4

Navigating in the Timeline
Motion provides many different controls for navigating the Timeline. You can directly
drag the playhead to “scrub” through your project as quickly or slowly as you want, or
you can jump to a specific frame. Additionally, you can automatically jump to object
boundaries, markers, and other important indicators in the Timeline.
To move the playhead to a new point in time
Do one of the following:
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Double-click the current frame field, type a frame number, then press Return.
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Drag the current frame value slider to the left or right to advance or rewind.
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Drag the playhead to the frame you want.
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Click the ruler at the frame number where you want to move the playhead.
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With the Canvas or Project pane active, type the timecode or frame number where you
want to move the playhead. The new frame number appears in the current frame field
in the Canvas. Press Return to jump to that frame.
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With the Timeline active, type the timecode or frame number where you want to move
the playhead. The new frame number appears in the Timeline’s current frame field. Press
Return to jump to that frame.
Important: If a track is currently selected, typing a number and pressing return moves
the selected object in the track rather than the playhead.
To move forward a specific number of frames
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Press Shift–Plus Sign and then the number of frames you want to move forward.
Important: If a track is currently selected, typing a number and pressing return moves
the selected object in the track rather than the playhead.
To move backward a specific number of frames
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Press Shift–Minus Sign and then the number of frames you want to move backward.
Important: If a track is currently selected, typing a number and pressing return moves
the selected object in the track rather than the playhead.
To move ahead or back in seconds, minutes, or hours, type the following in the current
frame field
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To move forward in seconds, type Shift–Plus Sign, then type the number of seconds you
want to move forward, and then type a period. For example, to move 2 seconds ahead,
type “+2.” (with a period after the number) in the field, then press Return. To move ahead
in minutes, type two periods after the number, and to move ahead in hours, type three
periods after the number.
387Chapter 8 Using the Timeline