Guides / The panels
Updated
Timeline
The Timeline has two halves: the outline on the left, naming layers and their properties, and on the right either the lanes or the graph.
Layers and Graph
Section titled “Layers and Graph”Two mode tabs sit at the far right of the panel’s header, with the playhead’s time and frame number at its far left. The outline is the same in both modes; switching mode changes what is drawn against time, and nothing else.
Layers draws each layer as a bar, with a lane per property once the layer is twirled open. Shut, a layer’s keys are summarised as diamonds within its own bar.
Graph draws the curves. A property’s curves are on the pane while its row is selected in the outline. The curves share one value scale.
The Animated filter
Section titled “The Animated filter”U, the shortcut, lists only properties that have keyframes, across every layer.
Beside it, the shy filter hides every layer with its shy switch on, and a master motion blur toggles motion blur for all layers in the composition with the switch on.
The ruler
Section titled “The ruler”| Item | What it is |
|---|---|
| Work area | The stretch that plays and exports. Drag either end; it defaults to the whole composition. |
| Markers ribbon | Composition markers. |
| Layer markers | Markers sitting on a layer. |
| Beat markers | Markers placed by Composition ▸ Detect beats. |
| Cache bar | Which frames are cached, coloured by which tier they are in. |
The outline columns
Section titled “The outline columns”
Left to right: Switches, Layer, Modes, Compose, Parent, and the render times.
| Column | Holds |
|---|---|
| Switches | Visibility, mute, solo, lock, shy, guide. |
| Layer | Twirl, layer number, label colour, name. The one column that stretches. |
| Modes | Disable effects, 3D, motion blur, adjustment, flow, collapse. |
| Compose | Matte and blend mode. |
| Parent | The parent picker. |
Drag a column heading to reorder the groups, and drag a seam to resize one. Toggles on the bottom bar show and hide Modes, Compose, Parent and the render times, as does a right-click on the headings. You can also manually adjust the column widths for several of these to hide items if they aren’t needed.
Switches opens on visibility, mute, solo and lock, and Modes on disable effects, 3D and motion blur. Drag the seam wider to show the rest. The order, the widths and the hidden columns are kept between launches.
Switches is what the Timeline keeps about a layer, and Modes is how the layer is rendered. See Layers.
A matte, blend or parent picker still at its default reads as muted text. It draws as a picker once it is changed, or while the pointer is over its row.
A matte or parent picker shows the number and name of the layer it points at, and its list numbers every layer the same way. A layer’s number is its place in the composition, and it keeps that number while a search or the shy filter hides other layers.
The lanes
Section titled “The lanes”
Each layer has a bar showing when it draws. Drag the bar to move it, and either end to trim it. A trimmed layer keeps a faint outline of its full source extent. While the bar is moved or trimmed, a readout beside the pointer gives its in frame, its out frame and its length. A still placed in a composition lasts the whole composition, and both ends of its bar drag freely.
Twirl a layer open and its transform, masks, effects, flow options, paint strokes and shape contents appear beneath it, each on a lane of its own. An effect’s parameter rows show the value box without its slider. A click on an effect’s name selects the effect, and the arrow beside it twirls it open.
A Sequence layer draws its clips on one row.
On a node graph composition the Timeline draws one row per box, with a lane per parameter once the box is twirled open. A box has no span, so there is no bar.
Sound mix
Section titled “Sound mix”Once a composition has been edited in the Audio timeline, its Audio layers fold into a Sound mix row pinned at the foot of the Timeline. The row draws the composition’s mix, and its dB well sets the master fader. Its twirl opens the fold. A double-click opens the Audio workspace, and the right-click menu offers Open Audio workspace and Convert to precomp, which moves the Audio layers into a nested composition and takes the row away.
Right-click menus
Section titled “Right-click menus”| Right-click | Offers |
|---|---|
| A layer’s bar | The same menu as the layer’s row in the outline. |
| Empty lane ground | New layer, Work area starts here, Work area ends here, Clear work area, Markers and Detect beats. The three dots on the bottom bar open the same menu with Arm razor added. |
| Empty ground under the outline’s rows | The same menu as empty lane ground. |
| The ruler | Add marker here, Work area starts here, Work area ends here and Clear work area. |
Here is the frame under the pointer. Under the outline’s rows it is the playhead.
Moving about
Section titled “Moving about”- The wheel scrolls the rows.
- Shift+wheel scrolls sideways.
- Ctrl+wheel zooms time, anchored on the pointer. The After Effects shortcuts use Alt+wheel.
- A middle-button drag pans both ways at once. The outline moves with the lanes.
Fin Layers mode zooms time to the keyframes of the selected layers, or of every layer with none selected.- Shift while dragging the playhead on the ruler lands it on the nearest marker, layer end, edit point, keyframe or work-area edge.
- Dragging a key near either end of the lanes scrolls them.
- Minimap under the lanes, in Settings ▸ Appearance ▸ Panels, draws every layer’s bar as a thin line in a strip under the lanes. The part in view is a window on it, and dragging the window scrolls. It is on by default in the Lantern shape.
Each composition keeps its own playhead, zoom and scroll, across and down, between launches too.
Editing keyframes in bulk
Section titled “Editing keyframes in bulk”
Sweep a box over the lanes and every keyframe inside it is selected, across as many properties and layers as the box crosses. The selection is drawn as a block with a badge reading how many keys it holds and how many frames it spans.
- Drag the block’s body to move every key together.
- Drag an end handle to stretch the whole block — the keys inside keep their proportions.
- The magnet on the bottom bar decides whether a dragged key snaps to whole frames.
- A block whose keys all sit on one frame has no end handles. Drag its keys to move them.
The strip along the bottom bar acts on whatever keys are selected: Interpolation — Linear, Easy ease, Hold, Ease.
On a narrow panel the strip’s buttons, the magnet and the graph’s framing buttons that do not fit go into ⋯ at the end of their bar.
Render times
Section titled “Render times”The hourglass on the bottom strip turns on render-time measuring. Each layer’s row shows how long that layer took on the last measured frame in milliseconds, each effect’s heading shows its own, and the column heading carries the whole frame’s. A Precomp layer’s number includes everything inside it.