Media collections

Let’s open our first movie and create a test scene.

Now, open the Media > Shape menu and add a red circle to the stage.

Select the circle and, in the right menu, open the Instances and Current Instance groups.

Note that TilBuci gave an automatic name not only to the instance, but also to the collection and the asset.

Open the collection window by clicking Media > Scene collections.

Notice that we have a collection for our scene, the one we just added. Clicking on it, we see that it contains only one asset, the red circle. See that the names are those previously shown in Current Instance.

With the collection selected, change the name and click Update selected collection. You’ll see the change immediately in the collections list.

Still with the collection selected, select the Shape asset and click Set selected asset properties.

Change the asset name and click Apply changes to return to the previous screen.

See that the name of your asset is already different in the list. Now just click on Apply changes to current collections and confirm the change.

Back in the scene, select the red circle again and see that both the collection and asset names are already updated. Take the opportunity to save your scene.

Now, go to Media > Scene collections again and select your collection.

Search for Add asset by media type, select Shape and click Add in the asset to selected collection.

The shape generator will appear. Create a green square and click Add as new asset.

See that our collection now has 2 assets. Click on the new asset in the list, called Shape, and Set selected asset properties.

Give the new asset a name and click Apply changes.

See that the asset has already been renamed in the list. Select your green square and click Apply all changes and add selected asset to stage. Confirm your decision.

Back in the scene, select your green square. Note that the collection indicated is the same as the red circle, but the asset is different. Take the opportunity to save your scene once again.

Open the collections window once again by going to Media > Scene collections. Select your collection and the red circle asset.

Now, click on the Apply changes and add selected asset to stage button.

You will see that a new red circle has been added. Check the list of assets. Notice that a new circle wasn’t created: it’s the same one as before, added twice to your scene!

Using collections allows you to reuse media, avoiding the need to create the same asset multiple times.

Save your scene. Now, let’s create a new one.

Access the Media > Add from collection menu.

The Movie media collections window will appear. In this window there is a list of all collections used in your movie that have not yet been incorporated into the current scene.

Select the collection we created for the previous scene, the green square asset and click Add selected asset to stage.

See that the green square we created in the other scene was incorporated into this one. Using collections also allows you to create general libraries for your movie, used in more than one scene.