⊹ INTRODUCTION ⊹

Auto Action is a great feature tool provided in Clip Studio Paint. It is a tool where you can "record" your actions and "play" it to repeat all your recorded steps. Almost every action you do in CSP (transform, tonal correction, colorize etc.) are able to be recorded as long as you are not drawing on the canvas.

 

Before we dive into the functionalities of this beautiful tool, we need to know what are the benefits it provides us. Because, if you do not know the benefits, you would not be using it much right?

⊹ BENEFITS OF AUTO ACTION ⊹

⌛ SAVE TIME AND ENERGY ⌛

 

Auto Action is typically useful when the actions you make are repetive and will be used again. Auto Actions is capable to perform your recorded actions with just one click away. This is to save time as well as our energy when doing these repetitive work.

 

To illustrate this, let me give you all an example:

I for one, love to do some touch ups after I finish coloring my illustrations. I always like to add some kind of soft glow effect for my end product.

 

My typical steps to achieve this are:

1\. Flatten layers

2\. Copy layer

3\. Paste layer

4\. Gaussian blur layer at 80 point

5\. Apply Hard Light on blurred layer

6\. Tone down the Opacity to 70%

7\. Apply Hue and Saturation

 

Yes, the end product looks really nice but imagine doing all these steps for all of my illustrations, it wastes a lot of time and no one likes to repeatly do all these steps again and again.

 

This is where Auto Action comes in.

With Auto Action, I can just "record" all of these steps, and use it again just by hitting the play button! Easy as that.

🔴 ALMOST ALL ACTIONS ARE ABLE TO BE RECORDED 🔴

As mentioned above, almost any actions can be recorded as long as you are not drawing on the canvas or doing something it is hard to capture. This includes ▹ALMOST◃ all of the functionalities you can find under CSP menu (File, Edit, Animation, Layer, Filter, Select, View etc.)

 

Typically, people love to use settings under Edit, Layer and Filter menu.

📌 SIMPLIFY PROCESSES AND VERSATILE 📌

Since it can record almost any actions, you can totally be as creative as possible to create any sets of actions you like. It can be just as simple as setting up your folders and layers or as complex as creating special effects and filters for your illustrations.

 

⊹ FUNCTIONALITIES ⊹

First thing first, make sure you have your Auto Action window is open or visible.

Go to Window > Auto Action to have it open.

 

Here are some of the basics functionalities and terms used when using Auto Action, this is also for the convenience of explaining steps and tips in upcoming sections

 

➀: Set of Auto Action

➤ Contains a group of Auto Actions

➤ It is advised to your Auto Actions that are related in terms of purpose

➤ Click it to open drop down menu to view and select other set of Auto Action

 

➁: Auto Action

➤ Here is where all your actions are recorded

 

➂: Commands

➤ Commands are actions that are recorded when hitting on "Record" button

 

➃: Run Switch

➤ When checked, command will run during execution of Auto Action

 

➄: Settings Switch

➤ When enabled, settings is configurable during execution of Auto Action.

➤ In this screenshot, one is able to change the layer name during execution.

 

➀: Create new Auto Action set

 

➁: Import Auto Action set from Materials

➤ this is to import Auto Action assets downloaded from Clip Studio

➤ assets are great resources to further save more time

 

➂: Record Button

➤ Click to record your actions to be included as commands

 

➃: Play Button

➤ Click to play your recorded Auto Action

➤ CSP will do its magic and perform all the commands flawlessly

 

➄: Add New Auto Action to current set

 

➅: Delete Button

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------I will be showcasing on how to use Auto Action in 2 kinds of possible ways:

1\. Setting up folders and files with Auto Action

2\. Create filters for illustration

 

⊹ SETTING UP FOLDERS AND FILES WITH AUTO ACTION ⊹

It might seem like this is no needed but hey, few seconds can render to few minutes and then few hours.

 

I will be introducing some basic tips for creating new set of Auto Action in this section too.

