User Manual

Any company, product or service names found in this document may be the trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.

Action!

Gameplay and screen recorder

Thank you for choosing Action! product.

Action! allows real-time recording/capture and live

streaming of Windows desktop in a superb HD video

quality. With Action! you can benchmark and display

game framerates, record or stream your gameplay,

add live audio commentary to create high quality

tutorials, add webcams and more!

Action! is compact, stylish and user friendly.

With outstanding performance and sleek design

Action! defines a new standard of user experience for

real-time gameplay and desktop recording and

streaming software. Enjoy!

Visit Action! home page:

https://mirillis.com/en/products/action.html

TABLE OF CONTENTS
3
 Minimum System Requirements 4  
 Recommended System Requirements 5  
 Installation 6  
 Product Activation 7  
 User Inerface – Action! HUD 8  
 User Inerface – Action! Window overview 9  
 User Inerface – Action! Tabs 10 
 Video recording 11 
 Games & Applications recording 13 
 Time-shift recording 14 
 Active Screen recording 15 
 Selected Applications window recording 16 
 Web Videos recording in 60 FPS 17 
 Selected Application recording mode 18 
 Device recording mode 19 
 Adding webcams to video recordings 20 
 Live Streaming Introduction 21 
 Live Streaming – Broadcast settings 22 
 Live Streaming 23 
 Action! RCU 24 
 Audio recording 25 
 Video & Audio recording Playback  29 
 Benchmarking 30 
 Capture screenshots 31 
 Export recordings – introduction 32 
 Export recordings – settings 33 
 Export recordings – export completed view 34 
 Exporting to YouTube 35 
 Exporting to Facebook 36 
 General settings 37 
 Video recording settings 38 
 Webcam settings 40 
 Audio settings 43 
 Microphone settings 44 
 HUD settings 45 
 Export settings 46 
 Overlay Graphic settings 47 
 How to add chat overlay 50 
 How to add animated logo 51 
 Drawing Panel 53 
 How to add bookmarks 54 
 How to add to excluded processes 55 
 How to add translation  56
 Default Hotkeys  58

MINIMUM SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

OPERATING SYSTEM

Windows Vista®, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1, Windows 10

DirectX® and latest graphics card drivers

Running Action! requires administrator rights.

Action! LIVE Streaming requires internet connection.

RAM MEMORY

512MB

GRAPHICS CARD REQUIREMENTS

Direct3D 9.0 compatible with Pixel Shader 2.0 support

SOUND CARD

DirectX® compatible

CPU

Intel® Celeron® 1.4GHz or equivalent processor

(SSE2 required)

RECOMMENDED SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

HARDWARE ACCELERATED VIDEO RECORDING

DIRECTLY TO MP4 FILE FORMAT / HD STREAMING

Intel® processor with Intel® Quick Sync Video support.

NVIDIA® graphics card with NVENC support.

AMD Radeon™ with AMD Video Codec Engine (VCE) support.

The latest graphics drivers.

HARDWARE ACCELERATED VIDEO ENCODING

FOR EXPORT PROCESS

Intel® Sandy Bridge processor with Intel® Quick Sync Video support.

NVIDIA® graphics card with NVENC support.

NVIDIA® graphics card with NVIDIA® CUDA support.

AMD Radeon™ with AMD Video Codec Engine (VCE) support

H.265/HEVC hardware acceleration for video recording directly to MP4 file format

and for AVI recordings exporting

NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 960, GTX 965M or higher with NVIDIA NVENC support (up to

4K). NVIDIA GPU driver R358 or above is required

The latest graphics drivers.

OPERATING SYSTEM

Windows Vista®, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1, Windows 10

DirectX® and latest graphics card drivers

Windows Aero enabled for high quality desktop recording on Windows Vista and

Windows 7

Running Action! requires administrator rights.

Action! LIVE Streaming and Remote Action! require internet connection.

RAM MEMORY

1024MB (1GB)

GRAPHICS CARD REQUIREMENTS

Full Direct3D 10.0 compatible with Pixel Shader 4.0 support

SOUND CARD

DirectX® compatible

CPU

Intel® Core™ 2 Duo 2.0GHz or equivalent processor

INSTALLATION

Action! Installer

Installation

Please remember to use Action! installation file

from a trusted source.

Run Action! installation file and follow the

instructions on the screen. Action! installation

should take a minute or two.

Trial version

After installation Action! will be available as a 30-

day trial and all video recordings will include a

watermark. Product activation is required to

record and LIVE stream videos without

watermark and to continue using the application

after trial period.

Video playback

Action! includes internal basic player dedicated

for video recordings playback.

To playback Action! video recordings in AVI

and MP4 file format you can also use Splash

media player. Splash provides additional

features like SmartSeek, Audio boost, Screen

capture and more. Splash player is available

for download at Mirillis website:

https://mirillis.com/en/downloads/downloads_action.html

PRODUCT ACTIVATION

Activation Key

A trial version of Action! can be activated to full

version with an activation key (it may be also

called serial number).

To get an activation key you have to purchase

Action! license. Valid

e-mail address will be required for product

purchase.

Action! is available for purchase at Mirillis online

store:

https://mirillis.com/en/store/onlinestore.html

Product activation

Click activation button to

open

Activation

window, press

“Activate”

button and enter your activation key. Please

make sure that you have entered activation key

correctly. Click “

Activate”

button.

If you have any questions or problems with

Action! activation please read FAQ on Mirillis

website or contact us using online Contact form

available on Mirillis website.

Remember to keep your activation key safe!

“About” window – Activation

USER INTERFACE - ACTION! HUD

Status icons

Action! HUD status icons:

HUD display position

When Action! is running you can adjust HUD display

position to your needs with F7 hotkey. Please note

that changing HUD display position with a hotkey

does not change “HUD Startup Position” setting.

To change “HUD Startup Position” please check HUD

display settings.

You can hide/show Action! HUD with F6 hotkey.

Reset average framerate

Average framerate value can be easily reset with F5

hotkey.

