Sections and Keyframes
Adding sections
- Double-click an empty part of a track's row to add the track's usual section there, one second long: Property on Instance, Camera, and Empty tracks, Animation on a Rig, Audio on Global Audio, and the matching section on Subsequence, Fade, and Time Dilation tracks.
- Right-click the row, or open the track menu, to choose any section type the track accepts.
A new Property section starts on the property you most likely want, with a keyframe at its start holding the subject's current value:
| Subject | Property |
|---|---|
Camera, BasePart | CFrame |
Model | WorldPivot, which moves the whole model |
Sound, AudioPlayer | Volume |
Light | Brightness |
ParticleEmitter | Rate |
GuiObject | Position |
Change the property in the Inspector's Name parameter. Positions on a part, model, or camera are stored relative to the sequence's origin (see The root).
Built-in section types
| Section | Parameters |
|---|---|
| Property | Name of the property, and its keyframed Value |
| Animation | AnimationId, keyframed Speed, Priority, FadeTime, Looped |
| Audio | Keyframed Volume (0 to 10), FadeIn, FadeOut, and an AssetId that overrides the subject's |
| Particle Emit | Rate in particles per second, and a Burst emitted on entry |
| Subsequence | Sequence to play (empty uses the track's), StartOffset into it, and PlayRate |
| Fade | Keyframed Opacity, from 0 (clear) to 1 (the track's full color) |
| TimeScale | Keyframed Scale, from 0.05 to 20; overlapping sections multiply |
Animation, Audio, Particle Emit, and Subsequence sections are triggered: they start something with its own clock when the playhead enters them, and stop it when the playhead leaves. When you scrub backwards through one, it stays quiet unless Re-trigger is on, since particles and sounds can't play in reverse.
A Subsequence section plays the named sequence over its own range, starting StartOffset seconds in. Binding
and parameter overrides passed to Play reach the played sequence too, matched by name, so a script that
plays a cutscene with Bindings = { Door = door } also fills Door in every shot inside it. A sequence that would end up playing itself is skipped
with a warning.
Editing sections
- Drag a section's body to move it, or its edges to resize it. Dragging up or down moves it between sub-rows.
- Double-click a section to rename it.
- The Inspector sets Start, End, Duration, and Sub-row exactly, and has an Enabled checkbox to switch a section off without deleting it.
- On exit picks the restore policy: Restore (default) puts back what the section changed when it ends, and Hold keeps its last value. Held sections are marked HOLD on the timeline.
When a section is dragged across another, the ones it overlaps are pushed down a sub-row for the duration of the drag, and only stay there if they still overlap where you let go.
Keyframes
There are three ways to set a keyframe.
- Pose and key. Move the playhead, change the subject in Studio (move it, recolor it, edit a property), and click ◆ Key. With a section selected, every keyframable parameter of that section is keyed at the playhead; with a track selected, every section of the track under the playhead is. A paused preview doesn't overwrite what you just posed.
- In the Inspector. Click the ◆ beside a parameter to make it keyframed, then edit its value with the playhead where you want the key.
- Record mode. See Recording.
Keyframes appear as markers on lanes below the selected section, one lane per keyframed parameter.
- Click a keyframe to select it, Ctrl+click to toggle it in or out of the selection, and Shift+click to add to it. Drag a box across the lanes to select several; hold Ctrl or Shift to add the box to the selection.
- Drag any selected keyframe to move the whole group. It stops at either end of the section.
- Stretch a group by dragging the handle at either end of its selection bar, or set Start and Span in the Inspector. Times scale about the opposite edge, so the spacing stays in proportion.
- Right-click a keyframe for Duplicate to Playhead, Move Keyframe to Playhead, Move Playhead to Keyframe, Delete Keyframe, and the curve presets.
Curves
Each keyframe names the curve leading out of it to the next keyframe. The marker's shape shows which:
| Marker | Curve |
|---|---|
| Diamond | Linear, a straight blend. The default |
| Square | Constant, holds the value and then jumps |
| Circle | Ease, any EasingStyle and EasingDirection, or Bezier, a timing curve with two handles |
| Rounded diamond | A different curve per component |
Select one keyframe and the Inspector shows a Curve menu and a plot of the segment's shape. For Ease,
pick the Style and Direction. For Bezier, drag the plot's two handles; a handle above or below the box
overshoots. Values made of components, such as a Vector3, Color3, or CFrame, have a Component menu
so you can ease X and leave Y linear, for example. A CFrame splits into X, Y, Z, and Rotation.
With several keyframes selected, one Curve menu sets them all: Linear, Constant, or a Cubic ease in, out, or in-out.
Values that can't blend, such as booleans, strings, and enums, are stepped: they switch to each keyframe's value exactly at its time.
Blending overlapping sections
When two sections write the same property at once, the one evaluated later wins outright: lower tracks over higher ones, lower sub-rows over higher ones. The Blending group in a section's Inspector lets them mix instead.
| Field | Default | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Blend in | 0 s | Ramps the section's influence up from nothing over its first seconds |
| Blend out | 0 s | Ramps it back down over its last seconds |
| Weight | 1 | Scales its influence, from 0 to 1 |
| Priority | 0 | Higher priority composes later, on top, whatever the track order |
The quickest crossfade is the section menu's Crossfade Overlaps, which sets the selected section's ramps
to match its overlaps with the sections beneath it. Sections with a non-default weight or priority show it in
their label, such as Walk · 50% · P2, and their ramps are shaded.
Animation and Audio sections blend through their own medium: the weight sets the animation track's weight or scales the volume.
Warnings
The editor checks the sequence as you work and lists problems in the Inspector, with a ⚠ on the affected tracks and sections:
- two sections writing the same property on the same subject at overlapping times, and which one wins, unless the overlap is a deliberate blend;
- a subject that can't be found, or a section whose type the track can't use;
- a section type or subject preset the place doesn't have installed;
- a subsequence that is empty, missing, or plays itself.
None of these stop the sequence from playing. A section whose type is missing simply does nothing.
Snapping
With Snap on, a drag snaps to the frame grid and is pulled toward the edges of other sections, the playhead, and the start and end of the sequence when it comes within a few pixels of them. A yellow line marks the point a drag is held at; a grey one marks a grid line. Keyframes snap to the grid and to their own section's ends.
Hold Shift while dragging to ignore everything but frames. The Snap shortcut toggles snapping, and Preferences set the grid and the pull distance.