 

Please keep in mind that although the steps I will be demonstrating later are my typical ways to set up my folders when drawing webcomics (excluding dialogues). It is just a simple guide for you all to get started especially when you never use Auto Action before.

 

For my webcomic setup, the goal result we want to achieve in this section will look like this:

Now LET'S BEGIN!

 

◈ 1: CREATE NEW SET OF AUTO ACTION ◈

 

To create a new set of Auto Action, simply click on this icon as shown below, it is recommended to give it a meaningful name so you won't confused yourself when going through your sets of Auto Action.

 

Let's name it Setup.

◈ 2: CREATE NEW AUTO ACTION ◈

 

To create new Auto Action, click on the icon shown below, it is situated at the bottom of the Auto Action window, right beside the play button. Let's name our action, Comic Folder Setup.

◈ 3: Record Your Actions ◈

 

To achieve the goal result, here are the actions I need to perform to have it recorded:

• : Important Step when using Auto Action so that the action is recorded

 

Step 1: Create New Folder

Step 2: Rename Folder to "Panels"

Step 3: Add new Vector Layer

Step 4: Rename Vector Layer to "Lineart"

Step 5: Add new Folder

Step 6: Rename Folder to "Color"

*Step 7: Layer > Layer Order Down (Below Lineart layer)
Step 8: Add new Layer in Color Folder

Step 8: Rename Layer to "Silhouette Base"

Step 9: Add New Folder above Silhouette Base layer

Step 10: Rename Folder to "Base Colors"

Step 11: Clip Folder

Step 12: Add New Layer in Base Colors folder

Step 13: Rename Layer to "Skin"

Step 14: Add New Layer in Base Colors folder

Step 15: Rename Layer to "Clothes"

Step 16: Add New Layer in Base Colors folder

Step 17: Rename Layer to "Face"

Step 18: Add New Layer in Base Colors folder

Step 19: Rename Layer to "Hair"

Step 20: Add New Layer

Step 21: Rename Layer to "Shading"

*Step 22: Layer > Layer Order > Up

Step 23: Clip Layer

Step 24: Change Blending Mode to Multiply

Step 25: Change Opacity to 70% (or switch on Setting Switch so it can be configured)

To record these steps, simply, click on the red round button as shown below, this is the Record button. Once clicked, it will changed to a red square button which is a Stop button.

 

Once you do all the steps, remember to click on the Stop button to stop recording your actions. And TADA, you can see all the steps recorded into a list as shown below.

 

To perform this Auto Action, all you gotta do is to click on the Play button ▶ and CSP will do its magic! ✨ ✨

As you can see, even though it looks not much in the shown goal result, when you list the steps out, you can tell the steps are long and there are always lazy people like me who always end up don't name our layers at all and confused ourselves later XD. With this, all of these problems can be solved, how cool is that!

⊹ CREATE FILTERS USING AUTO ACTIONS ⊹

Ever thought of applying some nice filters for your illustrations or sketches, drawings in general in CSP?

 

I believe some of you will thought of using Blending Modes, Tonal Corrections, Filters and so on to achieve your own desired end results. However, this process tends to be long and repetitive, and sometimes you would be forgetful and unable to remember what steps you took to achieve the results. To combat this problem, Auto Action is here to help.

 

In this section, I will show you one of my favorite ways to give my illustration a dreamy purple-ish glowy feel. Here is an example of an illustration I drew and its before and after. This effect is achieved by tweaking yhe settings in Tonal Correction, Filters and Blending Modes.

I will go through with you all step by step in achieving the shown result.

 

With the learning outcomes from previous section, please remember to create a new set for this Auto Action and name it whatever you like to call it :)

 

Now, let's begin to record our actions!!

 

◈ 1: COPY AND PASTE YOUR ONE LAYER ILLUSTRATION ◈

This is very important, make sure your illustration is on one layer, you can flatten your layers manually or record your action beforehand. I tend to flatten the layers manually so I can make sure all blending modes are incorporated nicely.

