When you select an empty
Timeline
Timelines specificity is to play, cut and edit video layers easily, and to animate layers and their parameters
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, you will see an empty timeline editor.
To start animating a layer or a parameter, you can drag and drop it from the
Element Tree
The hierarchical structure of Smode elements
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or
Parameters Editor
Edit the parameters of the selected Element
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editor in the timeline editor.
If you drag and drop a parameter, it will create a track in the Timeline with its values. If you drag and drop a full Layer or a Modifier, it will create a
Track Block
Animate video inside a Track
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:
Another method is to switch the view to "Normal" mode (indicated by the button circled in green). You will see your new layer in the left part of the editor.
You can expand that layer to view its parameters or its children, similar to the element editor.
There are two types of tracks you can create in the right part of the timeline editor, each corresponding to a specific type of object.
These can be either
Track Block
Animate video inside a Track
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(for layers) [A], or
Keyframe Function
Define a function using keyframes
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(for parameters) [B].
To create a track or a keyframe, use CTRL + click. While pressing CTRL, click on the row you wish to animate in the view. (You should have nothing selected to create blocks or keyframes.)
To play a video inside a Timeline, drag and drop it into the timeline.
One track is automatically created. By CTRL+Clicking on the timeline in the video layer's row, you can create a new
Track Block
Animate video inside a Track
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.
By default, the track will have the length of the video layer.
If you select the track itself, you can set up all kinds of parameters, such as fade-in / fade-out, begin / end, loop, etc.
Note that you can also split a track at the current time with Ctrl+Shift+D:
The timeline editor has three main components: the toolbar, the
Element Tree
The hierarchical structure of Smode elements
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(or animation tree), and the tracks/curves view.
Here is a brief video tutorial demonstrating how to animate layers and parameters within a timeline:
Here are some shortcuts used in this video (go see next chapter for further information) :
- Ctrl+Click to create an
Track Block
Animate video inside a Track
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- Alt+Click to automatically create a Fade in / Fade Out on the beginning / end of an
Track Block
Animate video inside a Track
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Function editor shortcuts
Here are the shortcuts to edit timelines:
-
J / K
: Previous / next key
-
I / O
: Set In and Out
-
Ctrl + I / O
: Clear In and Out
-
Left / Right arrow
: Next previous Frame
-
Ctrl + Left / Right arrow
: Next previous second
-
Shift + Left / Right arrow
: Next previous 5 second
-
Ctrl + Shift + Left / Right arrow
: Next previous minute
-
A + Click
: Select all after
-
A + shift + Click
: Select all before
-
Ctrl + Click
: Create a key
-
Alt + Click
: Change Key interpolation
-
Ctrl + K
: Create key in current time
-
Ctrl+C / Ctrl+V
: Copy / Paste
-
Ctrl+D
: Duplicate Keys at the end of the selection (careful with key overlap here)
-
Ctrl+A
: Select all Keys
-
Shift + move (single key)
: Snap key on grid or on other keys
-
Shift + move (multiple selection)
: Scale group of key
-
U
: Change view between Curves / Track
-
F
: Focus view on selection / keys
These shortcuts are the same as the
Function Editor
The editor allows you to manipulate every Function in Smode
Read More
.
Here are the shortcuts for manipulating
Track Block
Animate video inside a Track
Read More
inside a
Timeline
Timelines specificity is to play, cut and edit video layers easily, and to animate layers and their parameters
Read More
: