Timeline

The Timeline window is the workspace of a composition. In it, effects are arranged in time and across layers, and playback is controlled from here. Everything you see in the Mapping field and in the 3D View window is the state of the timeline at the moment where the time cursor currently stands.

This article describes the window itself: what is located where, what its buttons do, and how to navigate the time scale. For how to move and trim effects, see Arranging Effects in Time; for how to animate their parameters, see Keyframes and Effect Parameters.

How to open the window

By default, the Timeline occupies the bottom part of the program window, across its full width. If the window has been closed, enable it via the Window menu → Timeline — the item has a checkmark. Like any program window, the timeline can be dragged by its title bar to another location, made floating, or resized; window placement is saved in the workspace (see Workspace).

The timeline always shows a single composition — the one opened with a double click in the Compositions window. While no composition is open, the window is empty.

What the window consists of

The window is divided vertically into two parts, with a movable border between them: drag it with the mouse to widen the list, or, conversely, give more space to the time scale.

On the left, top to bottom:

a button panel — opening the Effects window and importing files;
the name of the open composition and a button for its settings;
the list of layouts and the effects contained in them.

On the right, top to bottom:

the playback panel — start buttons, current time, composition duration;
the time ruler and tracks: each row of the list on the left has its own track on the right;
the preview strip — a narrow strip at the very bottom that sets the visible time span.

The rows on the left and the tracks on the right always line up exactly opposite each other: collapse a layout — its rows and their tracks disappear together; scroll the list — the tracks scroll along with it.

Button panel

Button	What it does
Effects	Opens and closes the Effects window — the library from which effects are added to the composition. The button stays pressed while the window is open. See Библиотека эффектов
Import Image	Adds an image to the composition — it becomes a regular effect on the timeline
Import Video	Adds a video file or an image sequence (a folder with numbered frames). For a video file, an import window with parameters opens; a sequence is added immediately
Import Audio	Adds an audio track. It appears as a separate row in the list, and is drawn as a waveform on the scale — convenient for laying out effects to music

Imported files are not embedded into the project — only the path to them is stored. If the project needs to be moved to another computer, collect it with the File → Collect Project command.

Composition name and its settings

Below the button panel, the name of the open composition is shown — this makes it easier not to confuse which one you are currently working in.

The button to the right of the name opens Composition Settings: the composition's parameters appear in the Properties window — duration, frame rate, looping, infinity, comment, and color filtering. For more, see Composition Settings.

List of layouts and effects

The list is organized as a tree. The top level is the composition's layouts, inside each layout are its effects, and inside an effect are its parameters.

The triangle to the left of the name expands and collapses the row. Under a layout it shows the effects; under an effect, groups of its parameters with keyframe tracks. The program remembers the collapsed state of layouts separately for each composition and saves it in the project.
The checkbox to the left of the name turns the element on and off. An unchecked box on an effect — the effect does not play and is not included in export; unchecked on a layout — the entire layout is silent.
Name. Clicking a row selects the element and shows its parameters in the Properties window. Renaming — press F2: type the new name and press Enter (Esc cancels the input).
To the right of an effect's name are the blend mode list and the opacity control — how this effect is composited over the ones below it. See Режимы смешивания.
Order. Rows are reordered by dragging. The order sets the compositing: the one above is drawn on top of those below. Dragging also moves an effect to another layout — see Moving Effects Between Layouts.
Right-clicking an effect row opens a menu with the items Clone (a copy of the effect next to the original), Duplicate, and Delete. Right-clicking a layout — Rename and Delete.
Delete removes the selected effects. An accidental deletion is undone with Ctrl+Z.

The list scrolls with the mouse wheel and its own scroll bar; the tracks on the right scroll together with it.