About Action! HUD

The Action! user interface consists of 2 parts:

Action! window and HUD. HUD is displayed

when Action! is connected to your desktop,

games or applications and provides following

information:

1) current framerate

2) average framerate

3) 3D engine detected

4) status icon

5) progress bar (available for time limited

recordings)

6) free disk space left

7) recording time

8) microphone volume indicator

Normal status for active screen, game

or application

Recording in progress

Normal status for not active screen,

game or application

Recording paused

Time-Shift recording

Saving recording to a file

Benchmarking in progress

Capturing screenshot

Live streaming in progress

USER INTERFACE - ACTION! WINDOW OVERVIEW

1. Action! tabs panel

Action! tabs provide access to all Action! features:

video recording, live streaming, benchmarking,

capturing screenshots and Action! settings.

2. Options panel

All options available for selected tab.

3. Top menu

Provides quick access to Action! settings, Accounts

manager, drawing panel etc.

4. File manager and Preview area

Use file manager to manage all your recordings and

screenshots or switch to Preview mode to check

your recordings and streamings setup.

Video Recording

Video Recording tab provides all basic options for

desktop, gameplay and applications recording.

Use the manager to play, delete or export your

recordings.

Live Streaming

Live Streaming tab provides all options for Action!

Live Streaming functionality.

You can check streaming status and setup all

streaming options using this tab.

Audio Recording

Audio Recording tab provides all options for audio

recording functionality. With audio recordings

manager you can play and delete your recordings.

USER INTERFACE - ACTION! TABS

About button

This button is available after product activation

and provides basic information about activation

status and current product version.

Capture Screenshots

Capture Screenshots tab provides options for

capturing screenshots. Use the manager to preview

and delete screenshots saved on your hard disk

Benchmarking

Benchmarking tab provides options for games and

applications benchmarking. With the manager you

can preview and delete benchmarks saved on your

hard disk.

Settings

Settings tab provides access to several Action!

settings categories.

Recordings manager

List of video recordings

List of recordings contains thumbnail view of all

Action! video recordings from selected folder.

Use mouse double click on a thumbnail to start

selected video playback.

Manager buttons

The manager contains several buttons providing

access to following actions:

●

Delete selected recording(s)

●

Start playback of selected video

●

Open output folder

●

Export selected video

●

Export selected video to Facebook

●

Export video to YouTube

Video recording options

File format

AVI - very high video quality, using Mirillis

proprietary FICV video codec

MP4 - small file size, ready to upload to YouTube

Video size

This option allows to select output video recording

resolution.

Video scaling does not work for DirectX 8 games

and applications recording in AVI file format. In

this cases video is recorded in

Original

game or

application resolution.

VIDEO RECORDING - INTRODUCTION

Video recording

With Action! you can record your gameplay,

desktop and applications in a superb HD

video quality.

For recorded video playback instructions

please see chapter

Video and audio

recordings playback

Action! window

Video recording tab

Duration

Allows to limit your recording time to a specific

duration.

Time-Shift

With Time-Shift you will not lose any spectacular

video game action! Please see Time-Shift

Recording chapter page for more information.

Microphone

Allows to enable or disable microphone

recording. More settings for microphone are

available in Settings tab - Microphone Settings.

Webcam

Allows to selected webcam device and enable

or disable webcam recording. Advanced

webcam settings are available in Settings tab –

Webcam Settings.

Application

Option available only for Selected application

recording mode. This option allows to select

one application that will be recorded.

Primary/Secondary Sound Device

These options allow you to manage audio in

your video recordings. Please read Audio

Recording chapter page for more information.

VIDEO RECORDING - INTRODUCTION

Video framerate

Allows to select video recording framerate.

Recording mode

Recording modes available:

Game view with Action! HUD

Games & applications mode

Action! HUD on desktop

Active screen mode

Games & applications

Active screen

Active desktop region

Device recording

GAMES & APPLICATIONS RECORDING

Action! window

Games and applications recording mode

Start recording

Application recording button is not

available for Games & applications recording

mode. Use F9 hotkey to start recording, stop

video recording by pressing F9 hotkey again.

Please note that game or application must be

active to start or stop video recording.

To pause / resume video recording use

Shift+F9 hotkey.

Action! HUD

If you do not want to include HUD in recordings

please check

Do not record HUD in games and

applications

option in Settings/HUD or hide HUD

before recording start with F6 hotkey.

Introduction

Games & applications recording mode is

dedicated to record gameplay and other

DirectX or OpenGL applications.

This recording mode provides exclusive Time-

Shift option. Please see next page to read

more aboutTime-Shift Recording.

Recordings options

Select

Games & applications

recording mode to let Action! automatically

select DirectX and OpenGL games and

applications for recording. When this mode is

selected Action! HUD will be displayed in all

supported games and applications, showing

that Action! Is ready to start recording.

Game view with Action! HUD

Gameplay recording in progress

TIME-SHIFT RECORDING

Introduction

Time-Shift

option keeps recording all your

current gameplay action in a short loop

buffer providing possibility to instantly save

your last gameplay actions to a file with a

single hotkey.

With

Time-Shift

you will not lose any

spectacular video game action!

Time-Shift settings

Size - You can set maximum size of the time-

shift file.

Folder (Temp) - select folder where

temporary time-shift files will be stored.

Please note that those settings are not

available when Time-Shift option is enabled.

Please note that Time-Shift duration is limited,

minimum duration is 10 seconds and maximum

duration is limited to 13 minutes.

Action! Window with

Time-Shift option enabled

Time-Shift recording

To use Time-Shift, switch Action! to

Games

& applications

recording mode, enable Time-

Shift option and select your preferred Time-

Shift duration.

Run a game and check the Action! HUD

status. Time-Shift recording is

Indicated with the following icon:

To save Time-Shift recording to a file press a

hotkey (Left ALT + F9).

Please note that saving Time-Shift takes more time

than saving standard video recording.

Time-Shift settings window

ACTIVE SCREEN RECORDING

Introduction

Active screen recording mode allows to

record everything that happens on your

screen: all applications, games, all windows

and user actions. You can record live audio

commentary and create tutorials with ease.

Recordings options

To record your screen please select

Active

screen

recording mode

Select active screen

For multi-display setup Action! allows to

select which screen will be recorded. Use F8

hotkey to change active desktop.

Action! HUD

If you do not want to include Action! HUD in

recordings please check

Hide HUD during desktop recording

option in

Settings/HUD or hide HUD manually before

recording start with F6 hotkey.

