Movie Maker Interface

The Animation Settings let you create new animated sequences, load and save movie timelines, change the duration of animations, and export animated sequences as video files or frame sequences.

Animation settings

Item	Icon	Description
New Animation		Clears the timeline.
Load Movie Timeline from File		Lets you load a Movie Maker timeline that was saved in either the Movie File (*.mvf extension) format or in the generic Template File (*.tpl extension) format (see Saving and Loading Timelines).
Save Movie Timeline to File		Lets you save a Movie Maker timeline in either the Movie File (*.mvf extension) format or in the generic Template File (*.tpl extension) format (see Saving and Loading Timelines).
Animation Settings		Opens the Animation Settings dialog, shown below. You can select a duration for an animated sequence in this dialog.
Export Animation		Opens the Export Animation dialog, shown below. You can choose the settings for exporting an animated sequence in this dialog (see Exporting Animated Sequences).

The Playback controls allow you to playback your animated sequence in the 3D view — either while you work or before you export a completed animated sequence. You can also navigate through key frames manually with the Seek bar to quickly preview a sequence.

To preview an animated sequence, click any of the following controls on the Movie Maker panel:

Preview controls

Item	Icon	Description
Start		Moves the Seek bar to the beginning of the animated sequence.
Pause		Pauses playback of the animated sequence. Click the Play button to resume playback.
Play		Plays the animated sequence forward from the beginning or from where you stopped it.
Stop		Stops playback and moves the Seek bar to the beginning of the animated sequence.
End		Moves the Seek bar to the end of the animated sequence.
Loop		If selected, the animated sequence will be played in a continuous loop.

These controls allow you to add key frames, rotations, and other effects to an animated sequence, as well as update key frames.

Animation properties

Item	Description
Advanced	Opens the Advanced panel, in which you can edit key frames and the interpolation applied between key frames (see Working in Advanced Mode).
Add Key	Adds a key frame to the timeline at the position of the Seek bar.
Update Key	Updates the properties of the currently selected key frame.
Update w/o Camera	Updates the properties of the currently selected key frame, excluding any camera manipulation. Note You would update a key frame without the camera in cases in which you want the position of objects to remain unchanged.
Camera	Available for the interval between key frames, the Camera options let you apply different interpolations to camera effects such as zooms and pans (see Interpolating Camera Transitions).
Rotate	Lets you add a rotation to a selected key frame (see Adding Rotations).
Interpolation	Lets you add interpolation — Fade out, Fade in, Fade in/out, None — between two selected key frames.
Clip Sweep	Lets you add clip sweeps to a selected key frame (see Adding Clip Sweeps).
Update Thumbnails	Refreshes the appearance of the thumbnails on the timeline.

The Timeline is a graphical representation of an animated sequence in which the sequence’s key frames are laid out in chronological order. The main purpose of the Timeline is to control the timing of property changes and to let you to know the key frame you are on, how many more key frame(s) are left, and so on. Key frames are represented by thumbnails, which represent the state of the 3D view.

Timeline

A. Seek bar B. Key frame

Seek bar… The Seek bar is synchronized with the 3D view and indicates the position of the current frame. You can preview an animated sequence by dragging the Seek bar.

Key frame… Marks the beginning and/or end of an animated property. Double-click a key frame to update the 3D view. You can also hover over a key frame to see its exact position (time value) on the timeline. You should note that the currently selected key frame is highlighted with a translucent border.

Pop-up menus… Pop-up menus are available for adding key frames to the timeline, updating key frames, and setting the position of key frames.

Timeline pop-up menu

Timeline pop-up menu

Item	Description
Add interpolated key frame	Adds a key frame to the timeline at the cursor position that is an interpolation for the key frames to the left and right.
Add snapshot key frame	Adds a key frame to the timeline at the cursor position with the properties of the 3D view. Note You can also add key frames at regular intervals along the timeline by pressing the configured shortcut key K (see Configured Actions for the Movie Maker) or by clicking the Add Key button.

Key frame pop-up menu

Key frame pop-up menu

Item	Description
Remove key frame	Removes the selected key frame from the timeline.
Update key frame	Updates the properties of the currently selected key frame.
Update Key frame w/o camera	Updates the properties of the currently selected key frame, excluding any camera manipulation. Note You would update a key frame without the camera in cases in which you want the position of objects to remain unchanged.
Set key frame position	Opens the Key Frame Time dialog, in which you can set an exact time positions of the currently selected key frame.