The Timeline

The Timeline

The Timeline can be considered After Effects’ killer
application. More than any other feature, it extends After
Effects unique versatility to a wide range of work. With the
Timeline at the center of the compositing process, you
can time elements and animations precisely as you control
their appearance.
The Timeline panel is also a user-friendly part of the application
and full of hidden powers. By mastering its usage,
you can streamline your workfl ow a great deal, setting the
stage for more advanced work.
One major source of these hidden powers is the Timeline’s
set of keyboard shortcuts and context menus. These are
not extras to be investigated once you’re a veteran, but
small productivity enhancers that you can learn gradually
all the time.

Organization

The goal here isn’t to keep you organized but to get rid of
everything you don’t need and put what you do need right
at your fi ngertips.

Column Views

You can context-click on any column heading to see and
toggle available columns in the Timeline, or you can start
with the minimal setup shown in Figure 2.1 and then augment
or change the setup with the following tools:

• . Lower-left icons : Most (but not quite all) of

the extra data you need is available via the three toggles

found at the lower left of the Timeline.

• . Layer Switches and Transfer Controls are the

most-used; if you have plenty of horizontal space, leave

them both on, but the F4 key has toggled them since

the days when 1280 × 960 was an artist-sized display.

• . Time Stretch toggles the space-hogging timing columns.

I’m unconvinced they’re needed; the one thing I

do with this huge set of controls is stretch time to either

double speed or half speed (50% or 200% stretch,

respectively), which I can do by context-clicking Time >

Time Stretch.

• . Layer/Source (Alt/Option key toggles): What’s in a

name? Nothing until you customize it; clear labels and

color (below) boost your workfl ow.

• . Parent: This one is so often on when you don’t need it

and hidden when you do (see “Spatial Offsets” later in

this chapter); use context-clicking to show/hide it.

• . I can’t see why you would disable AV Features/Keys; it takes effectively no space.

The game is to preserve horizontal space for keyframe data

by keeping only the relevant controls visible.