Desktop view with

Active screen recording in progress

Start recording

Press start recording icon or press F9 on

keyboard to start screen recording. You can stop

video recording by pressing recording icon or F9

hotkey again.

To pause / resume video recording use

Shift+F9 hotkey.

SELECTED APPLICATIONS WINDOW RECORDING WITH REGION MODE

Start recording

Press start recording icon or press F9

on keyboard to start active desktop region

video recording. Region frame turns red

during recording process. You can stop video

recording by pressing recording icon or F9

hotkey again.

Introduction

With

Active desktop region

recording mode

you can easily record selected applications

windows.

Recordings options

To record selected application window area

please select

Active desktop region

recording mode

This mode switches Action! window to

region recording mode. If you wish to switch

back to main Action! window press

region recording mode

button .

Selecting window

In region recording mode please enable

Snap

to windows

option (hotkey: S) to easily

fit region to applications windows.

Move mouse cursor over applications

windows and region will automatically match

application window area. If you need to adjust

your region size or position click mouse

button or press S hotkey to disable

Snap to

windows

and adjust your region using mouse

or keyboard.

Selecting application window

wtih

Snap to window

option enabled

WEB VIDEOS RECORDING IN 60FPS

Start recording

Start source video playback and press start

recording icon or press F9 on keyboard

to start desktop video recording. You can

stop video recording by pressing recording

icon or F9 hotkey again.

Introduction

With Action! you can record videos from

websites and other applications in real-time.

Action! allows to record videos from defined

display region, selected application window

or in fullscreen mode.

For the best results it is recommended to

record videos in following ways:

●

with

Video framerate

set to 60 in Action!

Video Recording

settings

●

with

Video framerate

set to original source

video framerate

Recordings options

Video framerate

To record videos with 60fps please set

Video

framerate

value to 60.

Recording mode

For fullscreen video recording it is

recommended to set

Active screen

mode.

If source video is not played in fullscreen

please change recording mode to

Active

desktop region

and adjust your region

size and position to fit the source video

picture. Enable

Snap to windows

option

(hotkey: S) to easily fit your region to source

video area.

SELECTED APPLICATION RECORDING MODE

Selecting application

Click Select application to record dropdown to

show list of all applications available for

recording and find and select application that

you would like to record.

Start recording

Press start recording button or press F9 on your

keyboard to start video recording. You can stop

video recording by pressing recording button or

F9 hotkey again.

Introduction

Selected application recording mode allows

to record video only from one, selected by

user, application. This mode guarantees that

no other application will be included in your

final video recording. All screen area outside

your selected application will be recorded as

black area.

To use Selected application recording mode

press button to switch Action! to

Active screen recording mode and enable

Application option at the bottom of the

screen.

You may find this recording mode very

useful for LIVE Streaming, as it guarantees

that no other than desired information will

be live streamed and shared online.

Selected application recording

DEVICE RECORDING MODE

Setup

To record video devices press button to

switch Action! to device recording mode.

Now

select your device from Input device dropdown

and set your preferred capture resolution.

Device preview

To check video preview for selected Input device

switch Action! to preview mode.

Start recording

Press start recording button or press F9 on your

keyboard to start video recording. You can stop

video recording by pressing recording button or

F9 hotkey again.

Introduction

Select device recording mode to capture

video from various video devices. Add your

own logo, webcam, microphone commentary

and record video to your local disk or live

stream to popular services.

Example external video devices that can be

recorded with Action! device recording mode:

●

Game consoles

●

Webcams

●

Other PCs

●

Camcorders

●

TV devices

●

Tablets and smartphones

Device recording mode with preview

window

Connection diagram showing example use

of device recording mode.

GAME CONSOLE

TV WEBCAM

CAPTURE DEVICE

ADDING WEBCAMS TO VIDEO RECORDINGS

Action! allows to add picture from webcams

and other capturing devices to all real-time

gameplay and desktop/screen recordings.

Open Webcam Settings to setup webcam

recording. Video recording tab allows to

select webcam device and enable webcam

recording. More settings are available in

Webcam settings.

Adding webcam is very easy with user

friendly options and webcam preview screen.

Use Webcam Preview tick available at the

top-left Action! window to enable webcam

preview showing webcam position and size

in video recording.

Action! Webcam Settings

LIVE STREAMING INTRODUCTION

Enable Action! LIVE Streaming

To enable LIVE Streaming open Action! LIVE

tab and check Enable Action! LIVE Streaming

option.

Introduction

You can not only record everything on your

PC, but you can also share it online with LIVE

Streaming functionality. With Action! you can

easily live stream your gameplays or desktop

activity to streaming services like Twitch.TV,

hitbox, Facebook or YouTube.

Trial version lets you test LIVE Streaming

functionality for free, but Action! watermark

will be added to all streamed videos.

Watermark will be removed after activating

Action! with activation key.

Action! Live Streaming tab

LIVE STREAMING - BROADCAST SETTINGS

Streaming service

This option allows to setup

streaming service where your live

stream videos will be published.

You can select one from several popular

predefined streaming services or setup your

custom service.

Twitch.tv, YouTube, hitbox and Facebook

services require to log in to your account

before starting live streaming. You may be

also asked to allow Action! application to

publish to your account when using Action!

for the first time.

Please note, that you must use Custom settings if

you want to live stream to selected Facebook

page/channel and provide a stream key. Using

Facebook service settings your live stream will be

published on your wall.

Record streamed video to disk

This option allows to save streamed videos

to the local hard disk in MP4 format.

Auto-reconnect

Allows to automatically restore lost

connection with streaming service.

Video size

You can select broadcasted video size. To

stream in resolution higher than 1080p

please select original video size.

Framerate & Bitrate

Options allow to select video framerate and

bitrate.

Action! Live Streaming Account Manager

Learn more with Action! LIVE Streaming tutorials:

https://mirillis.com/en/products/tutorials/tutorials.html

LIVE STREAMING

Action! HUD

After live streaming start HUD status

changes showing that live streaming is in

progress:

HUD displays LIVE status, 3D engine

detected, current framerate and streaming

duration and current number of your live

stream viewers (available for selected

services only).

