Timeline Basics

Learn the basics of the Timeline so that you can make full use of this handy tool and create the best scenes for your movie.

The Playhead is a vertical red line with a rectangle at the top and it shows you what part of the movie is playing along the timeline. By dragging it left or right you can scroll through your movie.

If you have objects in your scene you will see them as bars in your timeline. The position of an object's bar in the timeline will show when it enters or exits a scene. If you click on an object's bar you will be able to see the duration of the objects appearance under the timeline. You can also move this bar to change the time your object is visible and stretch it to increase the time it is visible.

You can also use the first icon, next to the green play button, to jump to the beginning of the scene. Press the green Play button to play the scene and use the last icon next to it to go to the end of the movie. Click the microphone icon to record audio as the scene plays, when you click it again your audio will be shown on the timeline. You can also click and drag the audio across the timeline. The plus shaped icon adds or removes marks on the timeline.

If you used Full Motion Recording you can toggle the show all changes and show current changes icons to the right of the timeline that will show you every change in the timeline in consecutive strips with alternate colors.

To the right of the timeline, use the + and - icons to zoom in and out in the timeline, use the lock icon to lock cursors, so no additions in your timeline can be moved around.

To delete an object from your timeline by right clicking on it and selecting delete.