 

◈ 2: BINARIZATION ◈

Go to Layer > New Correction Layer > Binarization

And set the settings as below or whatever you feel is right.

◈ 3: REMOVE WHITE AREAS◈

To remove white areas, go to Edit > Convert Brightness to Opacity.

◈ 4: GAUSSIAN BLUR ◈

Now we want to blur it!

Go to Filter > Gaussian Blur and set the settings based on your preference. It is recommended not go over 25 strength.

◈ 5: CUT LAYER AND ADD TO NEW FOLDER ◈

Cut the layer that you just blurred, we are going to add it into a Folder.

Create a Folder, name it Filter Effect and set the blending mode to Through.

Paste your cut layer inside the Folder.

Your Layers window should be looking this by the end of this step.

◈ 6: SET MULTIPLY BLENDING MODE FOR THE PASTED LAYER ◈

Now we want our blurred binarized layer to be set to multiply.

◈ 7: CREATE GRADIENT MAP LAYER AND CLIP IT◈

Now we are going to add some gradients.

Go to Layer > New Correction Layer > Gradient Map

(Psst! You can also right click on the Filter Effect Folder instead of going to Layer menu)

 

A gradient window will pop up, you are free to choose which gradient you desired, I suggest picking something soft and pastel. You can also create your own gradient on the fly by tweaking the settings and color picking your colors manually.

Remember to CLIP it after clicking ok!

 

The gradient I used here is downloaded from Assets in Clip Studio and it can be found here:

 

◈ 8: CREATE LEVEL CORRECTION LAYER, SET OPACITY TO 50% ◈

Go to Layer > New Layer Correction > Level Correction

Tweak just the way you like, I recommend to NOT make it too contrast, too bright or too dark tho!

 

Remember to set opacity to 50%, as we don't need it as much (unless you want to XD)

◈ 9: CREATE COLOR BALANCE LAYER, SET OPACITY TO 50% ◈

Go to Layer > New Correction Layer > Color Balance.

Since the desired end result for me is a purple-ish glowy feel, the settings I tweaked are close to that range of colors.

You are free to make it any shades you like, tho remember different colors gives different mood and feeling to your illustration!

 

E.g.

Blue - cold or gloomy

Yellow/Orange - nostalgic and feeling of longing

Red - energetic or rage

 

Similar like before, set opacity to 50%!

◈ 10: CREATE HUE/SATURATION/LUMINOSITY LAYER, SET OPACITY TO 50% ◈

Go to Layer > New Correction Layer > Hue/Saturation/Luminosity

Increase the values for Saturation and Luminosity, while tweaking Hue is optional.

 

After you are done, set opacity to 50%!

◈ 11: YOU MADE IT, CLICK STOP RECORDING AND WE'RE DONE! ◈

Your Auto Action and Layers should be looking like this by the end of this step:

⊹ ASSETS ⊹

I have complied two of the Auto Actions I demonstrated into my Getting Started Set. Feel free to download and experiment with it!

Also feel free to explore more assets on Clip Studio where you can find a lot of useful Auto Actions that you can use!

⊹ MORE TIPS ON AUTO ACTION ⊹

◈ SHORTCUT KEYS = SAVE MORE TIME ◈

Do you know that you can set shortcut keys for your Auto Actions?

With shortcut keys, you can further save more time!

 

Simply go to File > Shortcut Settings, look for Auto Action in the drop down menu, and you can start adding some shortcuts for your Auto Actions.

◈ COLOR CODE YOUR FOLDERS FOR EASY VIEWING ◈

It is optional yet recommended to assigned Palette Color to your folders and layers so that it is easier to differentiate and categorize your layers!

 

It is especially useful when you have a lot of layers involved.

⊹ THANK YOU FOR READING! ⊹

That's it for now! Hope you guys enjoy this tutorial. Auto Action is a tool with full potential, and it is up to us to unlock it. Experiment and explore its functionalities, hope this tutorial is able to help you guys to start creating your very own favorite Auto Action with ease!