Start streaming

Setup all streaming options and make sure

that “Enable Action! Live Streaming” option

is checked.

To start LIVE streaming use Start/Stop

streaming button or CTRL+F9 hotkey. You

can stop streaming by pressing Ctrl+F9

hotkey or a button again.

Please note that game or application must

be active to start or stop video streaming

using Games & applications recording mode.

Action! Live Streaming in progress

Action! RCU

Enable Action! RCU

To enable Action! RCU please open Action!

General settings, enable Action! RCU and

restart Action!

Run Action! RCU app on your mobile device

and select your PC from Action! RCU

computer list.

Action! RCU app features:

●

Start,stop and pause recordings

●

Start and stop LIVE Streaming

●

Display recorded webcams preview

●

Display FPS information

●

Display video recording time

●

Display 3D engine

●

Display free disk space

Introduction

Free Action! RCU app allows to control your

Action! gameplay and screen recordings with

Android mobile devices! Start, stop, pause

video recordings, display framerate

statistics, webcams preview and video

recording time.

To install Action! RCU on your mobile device

search for “Action! RCU” on Google Play.

Please note that your mobile device and PC

must be connected to the same local

network.

Action! RCU mobile app

AUDIO RECORDING

Action! window

Audio recording tab

Record silence

Activate this option to let Action! record

audio even when there is no system sound

playing.

Microphone

Enable microphone to add live audio

commentary to your audio recordings.

Start recording

Press start recording icon or press Crtl

+ F10 on keyboard to start audio recording.

You can stop audio recording by pressing

recording icon or Crtl + F10 hotkey again.

Recording options

Duration

Enable this option when you want to record

audio for a specific time duration.

Output format

You can select WAV or MP4 Audio output

format. MP4 Audio format makes your

recordings compact and ready to playback

with modern audio playback devices.

Allow multi-channel audio recording

When enabled allows multi-channel audio

recording (i.e. 5.1 audio).

Introduction

Action! can record everything you hear on

your PC. Audio recording function allows to

record music and audio sounds from games,

applications or videos. Using microphone

you can easily create podcasts.

AUDIO RECORDING

recommended to set audio device to “System

default”. If you change this option to any other

device e.g. a microphone, the system sounds

(e.g. audio from a game) will not be included in a

video. Use “Volume” slider to adjust device's

volume. To record system sounds and

microphone, set “Primary Sound Device” to

“System default” enable microphone and select

the microphone you want to record. Again, use

“Volume” slider below “Microphone” option to

adjust microphone's volume. If you don’t want to

include any audio in your video disable the

option “Record system sounds” in main Audio

settings. Please remember that if you disable

the option “Record system sounds”, your

microphone will also not be included in the

recording, so there will be no sound in your

video.

three separate files. In this case you will have no

sound in your video.

5. Recording up to 4 audio tracks

simultaneously: microphone to the same file as

video and system sounds but separate track and

additionally including up to two more audio

devices recorded to two other separate audio

files - select this option if you have more audio

devices you want to record for further editing in

a video editor.

Recording video and audio

into one file.

The basic audio track is included in a video, you

can record e.g. video, microphone and system

sounds into one file. Go to main Video Recording

tab and enable “Primary Sound Device” option

and set audio device to “System default”.

“System default” allows you to record the device

selected in your operating system. If you want to

record e.g. audio from a game, it is highly

ACTION! ALLOWS TO RECORD AUDIO IN A

SEVERAL DIFFERENT WAYS:

1. Recording video and audio into one file -

choose this option if you want to have your video

and all audio (microphone and system

sounds/audio from a game) included into one

recording.

2. Recording audio to the separate track but the

same file as video - you might find this option

useful for further video editing in Sony Vegas or

other video editor.

3. Recording audio and video to two separate

files - select this option if you don’t want to

record microphone in the same file as video and

system sounds/audio from a game, but you

want to have your microphone recorded

separately to another file for further editing.

4. Recording audio and video to three separate

files, e.g. video, microphone and system sounds

- select this option if you want to have a video,

microphone and system sounds recorded to

AUDIO RECORDING

Recording audio and video to

two separate files

To record your audio device (e.g. a microphone)

to separate audio file go to main Video

Recording tab, select “Enable/disable additional

audio recording into separate audio file” option

and select audio device you want to record. In

this way, you will record your video and system

sound to one file and your microphone to other

separate file.

In “Microphone” settings, enable the option

“Record microphone into separate audio track”.

You are not able to see a separate track in the

interface when the recording is finished, but

after uploading your recording to video editor,

the separate audio track will be visible and

editable. “Microphone” settings allow you also to

set the volume balance between left and right

channel of your microphone. We strongly

recommend leaving this option set to 100% and

adjust it only when there is a problem with

recording microphone on one channel only. If

your system sounds/audio from a game is too

loud, then simple adjust volume levels for

primary sound device and microphone. Please

remember to enable the option “Record system

sound” in main Audio settings - if this option is

disabled no microphone sound will be recorded.

Recording audio to the

separate track but the same

file as video

To record microphone to the same file as video

but separate audio track, go to main Video

Recording tab, enable microphone and open

microphone settings.

AUDIO RECORDING

However, if you want to have three separate files

located in the main Video Recording view,

change the microphone file location to the same

as video .

To do this, open Audio Recording tab (speaker

icon) and on the left side of user interface

change the “Folder”, selecting the same folder

you have selected for recording your Video.

To record system sound to separate audio file

(not include in a video), go to main Audio

settings, disable the option “Record system

sounds”, then go to main Video Recording tab,

select “Enable/disable additional audio

recording into separate audio file” option and

select “System default”.

Next make sure that “Microphone” option in

main Video Recording tab is disabled.

Now if you want to record your microphone,

system sounds and video simultaneously, you

will need to set one hotkey (e.g. F10) for all

these options. Go to “Settings” and open

“Hotkeys” tab. Choose one hotkey (e.g. F10) for

“Record Video” and “Record Audio” options.

Now after pressing F10 hotkey, in the main

Video Recording view you will see two active

thumbnails: one for video and the second for

system sounds. To see active microphone

thumbnail go to Audio Recording tab.

Recording audio and video to

three separate files

To record your video, system sounds and

microphone to three separate files follow the

instruction below: To add first separate audio file

to your recording, open Audio Recording tab

(speaker icon), select audio device (e.g.

microphone) and file format.

