Work with slide properties

The Slide Properties window is a graphical representation of the elements of a slide, such as shots and alternatives, in chronological order. It enables you to arrange elements sequentially and position them so they help you tell a story about your design. You can add multiple elements of the same type, such as alternatives from the same lineup.

Read the following sections to find out more.

View slide properties

Open the Storyboard interface, create a slide, and add elements to it, as described in Set up a storyboard.
Right-click the slide and select Properties to open the Slide Properties window.

Tip: You can also double-click a slide (in authoring mode) to open the properties window.

On the left side of the window are the types of elements present in your slide, such as lineups, shots, and so on. On the bottom is the time grid of the slide.

At the core of the window is a series of rows, each of which contains occurrences of element types in relation to the time grid. Each element appears as a swatch.

Navigate and select items in the Slide Properties window

To zoom in and out of the Slide Properties window:

Hold down the Alt key and drag the right mouse button across the window, or click the zoom buttons on the lower right of the window.

To pan right and left inside the properties window

Hold down the Alt key and drag the middle mouse button across the window.

To display the name of an element:

Hover over the element. Its name appears in a tooltip.

To select multiple items in the properties window:

Use standard Windows Ctrl+ and Shift+click behavior to select multiple items.

To preview a slide from the Slide Properties window:

Click the navigation buttons on the lower right of the window.

Modify slide properties

You can make the following changes in the Slide Properties window. For details on guidelines to follow for each type of element, see Work with slide properties.

To add a new element to the window:

Click Choose.
Select a scene element from the menus that appear. Only elements already in the scene are available.

To display the time at which the element appears in slide sequence:

Click the element. A vertical line appears beside the element, leading down to the time grid position.

A time box also appears, displaying the exact value.

To move an item to a different position on the time grid:

Drag it to the new position. As you drag, the time box is updated; or,
Click the left edge of the item. A text box appears in which you can enter the exact start time.
Tip: For duration items such as animations, you can also click the right edge of the item and define a new end time.

To move a multiple selection to a different position on the time grid:

Drag the double arrow that appears in the middle of the selection.

Tip: Drag the left- or right-most arrow to resize the selection. This affects the duration of the group of elements; the durations of the individual elements within the selection remain the same.

To delete an element from the window:

Right-click the item and select Delete.

To open the properties window for a behavior or shot:

Right-click the item.
Select Properties from the context menu.

What you can and cannot do in the Slide Properties window

This topic describes what you can and cannot do with all scene elements from the Slide Properties window.

Alternatives

When you add an alternative to a slide, a row is created for that alternative’s lineup. Multiple alternatives added from that lineup appear in the same row, and are placed immediately after the last alternative in the row.

You can add many different alternatives, but only one instance of each.

Behaviors

You can add multiple behaviors, including keyframe animations and turntables. Each is represented by its own row in the Slide Properties window.

You cannot add triggers to the Slide Properties window.

You cannot add an action for a behavior more than once; for example, if you add “Play forward from start” for Turntable1, you cannot add this action again for that turntable in the current slide. All other actions can still be added and are available from the Choose menu.

Lighting environments

Only one lighting environment can be added to a slide, and it is always loaded at the start of the slide, for the duration of the slide.

Shots

Multiple shots can be added to a slide, but they cannot overlap. You cannot add the same shot to a slide more than once.

Cross-sections and accent lights

You cannot add cross-sections and accent lights to slides directly; instead, add an alternative containing one or both of these elements. Or, create a behavior containing accent lights and cross-sections, then add the behavior to the slide.