Playback panel

Button	What it does
Home	Puts the time cursor at the start of the composition and scrolls the scale there too. The Home key does the same
Play / Pause	Starts and pauses the composition. Key — Spacebar. When paused, the cursor stays in place
Stop	Stops playback and returns the cursor to the start
Step Back and Step Forward	Move the cursor exactly one frame. Useful for checking whether an effect starts exactly where intended
Current Time	Time in the format hours:minutes:seconds:frames. You can enter a time manually into this field — the cursor will jump to the specified point. Below it is the current frame number
Loop	Once it reaches the end, the composition starts over. Unavailable when infinity is enabled
Duration	An underlined value showing the composition's duration. Clicking it opens the Set Duration window, where duration and frame rate are set
Infinity	The composition plays with no time limit; the duration value is not used in this case

Some buttons can be hidden to save space. Right-click the playback panel — the menu lets you toggle Show Stop Button, Show Home Button, Show Step Buttons, Show Opacity Master, and Show Fixture Highlight Button. This setting is shared across the program and is remembered between launches.

Opacity master and fixture highlighting

Two more tools are located on the right side of the playback panel.

The Opacity Master is an overall brightness slider for everything sent to the fixtures. The default value is maximum. It acts on top of all compositions and effects at once, so it is convenient for dimming the entire venue as a whole without touching the project. This slider has nothing to do with composition settings: color filtering is set separately for each composition (see Composition Settings).

Highlight Fixtures and DMX Data is a toggle button: while it is pressed, the selected fixtures are highlighted both in the program and on the actual venue, to help you understand which fixture in the project corresponds to which luminaire on site. The small button with an arrow next to it opens the highlight settings.

Time ruler and time cursor

The top strip of the right side is the time ruler. Its labels change with the zoom level: at high zoom-in these are frames (12f), at normal zoom — seconds (5s), on long compositions — minutes (10m) and hours (1h).

The vertical orange line is the time cursor. It shows the moment of the composition that is currently drawn in the Mapping field and in the 3D View.

Click the ruler — the cursor jumps to that point.
Without releasing the button, drag the mouse along the ruler — the composition will be "scrubbed" by hand.
The cursor always lands exactly on a frame: you cannot land between frames.
Ctrl + → and Ctrl + ← move the cursor by one frame, Ctrl + Shift + → and Ctrl + Shift + ← — by ten frames at once.

Tracks

To the right of the list, on the time scale, each effect occupies its own bar: its left edge is the start of the effect, the right edge is the end. The bar under the mouse cursor lightens slightly; the selected one is noticeably lighter than the rest.

Clicking a bar selects the effect and opens its parameters in the Properties window.
Ctrl + click (or Shift + click) adds the effect to the selection; clicking an empty area clears the selection.
Right-clicking a bar opens a menu: Set time — exact entry of the start, end, and duration, Copy — copies the selected effects, Delete — deletes them.
Dragging moves the bar in time, and dragging its edges stretches or shortens it. For details, see Arranging Effects in Time.

For an expanded effect, parameter tracks are located below its bar — keyframes live on them, see Keyframes and Effect Parameters.

Zoom and navigating the scale

Action	How to do it
Zoom time in and out	Mouse wheel over the scale. The zoom changes relative to the pointer, so aim it at the area you need
Scroll the scale	Drag with the mouse wheel held down (or the right button): horizontally scrolls time, vertically scrolls the list
Show a specific span	The preview strip at the bottom of the window: the side handles set which part of the composition is visible on the scale, the middle one moves that span as a whole
Return to the start / to the end	The Home and End keys — the cursor and the scale jump to the start or the end of the composition

The scale's zoom level is only a view setting: it affects neither the effects nor the export.

Hotkeys

Action	Keys
Play / pause	Spacebar
Cursor to the start / end of the composition	Home / End
Step one frame forward / back	Ctrl + → / Ctrl + ←
Step 10 frames forward / back	Ctrl + Shift + → / Ctrl + Shift + ←
Snapping while dragging effects	hold Shift
Rename the selected list item	F2
Delete the selected effects	Delete
Undo / redo an action	Ctrl+Z / Ctrl+Shift+Z

The full list of shortcuts is available in the program itself: Help → Hotkeys.

If something can't be found

The window is empty. No composition is open: go to the Compositions window and double-click the card you need.
A layout's effects aren't visible. Its row is collapsed — expand it with the triangle to the left of the name.
A bar you need isn't visible. It's most likely outside the visible time span: zoom out with the mouse wheel or drag out the preview strip's handles.
The playback panel or its buttons disappeared. The Stop, Home, and step buttons, the opacity master, and fixture highlighting are toggled with a right click on the playback panel.
The timeline window got closed. Window menu → Timeline.