VIDEO & AUDIO RECORDINGS PLAYBACK

Video tab manager

Audio recordings playback

Select an audio recording and click

play icon or use mouse double click on

a thumbnail to start recording playback.

Audio recording will be played using system

default application for WAV/M4A audio file

format.

Video recordings playback

Action! includes internal fast player

dedicated for video recordings playback.

Select a video recording and click play icon

or use mouse double click on a

thumbnail to start video recording playback.

To playback all Action! video recordings in

AVI and MP4 format you can also use Splash

media player. Splash provides additional

features like SmartSeek, Audio boost, Screen

capture and more.

Splash player is available for download at

Mirillis website:

https://mirillis.com/en/downloads/downloads.html

Video recording playback

BENCHMARKING

Action! window

Benchmarking in progress...

Start benchmarking

Press start benchmarking icon or press

F11 on keyboard to start recording

benchmark results. You can stop

benchmarking by pressing icon or F11

hotkey again.

Benchmark button is not available for

Games

& applications

recording mode selected in

Video recordings tab. Please note that in this

mode game or application must be active to

start or stop benchmarking using a hotkey.

Benchmark files

Select a benchmark file in manager list and

click open icon or use mouse double

click on a thumbnail to view selected

benchmark results.

Benchmark file will be opened using system

default application for CSV file format or a

default web browser for HTML files.

Benchmarking options

Duration

Enable this option when you want to record

benchmark results for a specific duration.

Introduction

Action! allows to benchmark desktop and all

supported DirectX or OpenGL games and

applications performance. Benchmark

results are saved in popular CSV or HMTL

file format.

CAPTURE SCREENSHOTS

Action! window

Capture screenshots tab

Capture screenshot

Press capture screenshot button or

press F12 on your keyboard to capture a

screenshot.

Capture screenshot button is not available

for

Games & applications

recording mode

selected in Video recordings tab. Use F12

hotkey to capture screenshots of your active

games and applications.

Capture options

File format

Allows to select one of available output file

formats: BMP, PNG, JPG.

Screenshot area

For multi-display setups it is possible to

select to capture a screenshot from all

screens or from a single screen only. This

option is available for

Active screen

recording mode selected in Video Recording

tab.

Introduction

Action! allows to capture screenshots of

your desktop and all supported DirectX or

OpenGL games and applications.

Select a screenshot in manager list and

click open icon or use mouse double

click on a thumbnail to view selected

screenshot.

Introduction

Action! allows to export your AVI video recordings

to all popular formats and devices. Your video

recordings are exported to MP4 file format and the

exported video is coded using H.264/AVC or

H.265/HEVC video compression standard, exported

audio is coded using AAC compression standard

(supported outputs are Stereo or 5.1).

All your MP4 video recordings can be uploaded

directly to YouTube or Facebook.

Export window

To start exporting, select a recording on your

recordings list and click

Export

button . To

hide all Action! windows click “hide” icon in the top

right corner of the Export window. Use “close” icon

to close the window, using “close” icon will stop all

exporting or uploading processes.

Exporting to YouTube and Facebook

YouTube and Facebook export profiles contain 2

settings pages (export and upload settings) and

automatically upload the exported file after

export process is completed. Use

buttons to navigate through YouTube and

Facebook profile settings pages.

EXPORT RECORDINGS - INTRODUCTION

Export window - Export settings

Output profile

Action! output profiles contain popular video

resolutions and predefined profiles for popular

devices providing fast and easy exporting setup.

Video size

With Video size list you can easily set your output

video size and framerate.

Please note, that Action! Export does not offer

video upscaling and only lower or equal resolutions

to your input resolution are available.

Video bitrate

Action! default video bitrate setting provides

high quality video. You can lower the video

bitrate setting to create smaller files or set

higher bitrate for better video quality.

Audio Track and Output

With audio settings you can disable audio

output.

Output size

Shows the estimated size of exported file. Green

color indicates that the exported file will be

smaller than the input file, red color indicates

that the exported file will be larger than the

input file.

Export window - Export in progress

EXPORT RECORDINGS - SETTINGS

Hardware acceleration

The GPU icon is displayed whenever hardware

acceleration for video encoding is used during

exporting.

Export completed

Export completed view contains short information

about exported file and icons providing fast access

to popular actions:

Export completed

PLAY

Starts playback of the exported file.

OPEN FOLDER

Opens the folder where the exported

file has been saved.

EXPORT RECORDINGS - EXPORT COMPLETED VIEW

AMD video encoding acceleration

Intel video encoding acceleration

Nvidia video encoding acceleration

YouTube profile

To export AVI recording or upload MP4 video

recording to YouTube please select a recording in

main Action! window and click

button. In Export window YouTube profile will be

automatically selected. Now, click Login with

Google button to continue.

Google button. Login to your Google account and

select your target channel

For AVI recordings, please setup all exporting

options and click next button to show

YouTube settings page.

Privacy settings

●

Public (anyone can search for and view -

recommended)

●

Unlisted - means that only people who know

the link to the video can view it. The video will

not appear in any of YouTube's public spaces,

such as search results, your channel, or the

Browse page, but the link can be shared with

anyone.

●

Private (only specific YouTube users can view)

Start exporting to YouTube

Please read the Terms of Use displayed at the

top of the window and press START button to

upload a file to the selected service. Please

remember that you must be logged in to access

START button.

EXPORTING TO YOUTUBE

YouTube upload setup

Facebook profile

To export AVI recording or upload MP4 video

recording to Facebook please select a recording in

main Action! window and click

button. In Export window Facebook profile will be

automatically selected. Now, use Login with

Facebook button to continue.

Facebook button. Login to your Facebook account.

You may be asked for Mirillis Streamer application

authorization when using Action! for the first time.

For AVI recordings, please setup all exporting

options and click next button to show

Facebook settings page.

Privacy controls:

●

Public (Everyone)

●

Private

●

Friends Only

●

Friends of Friends

Start exporting to Facebook

Please read the Terms of Use displayed at the top

of the window and press START button. Please

remember that you must be logged in to access

START button.

