Animation Sequence Editor

The Animation Editor provides functionality for previewing and editing individual Animation Sequence assets. The properties, including compression scheme, of the Animation Sequence can be set, and animation notification events - also called Notifies - can be added to allow camera effects, particle effects, sounds, and more to be triggered based on the animation.

Interface

The Animation Editor consists of the following sections:

1. Name - Displays the name of the AnimationSequence currently being edited.
2. Notifies - Editable list of tracks for creating/editing notifies. See below for instructions on creating and removing tracks as well as creating and working with notifies.
3. Curves - A graph-like area for adding and editing animation curves
4. Tracks - A field used for editing Animation Layers.
5. Timeline - Displays information about, and provides controls for, playback of the preview in the viewport of the Animation Editor.

Notifies

An Animation Notify is an event along a particular animation at which you can cause something to happen. For instance, the moment a character's foot hits the floor, you can create a Notify along the timeline to play a footstep sound. Other notifies are available as well, allowing for particle, camera, and sound effects. You may also create custom notifies that trigger your own events.

For more information on Animation Notifies, please see the Animation Notifications (Notifies) page.

Notify Tracks

Notifies are stored in Tracks within Animation Sequences. A track is essentially a container that can hold any number of Notifies, and Animation Sequences can have any number of tracks. Using multiple tracks makes it easier to organize and visualize Notifies, especially in cases where an Animation Sequences requires large numbers or several different types of Notifies.

Every Animation Sequence has a single notify track by default. Tracks can be added to the sequence or existing tracks can be removed using the controls to the right of the tracks.

To add a new Track:

• In the Track List, click the button next to an existing track:

  

  A new track is added above the existing track in the list:

  

To remove an existing Track:

• In the Track List, click the button next to the track you want to remove:

  

  The track is removed from the list:

  

Working with Notifies

Notifies can be added to tracks, moved around inside a track, and moved back and forth between different tracks within the Track List. This allows you to quickly tweak the position of a Notify or quickly arrange them logically.

Creating a Notify

Notifies of any existing type or custom Notifies can be added through the context menu.

To create a new Notify:

• Right-click on a track to display the context menu then select the type of notify to add.

  

  The new Notify is added to the track at the location where you Right-clicked:

  

Positioning a Notify

The position of a Notify within the track is extremely important as it determines when the event that corresponds to the Notify is triggered.

To move a Notify around:

• Left-click and hold the Left Mouse Button on the Notify and drag to the desired location.

  

• Release the Left Mouse Button to drop the Notify at that location:

  

Switching Tracks

Moving notifies between tracks is essentially the same as the process for positioning Notifies described above.

To switch Notify Tracks:

• Left-click and hold the Left Mouse Button on the Notify to move to a new track.

  

• The Notify will turn yellow at which point you can drag and drop it on a different track.

  

  The Notify will turn red when you release the Left Mouse Button at the new location.

  

Copy/Pasting Notifies

You can copy a Notify to the clipboard for pasting elsewhere along the animation, or inside different Animation Sequences.

To copy a Notify:

• Right-click on the Notify and select Copy.

  

• Right-click and select the desired Paste option:

  
• Paste - Paste the notify at the current location of the time slider.
• Paste at Original Time - Pastes the notify at the same time as when it was copied.

You can also perform actions for multiple notifies by Shift + Left-clicking on a notify to add it to a selection or Ctrl + Left-clicking to toggle a notify from a selection.

You can drag the selection around and it will remain within the notify panel while keeping snapping intact.

When multiple notifies are copied, by Right-clicking in the timeline to bring up the context menu, you will notice additional paste options.

Paste Multiple Relative: Paste at the mouse cursor retaining relative spacing between notifies regardless of animation length. This means that the notify group should look like it is spaced the same as before the copy; even if the animation is shorter or longer.

Paste Multiple Absolute: Paste at the mouse cursor retaining absolute spacing. The notifies will retain their exact time spacing meaning that they will fire at exactly the same intervals but the group is not scaled to shorter or longer animations.

Paste at Original Time: Puts all of the nodes exactly where they were when they were copied.

Additional Notes:

• Any paste operation that would put any of the notifies off the right edge of the track will still succeed but the notifies will be clamped into the track.
• Pasting at the mouse cursor uses the most top-left point in the selection as a reference point for placing the nodes.
• Pasting a group that would pass below the bottom of the notify panel will add as many tracks as necessary to contain the group automatically.

Timeline

The information bar in the Timeline displays the following playback information:

Info	Description
Animation	The name of the AnimationSequence currently being edited.
Percentage	The current playback position expressed as a percentage of the whole animation.
Current Time	The current playback position expressed in seconds.
Current Frame	The current playback position expressed in frames.

The playback controls perform the following actions:

Option	Description
	The timeline. This shows and allows scrubbing through the frames of the AnimationSequence or AnimationMontage. A red bar is displayed at the current position. Drag the red bar to scrub.
	Skips to the first frame in the AnimationSequence or AnimationMontage.
	Skips to the previous frame in the AnimationSequence or AnimationMontage.
	Begins playback of the AnimationSequence or AnimationMontage in reverse. When playing, the pause button is displayed.
	Creates a new animation object in the specified location. Click to start recording, click again to stop the recording.
	Begins playback of the AnimationSequence or AnimationMontage. When playing, the pause button is displayed.
	Skips to the next frame in the AnimationSequence or AnimationMontage.
	Skips to the last frame in the AnimationSequence or AnimationMontage.
	Toggles playback between play once and looping. When looping is enabled, the button turns red.