which the embedded audio is going to be played.

Resize

Resize: if checked the texture is going to get resized.
New resolution: if Resize checkbox is checked, the texture is going to get resized to the New resolution.

Flip

Flip horizontal: if checked, the texture is going to get flipped horizontally.
Flip vertical: if checked, the texture is going to get flipped vertically.

Color adjustment

Vibrance: adjusts the vibrance of the texture.
Hue: adjusts the hue of the texture.
Contrast: adjusts the contrast of the texture.
Brightness: adjusts the brightness of the texture.
Saturation: adjusts the saturation of the texture.

Channel multiply

Multiplies individual channels (Red, Green, Blue, Alpha) of the texture by the chosen factor.

Channel invert

Inverts individual channels (Red, Green, Blue, Alpha) of the texture.

Blur

Blurs the texture.

Blur strength: strength of the blur algorithm.
Blur size: size of the area where blur is applied.

Crop

Crops the texture. You can adjust crop levels for every corner separately in pixels.

Softedge

Adjusts the softedge of the texture. You can adjust softedge corners of all 4 corners. If you open the Layout and find the Softedge node, you can make finer modifications of the softedge.

Warp

Adjusts the perspective warping of the texture. You can adjust 4 perspective warp points of the texture. If you open the Layout and find the Warp node, you'll be able to make finer adjustments of the warping if you desire so.

1. Insert a video layer

There are several ways to insert a video layer.

Right click in the timeline, go to Content category and select Video

Alternatively, type in Video in the search box and hit Enter.

With a shortcut

You can also insert it by holding V and them clicking somewhere in the Timeline with your left mouse button.

By dropping a video asset

You can also create a video layer by dragging a video asset on the timeline.

2. Choosing the media asset

You can choose media asset by choosing it in the dropdown.

Drag & drop

If you drag an asset onto any layer that has Video asset variable in it, that variable is going to get assigned to the dragged asset.

DMX or Curves

You can also control the selected asset with the flags on the right of the variable.

3. Choosing the mapping

You can select the mapping through a dropdown.

Drag & drop

If you drag a video screen, a thrower or a canvas onto any layer that has a Mapping variable in it, that variable is going to get assigned to the dragged asset.