Animation Playbar
Overview
The playbar controls the current time displayed in the viewer, playback of animation and simulation, and the playback range. The playbar also displays keys on the scoped channels, and you can edit keys directly on the timeline.
Playback
The VCR-like transport controls on the left side of the playbar control the current frame and playback.
Transport controls
| Button | Key | Function |
|---|---|---|
|
Ctrl
+
| Go to first frame |
|
Ctrl
+
| Go to previous keyframe |
|
| Play in reverse |
| Stop | |
|
| Play forward |
|
Ctrl
+
| Go to next keyframe |
|
| Previous frame |
|
| Next frame |
Playback options
| To... | Do this |
|---|---|
|
Loop playback |
Click
|
|
Skip frames to maintain realtime playback |
|
|
Limit playback speed to the global FPS setting |
|
and choose
Play Once,
ZigZag (ping-pongs back and forth between the start and end frames).
.Timeline
The timeline is a graphical representation of the current frame range. The current frame is highlighted with a black box. Keys on the scoped channels appear as marks on the timeline. You can edit keyframes directly on the timeline using the ⇧ Shift key.
See how key marks are color coded on the timeline.
Setting the current time
-
Click or drag in the timeline to set the current frame.
-
Type an exact frame number in the current frame field.
-
Use the + and - buttons next to the current frame field to increase or decrease the current frame.
-
Click ⇧ Shift +
in the timeline to flip between the last two frames viewed.
Setting the frame range
There are two frame ranges: the overall frame range is set in the
Global Animation Options. Within this range, you can use controls on the timeline to it to show and playback a subset of the total frame range. This lets you concentrate on subsections of the total animation.
| To... | Do this |
|---|---|
|
Set the total number of frames |
|
Editing keys on the timeline
You can edit scoped keys directly on the timeline without opening the channel editor when it’s more convenient. Editing keys on the timeline is very similar to editing in the dopesheet.
The timeline only shows key markers for the currently scoped channels.
Hold
⇧ Shift
and click or drag to edit keyframes in the timeline. Holding
⇧ Shift
puts you in “editing” mode instead of moving the playhead along the timeline. You can lock the timeline into editing mode using the
Enable Key Editing button at the right end of the playbar.
⇧ Shift
+
|
|
|
|
|
⇧ Shift
+
|
Clear the timeline selection. |
|
|
Right-click the timeline to access a menu of commands for editing the selected keys. For example, you can delete keys on the timeline by selecting them, right-clicking and choosing Delete keys. |
Hold scoped channels
This is a quick way to copy the values of the scoped channels from one frame to another, such as when you want an object to ping-pong back and forth between two positions.
-
Go to the frame you want to copy the values from.
-
Middle-drag the current frame marker to the frame you want to copy to. The values of the scoped channel appear not to change as you drag, but you will see an orange triangle and an orange key.
-
Press K to key the held values at the current frame, or
click another frame on the timeline to cancel the hold.
Copy and paste keys
-
Use ⇧ Shift +
to select a range of keys, then right-click and choose Cut or Copy. -
Use ⇧ Shift +
to select the range of frames you want to paste into. -
Right-click in the timeline and choose one of the following…
Paste
Copies keys from the clipboard into the current selection.
Replace
Replaces the current selection with the contents of the clipboard.
Stretch/Paste
Stretches the contents of the clipboard to fill the selection, if the new selection is a different size than when you cut/copied.
Repeat/Paste
Repeats the contents of the clipboard to fill the selection, if the new selection is longer than when you cut/copied.
Cycle/Paste
Cycles (repeats with offset) the contents of the clipboard to fill the selection, if the new selection is longer than when you cut/copied.
Visual paste
The visual paste options on the context menu let you interactively position the paste location with the mouse, instead of selecting it first and then pasting.
-
First, cut or copy a set of keys.
If you want to visually paste a repeat or cycle, select a longer range of frames than you have keys – the range will be filled with repeats/cycles when you paste.
-
Right-click in the timeline and choose one of the following…
Visual replace
Lets you interactively position the clipboard data on the dopesheet, replacing the current contents.
Visual stretch/paste
Lets you interactively position the clipboard data on the dopesheet. Stretches the clipboard data to match the current size of the selection.
Visual repeat/paste
Lets you interactively position the clipboard data on the dopesheet. Repeats the clipboard data to match the current size of the selection.
Visual cycle/paste
Lets you interactively position the clipboard data on the dopesheet. Cycles (repeats with offset) the clipboard data to match the current size of the selection.
-
Use the mouse to position the pasted keys on the timeline. Shift-click to paste the keys, or press Esc to cancel pasting.
The repeat and cycle expression functions let you fill an animation segment (the distance between two keys) with repeated/cycled copies of a range of animation from elsewhere on the timeline. However, this is just a function that produces a value when evaluated: it does not actually create keys. See the channel graph for more information on setting segment functions.