Time Control Property Editor

 
 
 

| General | Extrapolation | Warp | Parent Clipping

To display for a clip: Right-click on an action, shape, audio, or compound clip in the animation mixer then choose Time Properties.

To display for a stand-in: Open an explorer view, set its scope to Scene Root and click the icon for the standin primitive.

General

Source Clipping

In

The first frame of the source that is used by the clip. Increase this value to trim a clip so that it begins partway through the duration of the source.

Out

The last frame of the source that is used by the clip. Decrease this value to trim a clip so that it ends partway through the duration of the source.

Time Reference

Start Offset

The frame where the clip starts, in the local time of the container clip.

Scale

The scaling of the clip in time. Increasing this value speeds up the relative time of the clip, decreasing the duration.

Info

These values are automatically calculated from other parameters and cannot be modified directly.

Duration

The length of the clip. This value is automatically calculated from other parameters and cannot be modified directly.

End Time

The last frame of the clip. This value is automatically calculated from other parameters and cannot be modified directly.

Cycle Id

The cycle ID at the current frame. The cycle ID can be used in a value-mapping expression to progressively offset a parameter in an action. The original clip has a cycle ID of 0. If the clip is set to extrapolate after with a cycle or bounce, first cycle after the original clip has an ID of 1, the next cycle has an ID of 2, etc. If the clip is set to extrapolate before with a cycle or bounce, the cycle immediately before the original clip has an ID of -1, etc.

Resulting In and Out

The first and last frames of the clip after offset, scaling, and extrapolation.

Extrapolation

These options determine how a clip contributes to the animation outside of the frames on which it is defined.

The Extrapolation Before options determine what happens before the clip, and the Extrapolation After options determine what happens after the clip.

For more information, see Cycling, Bouncing, and Holding Clips (Extrapolation) [Nonlinear Animation in the Animation Mixer].

NoteAudio clips cannot be extrapolated.

Type

The type of extrapolation:

  • No contribution results in no extrapolation. Use this to delete an extrapolation.

  • Hold results in the first or last values being held for the number of frames specified by Time to Hold.

  • Cycle repeats the clip for the number of times specified by Cycles.

  • Bounce repeats the clip forward, then backward, and so on for the number of times specified by Bounces.

Hold

The number of frames to hold the first or last values. Set the Type to Hold, then enter a value here.

Cycles

The number of times to repeat the clip. Set the Type to Cycle, then enter a value here.

Bounces

The number of times to play the clip forward and backward. Set the Type to Bounce, then enter a value here.

Warp

These options let you apply a timewarp to the clip, compound clip, or extrapolated clip. A timewarp changes the relationship between the local time of the clip and the time of its parent (either a compound action for regular clips or the entire scene for compound clips) while taking into account other things like scales, cycles, etc. When you apply a timewarp to a compound clip, it creates an overall effect that encompasses all clips it contains.

For more information, see Changing Time Relationships (Timewarps) [Nonlinear Animation in the Animation Mixer].

NoteAudio clips cannot be warped.

Do Warp

Activates the timewarp for the clip. Modifications to Warp FCurve have no effect unless this option is on. You must first select this option to make the warp fcurve available for editing.

Clip Warp

Activates the timewarp for the whole duration of an extrapolated clip (cycled or bounced); that is, the warp is not repeated with each cycle or bounce. You must select Do Warp for this option to be active.

Warp FCurve

Creates a timewarp by setting keys that map the clip's local time (X axis) to the parent clip' time (Y axis).

Make sure to unlock the keys on the warp fcurve by selecting the curve, then right-clicking on it and choosing Keys Unlock All Keys.

You can edit the function curve using the mouse and the same keyboard commands as the animation editor, or right-click in the graph or on a selected to display a contextual menu of commands. When you edit the curve, a ghosted copy of the original curve is kept as a reference.

Parent Clipping

These options let you make a clip have an "infinite" time length by linking it to its parent's time information. When a clip is linked to its parent's time, it changes accordingly when the parent's timing changes.

For example, when a shape compound clip is linked to its parent (the scene) and you increase the scene's end frame, the compound clip changes with it. This way, the clip continues to drive the shape-animated geometry rather than having the geometry return to its un-shape-animated state on the frames that it doesn't cover.

For more information, see Setting an Infinite Length for Clips [Nonlinear Animation in the Animation Mixer].

NoteAudio clips cannot have an infinite length.

Parent Start

Links the clip or compound clip to its parent's start frame.

Parent End

Links the clip or compound clip to its parent's end frame.