Time Slider preferences

You can set the following preferences in the Time Slider category of the Preferences window.

Time Slider

Playback start/end

Specifies playback range start and end times. The playback start and end times specify the Time Slider playback range. The playback range is always within the animation range. You can also specify the time units. See Edit animation preferences in the Animation Basics chapter of the Animation guide.

Animation start/end

Specifies animation range start and end times. The animation start and end times specify the Range Slider range. The playback range always stays within the animation range, so changing the animation start and end times can also change the playback start and end times. Default animation start time is 1.00. Default animation end time is 48.00. You can also specify the time units. See Edit animation preferences in the Animation Basics chapter of the Animation guide.

Height

Specifies the Time Slider height (the vertical space it occupies). Increasing the height is especially useful when you are working with sound. Double or quadruple the height for a better display of sound waveforms. Click 1x (normal height), 2x (double height), or 4x (quadruple height). Default is 1x.

Key ticks

Specifies how the line markers that indicate keys appear on the Time Slider. Click None, Active, or Channel Box. Default is Active.

None: Specifies that key ticks are not displayed. Selecting None is useful if you have a lot of keys and want to improve workspace selection performance.
Active: Specifies that key ticks are displayed, with associated keys available for selection and editing.
Channel Box: Specifies that key ticks appear only for the currently selected channels in the Channel Box. This is useful if you are using the Time Slider to edit keys on particular channels of an animated object.

Key tick size

Change the thickness of ticks that represent keyframes in the Maya Time Slider. Key thickness is measured in pixels. The minimum key thickness is 1 pixel and the maximum is 63 pixels.

Options

Options include Timecode and Snapping.

Timecode: When on, Maya displays the current time in video standard timecode. The current time is displayed next to the Current Time Indicator in the Time Slider. Default is off.
Snapping: When on, Maya steps through animation times by integer values, snapping to the nearest integer. Default is on. If working with sound or small time ranges, you can turn off Snapping for smoother scrubbing.

Playback

Update view

If your workspace layout includes several views (for example, selected from Panels > Layouts), you can improve performance by having the scene play in only the currently active view. Click Active or All. Default is Active.

Active: Scene plays only in the current, active view.
All: Scene plays in all the workspace views.

Looping

Specifies what happens when the scene plays forward and then reaches the playback end time (or if playing backwards, the playback start time). Click Once, Oscillate, or Continuous. Default is Continuous.

Once: Specifies that the scene plays once and then stops.
Oscillate: Specifies that the scene plays forwards (or backwards) and then plays backwards (or forwards) until you stop playback.
Continuous: Specifies the scene plays forward to the playback end time (or plays backward to the playback start time) and then begins again at the playback start time (or playback end time) until you stop playback.

Playback speed

Specifies the speed at which your scene plays. Select Play Every Frame, Real-time (24 fps), Half (12 fps), Twice (48 fps), or Other. Default is Play Every Frame.

You can also specify the playback time units. See Edit animation preferences in the Animation Basics chapter of the Animation guide.

Play every frame: When selected, all the frames in your scene play, updating each before displaying the next. The speed depends on how long it takes your workstation to compute and draw each frame. You can specify the playback frame increment in the Playback by field. For example, a Playback value of 2.0 will cause only every other frame to play.
Real-time: When selected, your scene plays in real-time or 24 frames per second (fps). Maya may not display all frames, depending on your workstation’s capabilities, the scene’s complexity, and the display mode (for example, wireframe or smooth shading).
Half: When selected, your scene plays at half the speed of real-time or 12 frames per second (fps).
Twice: When selected, your scene plays at twice the speed of real-time or 48 frames per second (fps).
Other: When selected, your scene plays at the custom playback speed set in the Other Speed field.
Other Speed: Specifies a custom playback speed (in frames per second) for your scene. For example, if you specify an Other Speed value of 72, then your scene’s animation will play back at 72 fps. This field is only available when you select Other from the Playback Speed drop-down list.

Playback by

Specifies playback increments if Playback speed is set to Play Every Frame. For example, if you enter 4, Maya will play only every fourth frame (or time). Default is 1.000. You can also specify the playback time units.

Max Playback Speed

Max Playback Speed clamps the playback speed of your scene’s animation by specifing the speed that your scene’s animation playback is not allowed to exceed. This is useful when working with scenes that have fluctuating levels of heavy CPU activity, such as a scene with a complex particle effect.

Free: Specifies no Max Playback Speed.
Real-time (24 fps): Specifies that the overall playback speed of your scene’s animation is as fast as possible, but it does not exceed 24 fps.
Half (12 fps): Specifies that the overall playback speed of your scene’s animation is as fast as possible, but it does not exceed 12 fps.
Twice (48 fps): Specifies that the overall playback speed of your scene’s animation is as fast as possible, but it does not exceed 48 fps.