The timeline editor allows the creation of Actions
- Actions are groups of Animations
- Animations consist of Animation Tracks.
- An “Animation Track” is made up of Track Keyframes.
| Note: “Transitions” are individual effects that may be applied to objects. See the “Transitions” section. |
Proportional Scaling of the timeline: Select 3 or more keyframes, then hold down the Alt key and drag one
The left-hand column is a list of scene objects that can be animated by creating object animations
Animation Track Properties
- Normal:
- Inherit: The animation starts from or finishes in the current attribute value. It is like setting the value of the first or last keyframe to the value of the animated attribute at time the animation is started. This comes handy when you want to animate to/from defined state but the current state is unknown. Using this mode minimizes the number of animations you would have to create from all possible states.
- Relative: The animation evaluates a number that is added to the current attribute value. Available for before looping only
- Loop: Loops the Animation Track
Default Action
There is a setting that determines the behavior of keyframes in the Default action. The Default action will play when the scene is loaded to Preview, and will play on Program only when an Effect In event is not present. Please see the Scene Events section for more information.
When “Auto Default Keyframe” is checked keyframes will automatically be added to the Default action as keyframes are added in other Actions.
Example: If I create an action “Dissolve Off” for scene object “Image1”, an opacity keyframe for Image1 will be added to the Default Action.
Set Default Keyframe
“Auto Default Keyframe” only sets the Default keyframe once and is not updated each time the property value is changed in other actions. Users might find it helpful to use “Set Default Keyframe”. This will copy the selected keyframe value and paste it automatically to the Default action. “Set Default Keyframe” is accessible in the context menu by right-clicking on the keyframe.
Example: Continuing with the previous example, if I had accidentally set the opacity keyframe in “Dissolve Off” to 0, the Default action would also be 0. This might provide me with incorrect previews. Instead of copying and pasting the correct value from the “Dissolve Off” action into the “Default” action I could simply right-click on the keyframe in “Dissolve Off” and click “Set Default Keyframe”
When “Auto Default Keyframe” is disabled, at no time will keyframes be automatically added to the Default Action.
Color Coding the Timeline
Select “Node Color” from the Scene Tree
Keyframe Property Values
The above screen shots show keyframe navigation per track and applying property value changes from the Timeline editor.
- Click on the color chicklet to open the color picker.
- Click on the Thumbnail image to change the filename
- Click on any Command property to select any command associated with that object
- Click on any blue link to modify the objects property value.
Keyframe Interpolations
See the “Timeline Triggers” section for executing triggers from the timeline.
“In” interpolations can be Linear, Smooth, Ease or Bezier
“Out” interpolations can be Hold, Linear, Smooth, Ease or Bezier
| Linear: Proportional average between 2 adjacent values. This is the default interpolation unless changed in the settings. | |
| Ease: In and Out tangents are horizontal in the keyframes. | |
| Hold: The value from the previous keyframe is kept until it is redefined by the next keyframe. The only interpolation for attributes with discrete values. This might give some animations a jumping effect, depending on the properties keyframed. | |
| Smooth: In/Out tangents are synced to maintain a smooth continuity of a curve. | |
| Bezier: Similar to the Smooth interpolation, with the distinction that the In/Out tangents are not synced. |
| NOTE: Clicking a Keyframe in the Timeline Editor with the Ctrl button down will cycle the different Keyframe types. |
Keyframe Timeline Ease Editor
When a keyframe is set to “Ease” arrows will appear in the User Interface allowing designers to modify the ease values. The same can be achieved in the Keyframe editor by entering the numeric values. The arrows allow for a nicer experience.
Dragging the arrows inward or outward will modify the numeric values in the Keyframe editor.
Default Ease value can be set in “Config->Settings->Action”
Copy/Paste Interpolation
When pasting a copied keyframe, the user can decide to paste the interpolation information only. This means the same smooth motion can be applied to different properties.
Keyframe Spline Editor
The Spline Editor offers users more control over their animations. Click on “Spline” to toggle between the Timeline view and the Spline Editor.
Only one property can be displayed at any given time. To change which property is displayed click in the region to the right of the property values.
Keyframes can be added and removed on the selected property at the selected point on the curve
The zoom tool in Spline Editor mode only affects the x-axis.
Auto Fit to Height: The y-axis will automatically scale to contain all keyframes in view when Auto Fit Curve toHeight is enabled.
With Auto Fit to Height disabled the curve may appear outside the viewing area.
To Pan around the timeline on both the X and Y axis hold the middle mouse toggle wheel down and move the mouse in all directions. Pan mode can also be entered by clicking the pan icon.
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Interpolation: Interpolation modes are accessed via the context menu by right-clicking on the keyframe Interpolation Both: Sets both the In and Out interpolation of the keyframe. Interpolation In: Sets only the In interpolation of the keyframe Interpolation Out: Sets only the Out interpolation of the keyframe |