Using the Editor Timeline - HitFilm

There are several tools arranged around the outer edge of the editor timeline.

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, which is 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 time and frames using its menu.

Timeline Navigation

HitFilm provides tools for simplifying navigation of long, complex timelines. You can quickly zoom in on any portion of the timeline to facilitate precise edits, and pan to control what area of the timeline is visible. Knowing how to move around the Editor timeline efficiently will make your editing much easier. Once you’ve placed some clips on your timeline you will need to be able to scroll and zoom around the project.

Zoom: 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. Slide the handle to adjust the zoom level, or click the buttons on either end of the zoom slider to adjust incrementally.
- Decrement Scale: Click the button to the left of the zoom slider to decrease the scale by one increment.
- Increment Scale: Click the button to the right of the zoom slider to increase the zoom scale by one increment.
Hand Tool: When you are zoomed in, you can use the Hand tool at the top left of the timeline to move the timeline view without altering the position of any of the objects on the timeline.

Scrolling

HitFilm uses standard scroll bars for scrolling through the timeline contents when you increase the zoom level, and also provides some additional tools for further scrolling options.

Home: Pressing Home on your keyboard will scroll the playhead to the first frame of the timeline.
End: Pressing End on your keyboard will scroll to the final frame of your timeline.
Scroll to Playhead: When you are viewing part of the timeline where the playhead is not visible, pressing Ctrl+Home will auto-scroll the timeline to the current playhead position.
Sync Scrolling: By default, the video and audio portions of the editor timeline can be independently scrolled vertically. Toggle the Sync Scrolling button on if you want them to scroll together, so that Video 3 and Audio 3, or Video 12 and Audio 12, are always visible at the same time.

Setting the Work Area

The work area is represented by the blue tinted area of the time ruler.

You can use the work area to specify a particular part of your editor sequence to export or loop play, 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.

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 project 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.

Keyframes

At the top 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.

The Opacity of video clips and the Volume of audio clips can be keyframed directly on the Editor. See Basic Compositing with Clips and Mixing Audio for more details. Other properties can be keyframed within the Controls panel.

Previous Keyframe: Press this button to move the playhead backward to the nearest previous keyframe for the selected property.
Toggle Keyframe: Toggles the presence of a keyframe for the selected property, at the current playhead position. If there is no keyframe, a new keyframe will be added using the current value for the property. If there is already a keyframe present, that keyframe will be deleted.
Next Keyframe: Press this button to move the playhead forward to the next subsequent keyframe for the selected property.

Interpolation affects how HitFilm animates from one keyframe to the next. You can change the temporal interpolation by right clicking selected keyframes and exploring the Interpolation menu, or using the interpolation buttons along the top of the timeline. The interpolation menu also displays options for spatial interpolation, which you can find out about in the chapter Spatial Animation in the Viewer.

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.