FoundryInk Academy Academy / Animation course
Animation course

The timeline, top to bottom

The timeline is the clock and the memory of your animation. Get fluent here and every other tool gets easier, because animating is really just putting the right value at the right frame. This page reads the timeline top to bottom: the playhead, frames, the four views, keyframes, Auto-key, and the transport controls that play it all back.

Read time about 12 min

1What the timeline is for

The timeline runs along the bottom of the Animation studio, and it holds time itself. Every change you record lives at a specific frame here, and playing the timeline back is what turns those recorded changes into motion. If the row list is the cast, the timeline is the script and the stopwatch together. Everything in this tutorial is about reading and steering that stopwatch with confidence.

The timeline under the stage, with a lane for each row of the scene.
The timeline under the stage, with a lane for each row of the scene.See the full screen
Almost every animation problem is really a timeline problem: the right pose at the wrong frame, or the right value with no key to hold it. Learn to read it and you can debug your own shots.
Pro note
The timeline is where time lives. Once you can read it, animating becomes methodical: set the right value at the right frame.

2Frames: the ruler of time

Animation is measured in frames, the individual still moments that play in sequence. The timeline is ruled off in frames from the start of your shot to the end, and each row stretches across that ruler. A frame is the smallest unit of time you work in: place something on frame 12 and it happens at frame 12. Thinking in frames rather than seconds is the single biggest shift from watching animation to making it.

The FPS field at the top of the studio, which sets how many frames play each second.
The FPS field at the top of the studio, which sets how many frames play each second.See the full screen
The frame readout beside the transport buttons, here Frame 1 / 24.
The frame readout beside the transport buttons, here Frame 1 / 24.See the full screen
Playback speed decides how many frames make a second, so the same 24 frames can feel snappy or slow depending on the rate. Count in frames, feel it in seconds.
Pro note
Frames are the unit you count in. Twelve frames here, six there. Count them carefully and your timing gets sharp.

3The playhead and the Frame readout

The moving vertical line is the playhead, and wherever it sits is the exact moment the stage is showing you. Drag it and the stage updates live, so you are literally scrubbing through your shot. A readout shows Frame {n} / {total}, the frame you are on out of the total length, so you always know your place. Put the playhead where you want a change to happen before you make the change; that is the rhythm of animating.

The playhead on frame 7, where the stage shows the ball squashed on the ground.
The playhead on frame 7, where the stage shows the ball squashed on the ground.See the full screen
The playhead is also where new keyframes land. If a key appears in a surprising spot, it is because the playhead was there when you made the change.
Pro note
The playhead is your now. Whatever you change lands where the playhead sits, so aim it first, then act. Frame {n} of {total} keeps you honest.

4Keyframes: values pinned to time

A keyframe is a value pinned to a frame: this pose here, that position there. The studio then fills the frames between your keys automatically, moving smoothly from one to the next. So you do not draw every frame, you set the important moments and let the in-between get calculated. Two keys, a start and an end, already make motion. More keys give you more control over the path and the timing.

Frame 17, where the studio has slid the crate most of the way between its two keys.
Frame 17, where the studio has slid the crate most of the way between its two keys.See the full screen
The interpolation setting for new keyframes, here Smooth.
The interpolation setting for new keyframes, here Smooth.See the full screen
Fewer, well-placed keys usually beat a forest of them. Block the big poses first, then add keys only where the motion needs steering.
Pro note
A keyframe says here is where this thing should be at this moment. Set two and you have movement. The studio colours in the gaps for you.

5Auto-key: recording as you work

Auto-key, on the right of the Tool Options bar, is the switch that decides whether your changes get recorded. With it on, every move, scale, rotate, or pose you make lays down a keyframe at the playhead. With it off, you can adjust a rest position without keying anything. The normal animating loop is: Auto-key on, park the playhead on a frame, change something, move the playhead, change again. That is animation in one sentence.

The Auto-key checkbox at the bottom of the toolbox, switched on.
The Auto-key checkbox at the bottom of the toolbox, switched on.See the full screen
Two classic mix-ups: keys you did not want (Auto-key was on) or nothing recording (Auto-key was off). Glance at the toggle before every posing session.
Pro note
Auto-key controls recording. On means every change is saved as a keyframe. Off means nothing is recorded. Check it, then pose with confidence.

