Working with Cue Marks

Player Controls			Contextual Menus
Chapter 21, Animation

Cue marks are high-level keyframe controls that let you associate a keyframe with a mark. Instead of viewing a clip over and over again in order to evaluate and record (usually on paper) important timing points, you can view footage and add cue marks.

Once you've set a cue mark, you can go back to the animation timeline and tweak the positions of the cue marks, give them names, and even add notes to them.

You can also set keyframes based on these marks by navigating from one mark to another using the Next Cue Mark and Previous Cue Mark buttons.

Setting keys links the temporal position of the keyframe to the cue mark at that time; as you move the cue marks, the keyframes follow. If you move a keyframe in time, the link to the cue mark is broken. However, by moving a keyframe to the exact time of a cue mark, you link the keyframe to that cue mark.

To add a cue mark:

Select the Set Cue Mark button in the Player controls.

Note: You can also set a cue mark by pressing the U key while your cursor is in a Curve or Track Editor, or in the Player navigation bar's current frame counter.

Cue marks in Curve Editor

To set a cue mark to a specific frame of a film clip:

Do one of the following:
- Drag the time cursor in the Player navigation bar (or type in the frame number) to the frame on which you want to set a cue mark.
- Play the composition.
Select the Set Cue Mark button in the Player navigation controls (left side) or set the cue mark while the footage is playing by pressing the U key. Play-and-set is a more interactive method of adding cue marks.
Repeat steps 1 and 2 to add more cue marks.

Note: You can also add a cue mark by right-clicking in any Curve or Track Editor and selecting Add at Select Time or Add From Current Time from the Cue Marks sub-menu.

To delete a cue mark:

Select the Cue Marks tab in the tool UI.
Select a cue mark.
Right-click and select Delete.

To delete a cue mark using the contextual menu in any Curve or Track Editor:

Select the cue mark you want to delete by selecting the top of it (it will turn from black to yellow when selected).
Right-click and select Delete (or Delete All) from the Cue Marks sub-menu.

Adding and Renaming Cue Marks

You can keep track of your cue marks by renaming them. There are several ways you can do this:

To rename to a cue mark using the Cue Marks tab:

Select the Cue Marks tab in the tool UI.

The list of cue marks appears (by default, unnamed cue marks are numbered in succession).
Select the name field and press F2 or right-click and select Edit.
Type in a name for the cue mark and press Enter.
Repeat steps 1 to 3 to add a description to or set a new frame for the cue mark.

To rename a cue mark using the Cue Name field in the Animation tab Properties area:

Select the existing name in the Cue Name field.
Type in the new name.
Press Enter.

To rename a cue mark using the contextual menu in any Curve or Track Editor:

Select the cue mark you want to rename by selecting the top of it (it will turn from black to yellow when selected).
Right-click and select Rename from the Cue Marks sub-menu. The cue mark's current name is highlighted.
Type the new name and press Enter.