6.2. Using the Composite Shot Timeline

The composite shot timeline has several tools arranged around its outer edge. Many of these are similar to those found in the editor.

The Time Ruler

Along the top of the timeline is the time ruler, representing the duration of your project. Clicking on the time ruler will move the playhead, which defines the current frame, to the location of the click. The frame located at the playhead’s new location will be displayed in the Viewer.

You can also click and drag on the playhead itself.

To jump to a specific time, simply type it into the time display at the top-left. The time display can be switched between timecode and frame count using its right-click menu.

Scaling and Panning the Timeline

The longer your project becomes, the less likely it can easily be navigated within the width of your screen.

The timeline can be scaled using the zoom bar, so you can either zoom out to see the timeline’s entire contents, or zoom in to focus on a specific area. When zoomed in, you can then use the bottom scrollbar or the Hand tool to pan the timeline left and right. Knowing how to move around the timeline efficiently will make your editing much easier.

• Pressing Home on your keyboard will scroll the playhead to the first frame of the timeline.
• Pressing Ctrl+Home will auto-scroll the timeline to the current playhead position.

Searching Your Layers

Composite shots can contain large numbers of layers, each of which contains many properties. You can use the Search box at the top of the timeline to find specific layers or specific properties within complex timelines.

Setting the Work Area

The work area is represented by the blue tinted area of the time ruler. It defines a portion of the timeline, for two main purposes.

• Looped Playback: Specify a particular portion of your timeline for looped playback.
• Export: Define a portion of the timeline to be exported, rather than exporting the entire timeline.

The work area defaults to the timeline’s entire duration, but can be adjusted using three methods.

• Time Ruler: Drag the ends of the work area on the time ruler to reposition them on any frame of your choice. Holding the Alt key and dragging on the work area will move it without changing its duration.
• Keyboard: Position the playhead on any frame, and press I to set the In Point to that frame, or press O to set the Out Point to that frame. * Pressing the P key will set the work area to encompass the contents of your timeline.
• Viewer Buttons: Click the Set In Point button to set the In Point to the frame where the playhead is currently located, or click the Set Out Point button to set the Out Point to the frame where the playhead is currently located.

Keyframes

At the top left of the timeline are the keyframe buttons.

Keyframes are used to store changes to settings on particular frames. For example, on frame 10 a video could be set to full opacity and then on frame 20 it could be set to 50% opacity. This would be stored as two keyframes, one on frame 10 and one on frame 20. Between frames 10 and 20 the video would become gradually more transparent.

• Previous Keyframe / Next Keyframe: These two arrow buttons are used to jump between keyframes for the currently selected property.
• Toggle Keyframe: Adds a keyframe to the selected property at the current frame. If a keyframe already exists, this same button removes it. A dot in the center of the circle indicates that a keyframe already exists on the current frame.
• Linear: Interpolates from one keyframe to the next without any smoothing. The value changes the same amount on each frame.
• Constant: Each keyframe value is held as a constant until the next one is reached. There is no interpolation.
• Smooth: As the keyframe approaches, the size of the value change per frame will get smaller, resulting in a gradual adjustment into and out of the keyframe.
• Smooth In: The smoothing only occurs on the left of the keyframe.
• Smooth Out: The smoothing only occurs on the right of the keyframe.
• Manual Bezier: The keyframe is smoothed, but you retain manual control over the amount of smoothing that is applied.

See Animating with Keyframes to find out more.

The Value Graph

The value graph provides finer control over temporal interpolation between keyframes than the standard timeline.

• Value Graph Button: Use this button to toggle between the standard timeline and the Value Graph.

For full details of working with the value graph, see the Value Graph page of this manual.

Timeline Cache

The timeline cache creates rendered images of each frame of your timeline, allowing for real-time playback of any timeline, regardless of complexity. The timeline cache can be configured to generate automatically during periods when your processor is idle, or can be manually generated using this timeline button.

• Timeline Cache Button: Click this button at the top right of the timeline to force a cache of the current timeline to begin rendering immediately.

For full details on working with the timeline cache system, see the page in this manual on The Timeline Cache.

Exporting

The Export options for your timeline are accessed through the Export button at the top right of the timeline.

• To File: Immediately exports the contents of the current timeline using the default export preset, allowing you to specify a name for the exported video file. The export queue remains in its current state.
• Frame: Exports the current frame as an image file. See Export Frame for full details.
• Export Now: These options behave similarly to the To File option, in that they immediately begin the export process, but they provide a finer level of control over what portion of your timeline is exported. The exported file is always named after the composite shot being exported.
  • In-to-Out Area: Immediately exports the area of your timeline found between the In Point and Out Point.
  • Contents: Immediately exports the entire contents of your timeline, excluding any empty frames at the ends of the timeline.
• Add to Queue: These options add your current timeline to the queue, for later export. This provides an opportunity to change the export preset being used and the file name, and allows you to choose when the export occurs.
  • In-to-Out Area: The area of your timeline found between the In Point and Out Point is added to the export queue.
  • Contents: The entire contents of your timeline is added to the export queue, excluding any empty frames at the ends of the timeline.
• Default Preset: Select the default export preset. Your chosen preset will be used for all To File and Export Now export tasks. It will also be assigned to all tasks added to the export queue, although the queue can be edited later in the Export Panel.

Adjusting Properties

You can open a composite shot’s properties at any time by clicking the gear icon in the bottom-left of the panel.