EXPORTING TO FACEBOOK

Facebook upload setup

START APPLICATION MINIMIZED TO TRAY

When you are familiar with hotkeys you can select

this option to start Action! minimized to tray. To

show Action! window double click Action! tray icon.

HIDE ACTION! WINDOW ON DESKTOP

RECORDING START

Select this option to hide Action! window to tray

mode before desktop recording starts.

SHOW ACTION! WINDOW WHEN DESKTOP

RECORDING IS FINISHED

This option shows Action! window when

desktop recording is finished. You can

immediately start playback, delete recordings or

export and upload recordings to YouTube or

Facebook.

HIDE PREVIEW ON RECORDING.STREAMING

START ( FOR BETTER PERFORMANCE)

This option automatically closes preview when

starting recording/streaming.

RUN ACTION! ON WINDOWS START

This option allows to automatically run Action! on

system startup.

ENABLE ACTION! RCU

Enable this option to remotely control recordings

with free Action! RCU app

EXCLUDED PROCESSES

This option allows you to exclude selected

application, so Action! won't detect this application.

GENERAL SETTINGS

Action! General settings

LANGUAGE

Allows to change Action! user interface language.

CHECK FOR UPDATES

This option enables automatic updates. Product

update availability is checked on application start

and application will ask you to install the update

when it is available.

Action! Exclude processes window

VIDEO RECORDING SETTINGS

INPUT RANGE

For most video recordings it is recommended to

use wide input range (0-255). However in some

cases (in example web videos or fullscreen

videos recording) narrow input range (16-235)

may give a better result.

USE MULTICORE RECORDING

Action! uses an optimized, multicore video

encoding algorithm for video recording. In some

cases single core encoding may result in better

performance. Disable this option to let Action!

encode video (during recording) utilizing only a

single CPU core.

RECORD MOUSE CURSOR

This option adds mouse cursor

to recorded video.

VISUALIZE MOUSE CLICKS

This option helps to create fantastic and clear

tutorials by adding animated mouse clicks

visualizations to recorded video.

Mouse click visualizations are only available for

desktop recordings in original video size.

USE HARDWARE ACCELERATION FOR VIDEO

DECODING (WEBCAM)

This option allows to use the power of the

integrated Intel graphics card for decoding video

from a webcam operating in mjpeg format. This

option requires an Intel processor with an

integrated graphics processor supporting Intel

Quick Sync technology.

AUTOMATICALLY SPLITS FILES INTO PARTS

This option allows you to automatically split the

recording into separate files. The recording

automatically ends after the set time has

elapsed and the new recording is started.

Action! Video recording settings

VIDEO QUALITY

Allows to select output video quality for your

recordings. Select “Low” quality to reduce output

file size and increase recording performance.

BITRATE (MP4)

Allows to control output MP4 recordings video

bitrate. Set lower bitrate values to reduce MP4

output file size.

HARDWARE ACCELERATION

Hardware acceleration allows to utilize the

computing power of graphics card to video

encoding.

Leveraging the computing power of graphics card

offloads CPU. This leads to better utilizing of

individual PC components and more efficient work

of operating system.

Action! allows to utilize four different hardware

accelerations: NVIDIA NVENC,

NVIDIA NVENC HEVC, Intel Quick Sync, AMD AMF.

If you have two or more NVIDIA graphics cards

supporting hardware acceleration, you can

additionally decide which one will be used to

record the video.

To do so, please click the settings button that is

located next to hardware acceleration options and

select a card from the list.

VIDEO RECORDING SETTINGS

Hardware acceleration settings

Variable and Constant framerates

VFR - variable framerate - it means that the

frame rate might change actively during video

recording. Action! encodes the video with a

chosen framerate, however, if a PC is not able to

sustain the constant framerate, the framerate

will change to keep the optimal performance.

CFR - constant framerate - in this mode Action!

does not change the framerate trying to keep

constant framerate. However, if the encoder

performance is not enough Action! will ultimately

switch to VFR mode.

The choice of either VFR or CFR is available

only for MP4 format. In AVI format the encoder

works only in CFR mode.

WEBCAM SETTINGS

Webcam settings allow to include picture from

webcam in gameplay and desktop recordings.

RECORDING MODE

This setting allows to set recording mode:

- enable continuous webcam recording

- enable option to record webcam on button

down (default hotkey: F4)

- enable and disable webcam recording using a

hotkey (default hotkey: F4)

- record webcam to separate video file. The

video is recorded in .avi extension

WEBCAM CROP SETTINGS

Allows you to crop webcam's video vertically and

horizontally.

Please note that crop settings can be seen

when in Detailed Webcam preview.

CAPTURE RESOLUTION

Allows to change webcam capture quality.

Please note that higher resolution may impact

overall recording performance. Using resolution

Higher than 1280x720 is not recommended.

VIDEO SIZE

This option allows to control size of the webcam

picture in final video recording.

POSITION

Allows to set webcam horizontal and vertical

position.

CHROMA KEY

With chroma key you can setup Action! To

record your webcam with automatic background

removal. You can additionally use alpha mask to

make your webcam picture fit even better to

your video recording.

Action! Webcam Settings

WEBCAM SETTINGS – GREEN SCREEN

3. Make sure that the background behind you

has a uniform color (e.g. green).

4. Enable the option „Chroma Key”.

5. Click the tool „color picker” and then click the

background to adjust the color of your green

screen.

6. Drag the „Treshold” and „Blend” sliders to get

the best result.

1. Run Action! and open webcam settings.

2. Maximize the camera view.

WEBCAM SETTINGS – How to record webcam into a separate file

Follow steps below to record webcam into

separate file.

1. Go to Video Recording tab and enable

Webcam option.

2. Open Webcam Settings. Webcam Settings

button is right next to selected Webcam device.

3. In Webcam Settings window extend “Capture

mode” list and select “Save webcam video as a

separate file (.avi)” option.

Please note that webcam is saved in avi file.

Recorded file can be exported to MP4 using

Export feature in Action!

“Save webcam as separate file” option

AUDIO SETTINGS

RECORD SYSTEM SOUNDS

This setting allows to disable audio recording.

No audio will be added to your video recordings.

ALLOW MULTI-CHANNEL AUDIO RECORDING

This setting allows to record multi-channel

audio. When option is disabled all audio will be

recorded in stereo format.

