9.5.2

986 • CHAPTER 19
TIMELINE • 987
Keyframing in the Timeline
You can create tracks, sequences and keys manually in the Timeline. Before you can record keys, you
must rst create a track and a sequence. To create a track, in the Timeline, select the name of the object
that should receive the track and choose the desired track from the File > New Track menu. The name
of the track will appear to the right of the object’s name in the Timeline. CINEMA 4D automatically
creates a new sequence for the track that is set to the length of the project (dened by the Minimum
and Maximum parameters in the project settings).
You can assign as many tracks to an object as you wish. A track can contain any number of sequences,
which in turn may contain any number of keys. When using several sequences in a track, you need
to consider that certain restrictions may come into force when using automatic repetition (looping).
A sequence can only be looped so many times until it collides with the next sequence of the track.
Therefore, it is advisable to create animations that are intended to be uniformly looped on separate
tracks.
To create a key, Ctrl-click on the sequence at the desired frame. Alternatively, select the sequence,
choose File > New Key and, in the dialog that opens, enter the frame number for the key and click OK
to create the key at that frame. Regardless of how you create the key, its settings will appear in the
Attribute manager, where you can edit its values.
Example
As with previous examples, we’ll again animate a cube from frames 0 to 30
so that you can easily compare the four methods of animating. Although
keyframing in the Timeline is the most laborious method of recording
animation, it gives you the most control and is useful for complex animation.
 Start with a new scene and choose Objects > Primitive > Cube.
 In the Timeline, click the name Cube to select the Cube in the Timeline (if
you can’t see the name ‘Cube’ in the Timeline, drag and drop the cube from
the Object manager into the Timeline).
 Choose File > New Track > Parameter > Position > X to create a track for
the cube’s X position. A sequence is created automatically.
You can also create the track using the context menu. To access the context
menu, in the Timeline, right-click (Windows) or Command-click (Mac OS) on
the name of the object that you want to create the track for and choose the
track from the New Track submenu.
 Ctrl-click anywhere on the position sequence. A key is created where you
clicked and the key’s parameters are displayed in the Attribute manager.