Time Editor
Arrange your timeline.
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Arrange your timeline.
Last updated
Was this helpful?
The Time Editor is the place to adjust your clip ranges and animation curves.
Drag the green playhead to scrub through the timeline.
click + drag the green handles to set the start and end frames for the Playback Range. click and drag the bar between the start and end points to move the entire Playback Range.
As your cursor hovers over the end of a visibility bar it will highlight. click + drag either end of a Shape's bar to adjust the frames it will appear in the viewport. A will be visible when the playhead is over part of the bar. For , the bar represents when it will be enabled.
The bar has no effect for , or . These Elements will appear as a chevron bar. that draw in the like and are the exception to this rule. They behave in the same way Shapes do.
It's possible to adjust the start/end points of multiple Elements at the same time by holding down option/alt as you hover over an end point. Any Elements that share a common in/out point will also highlight and move when you click + drag they will all move. This is also true where one Element's in point is on the same frame as another's out point.
click and drag the bar between the in and out points to move the entire visibility range.
You can also use the contextual menu to set the start/end points based on the Composition or Playback Range or the Current Frame. To access these options simply:
Select a Visibility Bar(s).
Right click.
Choose one of the options under the Set Selected Clip Ranges/ Starts /Ends options.
Right click anywhere in the Time Editor and check Show Names to display the name of an Element on its Visibility Bar.
Move the playhead and scrub the attribute's value.
Move the playhead and click the keyframe icon in the attribute control.
Select a keyframe or keybar and then right click > Add Keyframe.
To edit a keyframe you can either:
Move the playhead to the same frame as an existing keyframe and scrub or edit the attribute's value.
Double click a keyframe and scrub or edit the attribute's value via the pop up control.
To move a keyframe simply click and drag.
To move a selection of keyframes either cmd/ctrl + click or marquee select some keyframes and drag to move. You can also select and move keyframes from multiple attributes and/or Elements.
To remove a keyframe or keyframes either:
Select a keyframe or keyframes and hit the Delete key on your keyboard.
Select a keyframe or keyframes and right click > Delete Keyframe(s).
To copy a keyframe, select one and choose Edit > Copy Keyframe (cmd/ctrl + C) then move the playhead and chose Edit > Paste (cmd/ctrl + V). You can do the same with multiple keyframes on the same attribute. It's also possible to copy keyframe data from one channel to another.
You can also copy keyframe data from one Element to another. If the keyframe data you are copying is from an attribute that already exists on the Element you are pasting to, then those keys will be added to that attribute. If the attribute does not exist, it will be added along with the keyframe data.
To change the color of a keyframe select a keyframe or keyframes and right click > Set Color > choose your color. This can be useful for highlighting key moments in your animation.
Copying the easing of keyframes to other keyframes can be achieved via the right click menu.
Select a keyframe or keyframes on the same attribute.
Right click and choose > Copy Easing.
Select some different keyframes.
Paste (cmd/ctrl + v)
Where your selections do not match – for example, copying 3 keyframes and pasting them onto 2 keyframes – Cavalry will copy keyframe 1 to keyframe 1, keyframe 2 to keyframe 2 and ignore keyframe 3.
Keybars are lines that connect keyframe pairs and can be used to move entire animation curves without the need to select a range of keyframes.
A keybar appears as a solid line when between two keyframes of different values. If a keybar connects two keys of the same value it will appear as dashed line. This is designed to help identify areas where Elements remain static or unchanged.
To move an entire keybar simply click and drag one. By holding alt as you click and drag you can move individual sections of the keybar. This will only move the two keys connected by that section.
Left - align keys to the key nearest to the beginning (left) of your timeline.
Center - centrally align keys.
Right - align keys to the key nearest to the end (right) of your timeline.
Transform tool - this tool can be used to move and scale selections of keys. Click + drag between the blue bars to move or click + drag either blue bar to scale. By alt + dragging a blue bar you can also perform a 'ripple edit'. This will push unselected keys along the timeline as you scale the selected keys.
Zoom - drag the slider to zoom in/out of the window.
Apply mathematical interpolation between keyframes.
Select one or more keyframes.
Right click > Magic Easing.
Choose an option.
Once you have set a via the you are able to set further keyframes in the Time Editor. To do so, either:
Align - align selected keys to each other. This works in the same way does. Imagine a rectangle bordering each 'group' of selected keys on each attribute and then aligning those rectangles to each other.
You can bake the animation using the command in the menu.
Note - we are following the forthcoming Web Animation standard for easing which may be less familiar to After Effects users. This is not an official page but see for some nice examples. The W3C Candidate Recommendations can be seen .