AAC BITRATE

This option is used for M4A audio recordings,

MP4 video recordings and video recordings

export.

Action! Audio settings

MICROPHONE SETTINGS

MICROPHONE RECORDING MODE

This setting allows to set recording mode:

- enable continuous microphone recording

- enable option to record microphone on button

down (default hotkey: F4)

- enable and disable microphone recording using

a hotkey (default hotkey: F4)

MICROPHONE VOLUME

This setting controls the microphone input

volume.

RECORD MICROPHONE INTO SEPARATE

AUDIO TRACK

This setting allows to record microphone

commentary to separate audio track.

Recording microphone to separate audio track

won't have any effect while Action! LIVE

Streaming

Action! Microphone settings

AUDIO BALANCE

Audio balance controls the balance between

microphone and system sounds. Adjust this

option to record clear live audio commentary.

Click Reset to default icon to reset microphone

volume and audio balance to default settings.

MICROPHONE OFF DELAY

This option allows to add additional delay to

switching microphone recording off using record

on button down microphone recording mode.

HUD SETTINGS

OPACITY

This setting lets you control Action! HUD opacity.

(available for Windows 7/8/8.1/10 Desktop, D3D9, D3D10,

D3D11, D3D12 and OpenGL)

DO NOT RECORD HUD DURING DESKTOP

RECORDING

Enable this option when you do not want HUD to

be included in your desktop recordings.

DO NOT RECORD HUD

IN GAMES & APPLICATIONS

With this option enabled Action! will display HUD

in games and applications, but HUD will not be

included in your recordings.

HIDE HUD ON ACTION! STARTUP

Enable this option to automatically hide HUD on

every Action! Startup.

SHOW RECORDED WEBCAMS PREVIEW

With this option you can enable recorded

webcam preview in Action! HUD and Action! RCU

app.

SHOW LIVE STREAMING VIEWERS STATISTICS

With this option you can display the current

number of your LIVE stream viewers.

HUD STARTUP POSITION

This setting lets you decide where Action!

displays HUD on startup.

When Action! is running you can change HUD

display position with a hotkey (default hotkey:

F7). Please note that changing HUD display

position with a hotkey does not change “HUD

Startup Position” setting.

Action! HUD settings

HARDWARE ACCELERATION

Use hardware acceleration for video encoding to

speed up exporting process and lower CPU

consumption.

EXPORT MOUSE CURSOR AND MOUSE

CLICKS VISUALIZATIONS

With this option enabled Action! will include

recorded mouse cursor in exported video and

additionally can export mouse clicks

visualizations.

EXPORT OUTPUT FOLDER

This option lets you change the destination

folder for exported files.

EXPORT SETTINGS

Action! Export settings

OVERLAY GRAPHICS SETTINGS

OVERLAY GRAPHICS SCALING

Next to „Overlay graphics” options there is a path

to currently selected file. Click on it to select the

right graphics.

To resize and reposition your logo overlay go to

preview mode.

Enable the option „Overlay graphics” and make

sure that „Draggable mode” option is also

enabled. You can easily change the position of

the graphics by clicking on it and dragging with a

mouse cursor in the preview mode.

To change the size of your graphics overlay or

logo in a preview mode, click on the bottom right

corner of the overlay and move it.

OVERLAY GRAPHICS SETTINGS

Overlay graphics settings allow to add custom

logo and other overlay graphics to recorded

video.

Using overlay graphics you can brand videos with

your own logo or watermark, add frames around

the video etc.

Supported file formats are:

●

BMP

●

JPG

●

PNG (with alpha channel)

Maximum supported input graphics resolution is

3840x2160.

HOW TO ADD CHAT OVERLAY

5. Click “ADD WIDGET”, go to “Miscellaneous” and

select Chat.

6. Adjust the size and position of your widget.

1. Go to player.me

2. Log in using your Twitch/YouTube or other

streaming service account.

3. Go to the left, click “My overlays” tab. Click

“Add overlay” button to create a new overlay.

4. Click on the three dots icon and select edit.

The editor will open in a new tab.

HOW TO ADD CHAT OVERLAY

11. Remember to enable “Custom URL sources” and

“Url 1” options to add your chat to your video and/or

display chat on your screen.

7. Click the “Save” button above to save the

overlay

8. Close editor. Go to your overlay list, hover over

your new chat overlay and select “Copy link to

clipboard”

9. Run Action!, go to LIVE tab and scroll down to

Overlay sources.

10. Paste the URL address into “Url 1” and select

“Output mode”. Select “Video” if you want to

include chat in your video. Select “Video + HUD”

option if you want to include chat in your video

and see chat on HUD during streaming. “Video”

and “Video + HUD” output modes allow to display

chat on a stream making it visible for viewers.

Select “HUD” if you want to see chat during

streaming but you don’t want to include chat in

your video and streaming. If “HUD” output mode is

selected, chat is visible only for you, your viewers

will not see the chat on your stream.

HOW TO ADD CHAT OVERLAY

12. Go to “Preview” mode to resize and reposition

chat on your screen

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

You can use chat overlays from other websites.

Create an overlay, and follow steps 9-12 in order

to properly add the chat overlay to Mirillis Action!

HOW TO ADD ANIMATED LOGO (.gif, .png)

7. Open the settings of added source to crop the

graphic overlay.

1. Open a new notepad document and type

2. In img quotation marks paste the url address

or path to the gif file you want to use.

3. Save the file with .html extention, e.g.

Logo.html.

4. Run Action!, go to LIVE tab and scroll down to

Overlay sources section.

5. Paste the path to the gif file in any of the URL

field.

6. Remember to enable “Custom URL source” and

the URL field with the path.

HOW TO ADD ANIMATED LOGO (.gif, .png)

8. If the gif doesn’t have alpha channel (the

background is transparent), you can skip the first

three points and paste url address or path

location directly to Action!

9. You can change the position of your animated

logo in a Preview mode.

DRAWING PANEL

The „x” button allows you to clear the screen from all

annotations and drawings. The last button is used to

hide the panel.

Drawing panel can be opened either by using Ctrl + H

hotkeys or by clicking the pencil icon localized at the

top bar of Action! interface.

You can easily and quickly undo or redo changes by

using popular shortcuts Ctrl + Z and Ctrl + Y.

Drawing panel allows to easily add graphic

elements and text in any place on the screen.

Click „Drawing panel” icon to open the tool.

Drawing panel displays few different buttons. The

first button on the left enables/disables the

drawing mode. If the drawing mode is on, you

cannot interact with application winows or icons

on the screen.

Under the second button, there is a list of

available drawing tools you can use: marking tool,

text, arrow, line, square, ellipse and pencil.

The third button allows you to choose the

lineweight and font size.

The fourth icon opens color palette.

Action! Drawing Panel icon

Action! Drawing Panel settings

HOW TO ADD BOOKMARKS

After the recording is finished, in the recording

catalogue you will find a text file that indicates all

interesting (bookmarked) moments in your video.

To mark an interesting moment in the recording,

add a bookmark by pressing Ctrl + B shortcuts.

Such a bookmark will also help you quickly

localize the interesting part of the recording in a

video editor.

You can easily change the shortcuts

configuration. To do so, go to Settings →

Hotkeys.

You can add many bookmarks to your video

recording.

The recording that includes bookmarks is marked

with a blue bookmark symbol.

Action! File manager Notepad with saved bookmarks

HOW TO ADD TO EXCLUDE PROCESSES

5. After selecting the process, restart the application

to save changes.

6. From now on, Action! will not hook up with the

excluded processes.

If you don't want Action! to connect with a

selected application e.g. game launcher, you can

add this application to the list of excluded

processes.

1. Run Action! and go to Settings → General tab.

2. At the bottom of the tab you will find a list of

excluded processes. Click „Show list” to drop

down the list.

3. Click „+” symbol to add proces to the list..

4. Next, open the catalogue that contains the

program you want to exclude and select this

program. (file with .exe extension).

HOW TO ADD TRANSLATION TO ACTION!

6. Copy the saved file to „lang” catalogue.

1. Open Action! catalogue and go to „lang” folder.

2. Select .xml file in the language you want to

translate from, e.g. English.xml.

3. Open the file in Notepad++ or Visual Studio or

any other program that does not change the

coding and allows easy editing of .xml files.

4. Translate all lines and don't forget to enter your

name as the author of the translation in a

dedicated for that purpose place in the file

5. As you translate the file, click „File” „Save →

as” and save the file to an area you can easily

access (for example the Desktop). Name the file

using English name of the translation e.g.

Swedish.xml. To save the file directly to Action!

catalogue, open the editing program with

administrator's rights.

HOW TO ADD TRANSLATION TO ACTION!

7. In the same way translate one file from lang_ex

catalogue. To make translaion available in Action!

You need to translate files from both lang and

lang-ex catalogue.

8. Your translation should appear in Action!

Settings General Language→ → . Choose the

translation and run Action! again to change the

language.

BASIC ACTIONS

DEFAULT HOTKEYS

ACTION! HUD

MICROPHONE / WEBCAM

Enable microphone / webcam recording F4

Reset average framerate F5

Show / Hide FPS panel F6

Change FPS panel position F7

REGION CONTROL

ACTION! PLAYER SHORTCUTS

Space

Stop S

Loop On/Off L

Enter Full-screen Enter

Enter, Esc

~,1,2

Alt+F4, Shift+X

Play/Pause

Open Next File PageDown, Ctrl+ArrowDown

Open Previous File PageUp, Ctrl+ArrowUp

Frame by frame

Jump Forward ArrowRight

Jump Backward ArrowLeft

Jump Forward (x2) Shift + ArrowRight

Jump Backward (x2) Shift + ArrowLeft

Volume Up

Volume Down

Mute On/Off

Next audio track

Exit Full-screen

Default Window Size

50%,100%, 200% Video Size

Show file information

Exit

Move region Arrows

Resize region Shift+Arrows

Snap to windows ON / OFF S

Default region position and size 0

Ctrl + F10

F11

F12

Ctrl+F9

Shift+F9

Ctrl+Del

Ctrl+B

Ctrl+F

Start / Stop video recording

Start / Stop audio recording

Start / Stop benchmarking

Capture Screenshots

Change active desktop

Start / Stop Live streaming

Pause/resume video recording

Save Time-Shift to a file Left_Alt + F9

Cancel video recording

Add bookmark

Mark video recording as favorite

OPERATING SYSTEMS RESTRICTIONS

Operating systems and hardware configurations restrictions.

Windows Vista®, Windows 7, Windows 8 /

8.1 / 10

DESKTOP RECORDING

Windows Aero is required for high quality recording on Windows Vista and

Windows 7.

RECORDING WEB AND MEDIA PLAYERS VIDEOS

May not be available for copy protected HD content.

Windows® XP

Action! is not available for Windows® XP.

Performance

PERFORMANCE

If you experience any performance problems during recording or your

recorded video is not smooth please try one of the following solutions:

●

change recording file format to AVI if MP4 is selected

●

disable graphics overlay and/or webcam recording

●

reduce output video size

●

reduce output video framerate

●

try with “Use multicore encoding” enabled and disabled

●

make sure that Aero is enabled for Windows Vista and Windows 7

desktop recording

MULTIDISPLAY PERFORMANCE

If you experience any performance problems on multidisplay setup and the

above general performance solutions do not work please try the following

solution:

●

disable/disconnect one (or more) display device(s).

TROUBLESHOOTING

Recording

GAMES & APPLICATIONS RECORDING

If you experience any problems with games and applications recording

please try to run a game or application in windowed mode and try

recording with

Active desktop region

mode.

Purchase/Activation FAQ

If you have any questions or problems with Action! purchase or activation,

please read the product purchase and activation FAQ or contact us if you

do not find an answer for your problem/question.

Purchase/ Activation FAQ page:

https://mirillis.com/en/support/purchase_faq.html

Technical Support

If you have any questions or problems with Action! please read Action! FAQ

or contact us if you do not find an answer for your problem/question.

Action! FAQ page:

https://mirillis.com/en/support/products_faq_action.html

TECHNICAL AND CUSTOMER SUPPORT

Contact

https://mirillis.com/en/company/contact.html

Action! tutorials

https://mirillis.com/en/products/tutorials/tutorials.html