Matinee Editor Reference | Unreal Engine 4.27 Documentation

As of Unreal Engine 4.24, you can no longer access the Matinee Editor from the Cinematics Menu and Details Panel. This is part of the transition to remove Matinee from UE4 completely in 4.25. You can still convert Matinee actors to Sequencer assets using the Matinee to Sequencer Conversion Tool.

The following screenshot shows the Matinee Editor:

You can close any panel by clicking the small "X" in the upper-right corner of the tab. You can also hide any panel by right-clicking on the tab, and then clicking Hide Tab on the context menu that appears. To reopen a panel that you have closed, click that panel's name on the Window menu.

For more information about Matinee, see Matinee User Guide.

Menu Bar

File

Item	Description
Import	Imports a FBX or scene.
Export All	Exports the entire scene (though some items cannot be exported) to a FBX file for editing in an external 3D content creation package.
Export Sound Cue Info	Exports all SoundCue information for the Matinee sequence to a CSV file.
Export Animation Track Info	Exports all AnimTrack information for the Matinee sequence to a CSV file.
Bake Transforms on Export	Toggles whether transforms are baked before exporting the scene.
Save All	Saves your level.
Choose Files to Save	Offers you a choice of which modified level assets you want to save.
Connect to Source Control	If your project is using a source-control system, connects to that source-control system.

See Exporting and Importing Matinee Metadata for more information about these topics.

Edit

Item	Description
Undo	Undoes the last completed action.
Redo	Redoes the last undone action.
Delete Keys	Deletes the keys currently selected in the timeline. Selecting keys in the Curve Editor does not select them in the timeline.
Duplicate Keys	Duplicates (with a slight time offset) the keys currently selected in the timeline.
Insert Space	Inserts the specified amount of time into the matinee sequence at the current time cursor position.
Stretch Section	Stretches (or shrinks) the portion of the sequence contained in the loop section to fit the specified amount of time.
Stretch Selected Key Frames	Stretches (or shrinks) the section of time defined by the selected keyframes to fit the specified amount of time.
Delete Section	Deletes the portion of the sequence contined in the loop section.
Select In Section	Selects all the keys contained within the loop section.
Reduce Keys	Reduces the amount of keys in the currently selected track. This can be useful for tracks that were edited in an external application and may have quite a bit of redundant keys that are not needed to get the desired animation. See Key Reduction for more details.
Save Path Time	Saves the current time and positions of moving Actors to use when building paths.
Jump To Path Time	Moves the time cursor to the saved path-building position.
Editor Preferences	Enables you to configure the behavior and features of the Unreal Editor. Note that this gives you the same options as the Editor Preferences option on the Unreal Editor's Edit menu.
Project Settings	Enables you to change the settings of your current project. Note that this gives you the same options as the Project Settings option on the Unreal Editor's Edit menu.

View

Item	Description
Draw 3D Trajectories	Toggles display of 3D movement paths in the viewports. Display of paths for individual tracks can be toggled on an off by clicking the button on the track in the track list.
Show All 3D Trajectories	Enables display of 3D movement paths for all movement tracks in the sequence.
Hide All 3D Trajectories	Disables 3D movement paths for all movement tracks in the sequence.
Snap	Toggles snapping of the time cursor and keys.
Time to Frames	Snaps the timeline cursor to the frame rate specified in the Snap Size dropdown. Only enabled if snap size setting is in frames per second.
Fixed Time	Locks playback rate to the framerate specified in the Snap Size dropdown. Only enabled if the snap size setting is in frames per second.
Prefer Frame Numbers	Toggles display of frame numbers instead of time in seconds for the current cursor position for Anim Control tracks.
Show Time Cursor Position	Toggles whether cursor position info for Anim Control tracks should only be displayed for the currently selected Anim Control track or for all Anim Control tracks in the sequence.
Zoom To Time Cursor Position	Toggles whether the timeline should zoom in or out on the current cursor position or on the center of the visible timeline.
View Frame Stats	Toggles display of frame statistics in the viewport.
Editing Crosshair	Toggles display of a crosshair in the center of the viewport.
Editing Grid	Enables and sets the resolution of a grid overlay on the viewport.
Safe Frame Settings	Defines the region of the Matinee sequence that is visible during gameplay from the current camera, given its settings, including aspect ratio and FOV.
Sequence	Zooms timeline to the entire sequence.
Selected	Zooms timeline to the selected key(s).
Loop	Zooms timeline to loop section.
Loop Sequence	Sets start and end of loop section to the start and end of the entire sequence.
End	Moves the time to the last key in the selected track.
Gore	Toggles display of gore in editor preview.
Pan Invert	Toggles whether panning in the timeline moves in the direction of mouse movement or in the opposite direction.
Allow Keyframe Bar Selection	If enabled, enables keyframe selection by clicking on the bar of the keyframe.
Allow Keyframe Text Selection	If enabled, enables keyframe selection by clicking on the text of the keyframe.
Lock Camera Pitch	If enabled, constrains the camera pitch to between -90 and +90 degrees while editing.

