Timeline

The Timeline editor is used to jump to different frames, manipulate keyframes, and control animation playback.

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The Timeline.

Main View

The X axis represents time, with the numbers 0/50/100/… being frame numbers. The blue line is the Playhead indicating the current frame, and the diamond shapes are Keyframes, points where you specified a certain value for a certain property at a certain time.

Adjusting the View

Panning is done by dragging MMB.

Zooming is done by dragging Ctrl-MMB, rolling the mouse Wheel, or pressing NumpadMinus/NumpadPlus.

You can also use the scrollbars located at the bottom and the right of the editor.

Playhead

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Playhead.

The Playhead is the blue vertical line showing the current frame number.

It can be moved to a new position by clicking or dragging LMB in the scrubbing area at the top.

You can also move it in single-frame increments by pressing Left or Right, or jump to the beginning or end frame by pressing Shift-Left or Shift-Right.

Frame Range

The Frame Range determines the length of the scene’s animation. By default, it’s set to start at frame 1 and end at frame 250. You can change this using the Start/End inputs in the Timeline header, or in the Output Properties.

Keyframes

By default, the timeline only shows keyframes for selected items. You can make it show all keyframes by unchecking View ‣ Only Show Selected.

You can click a keyframe to select it (and deselect all others), or click it while holding Shift to add it to the selection (or remove it if it was already selected). You can also drag a box to select multiple keyframes in one go.

To move the selected keyframes, simply drag one of them. Alternatively, you can press G, move the mouse, and click LMB to confirm (or RMB to cancel). You can also press S to scale the keyframes in relation to the Playhead.

Markers

See the Markers page for more information.