Window

Item	Description
UnrealMatinee Curve Editor	Toggles display of the Curve Editor.
Details	Toggles display of the Details Pane.

What follows is a description of each of the toolbar buttons, from left to right as they appear on the toolbar.

Icon	Description
	Adds a keyframe at the current position on the selected track.
	Sets the default InterpMode to use when adding new keys.
	Starts the preview playback from current position.
	Loops the preview playback of loop section.
	Stops the preview playback.
	Starts the preview playback in reverse.
	Creates a camera Actor at the current position of the scene camera.
	Adjusts the preview playback speed.
	Sets the timeline granularity for snapping and visualization purposes.
	Toggles the curves editor.
	Toggles snapping of the time cursor and keys.
	Snaps the timeline cursor to the frame rate specified in the Snap Size dropdown. Only enabled if snap size setting is in frames per second.
	Locks playback rate to the framerate specified in the Snap Size dropdown. Only enabled if the snap size setting is in frames per second.
	Zooms timeline to the entire sequence.
	Zooms timeline to the selected key(s).
	Zooms timeline to loop section.
	Sets start and end of loop section to the start and end of the entire sequence.
	Move to the end of the track.
	Opens the Matinee Recorder window.
	Creates a movie from the Matinee sequence.

Curve Editor

The Curve Editor allows you to graphically visualize and edit the animations curves used by the tracks in the Matinee sequence. Tracks that have animation curves that can be edited in the Curve Editor in Matinee have the toggle button. Clicking this button will send that track's curve information to the Curve Editor where the curve will become visible and the track info will appear in the track list.

See the Curve Editor User Guide page for details about working with curve information in the Curve Editor.

You can also refer to the Setting Up Lifts page for an example of manipulating the Curve Editor in a Movement Track.

Track View

The Track View contains a list of all the folders, groups, and tracks contained within the Matinee sequence and shows their keyframe information on a timeline where they can be edited. It consists of the following areas:

Group Tabs

The tabs across the top of the Timeline pane show all the Group Tabs that exist in the current Matinee sequence. Group Tabs are a handy way of organizing groups and tracks based on their function. Their use is completely optional. For very simple sequences, you could simply leave all groups and tracks in the default All tab. But with complex sequences, like those used to create in-game cinematics, you will do best to make use of these tabs as the number of groups and tracks in the sequence can quickly add up and become unwieldy to navigate. The All tab will always show all the groups and tracks in the sequence so adding related tracks to a corresponding group tab can be a quick and easy way to find and edit those groups and tracks. You can create your own custom tabs in addition to those provided by default to further organize your groups and tracks based on any criteria you choose.

Group and Track List

The Group and Track list shows all the groups and tracks in the currently selected group tab. It will be empty by default in a new Matinee sequence.

Timeline Info

The Timeline Info pane displays information about the timeline, including the current location of the time cursor and the total length of the current scene.

(#Timeline)

Timeline

The Timeline is a graphical representation of all the keyframes for all the tracks in the seqence. It shows time along the bottom horizontally and also contains the start and end markers for the loop section (in green) and for the seqeunce itself (in red). Keys can be selected and modified directly in the timeline. Some keys are displayed simply as triangles while other keys are shown as triangles followed by a colored bar. These are keys for animations, sounds, etc. that have a specific duration. The colored bar shows the duration of the action the key is triggering.

Details

The Details panel is a standard Unreal Details window which displays the details of the currently selected folder, group, or track in the Timeline Pane's track list.

Controls

Mouse Controls

Control	Action
Click-drag on background	Pan sequence around
Mouse wheel	Zoom in and out
Click on key	Select keyframe

Keyboard Controls

Control	Action
Ctrl-click on object	Toggle selection of object
Ctrl-drag	Move current selection
Ctrl-Alt-drag	Box select
Ctrl-Alt-Shift-drag	Box select (add to current selection)

Hot Keys

Control	Action
Enter	Add keyframe at current position on the selected track
Ctrl-W	Duplicate selected keyframes
Delete	Delete selected keyframes
Left/Right Cursor	Jump to previous/next key on selected track
Up/Down Cursor	Move selected group up/down in list
Ctrl-Z	Undo
Ctrl-Y	Redo
R	Razor Tool (for AnimControl Track - see later)