6Scrubbing: read your shot by hand

Dragging the playhead back and forth is called scrubbing, and it is how you inspect your animation frame by frame without playing it. Scrub slowly through a movement and you can spot a foot that slides, a pop where a key is missing, or a hold that runs too long. It is the animator's magnifying glass. Where Play shows you the feel, scrubbing shows you the truth of each frame.

Scrubbed to frame 5, with the ball still falling toward the ground.
Scrubbed to frame 5, with the ball still falling toward the ground.See the full screen
Scrub before you polish. Playing at speed hides small errors that a slow scrub makes obvious, and fixing them early saves re-doing the pass.
Pro note
Scrubbing is slow-motion detective work. Drag through the tricky bit and the sliding foot or the missing key jumps right out at you.

7The Frames view

The first timeline tab is Frames, and you will spend most of your time here. It lays out each row against the frame ruler and shows the keyframes sitting on it, so you can see the whole shot's timing at a glance. This is where you drag keys earlier or later, spot gaps, and read the shape of your timing across every row at once. Most day-to-day work, blocking poses and adjusting timing, happens right here.

The Frames tab: each row against the frame ruler, with its drawings and keys.
The Frames tab: each row against the frame ruler, with its drawings and keys.See the full screen
If you only ever learn one view, learn Frames. It is the overview that tells you what is happening and when, across the entire scene.
Pro note
Frames is the main view, the one you will use most. Every row, every key, the whole timing laid out flat. Start here, always.

8The Channels view

The Channels tab breaks a row open into its separate animated values, its channels, so you can see position, scale, rotation, and the rest on their own lines. This is where you go when one row is doing several things at once and you need to work on just the rotation, say, without touching the position. It untangles a busy row into readable strands so you can fix exactly the value that is misbehaving.

The Channels tab, splitting the Crate row into separate position, scale and angle lines.
The Channels tab, splitting the Crate row into separate position, scale and angle lines.See the full screen
Reach for Channels when a row feels like too much is happening at once. Isolating one channel makes a fiddly fix simple.
Pro note
Channels is the X-ray. It splits a row into its separate moving parts so you can nudge the rotation without disturbing the position. Very tidy.

9The Sequencer view

The Sequencer tab is the high-altitude view, showing your rows as blocks along time so you can arrange the big pieces of a scene. It is less about individual keyframes and more about when each element starts, stops, and overlaps. Use it to line up a character's entrance with a music cue, or to slide a whole chunk of action earlier. It is the editing table where you arrange the large moves.

The Sequencer tab, showing each row as one collapsed track of keyframes.
The Sequencer tab, showing each row as one collapsed track of keyframes.See the full screen
The Sequencer is for structure, the Frames view is for detail. Rough the layout in the Sequencer, then drop into Frames to refine the timing.
Pro note
Sequencer is the bird's-eye view. Shuffle the big blocks, line up the entrance with the drumbeat, then zoom back down to fuss over frames.

10The Motion Graph view

The Motion Graph tab plots a value as a curve you can bend, and it is where motion goes from correct to good. The line's steepness is speed: steep means fast, flat means slow or held. Right-click a key and choose Interpolation to pick how it moves between keys, Linear, Smooth, Step (hold), Ease in, Ease out, Ease in/out, Noise, Cycle, or Bounce, and use Add curve handles for hand-shaped timing.

The Motion Graph tab, drawing the Crate's values as curves over time.
The Motion Graph tab, drawing the Crate's values as curves over time.See the full screen
Ease in/out is the everyday choice: it makes moves start and stop smoothly instead of moving mechanically. Reach for it before anything fancier.
Pro note
The Motion Graph is where timing gets polished. Add Ease in/out and a stiff move starts and stops smoothly. Bend the curve, feel the difference.

11Play, Stop, and Loop

The transport is your playback remote. Play runs the animation from the playhead and Stop halts it. Turn on Loop and playback repeats end to start, which is exactly what you want when you are tuning a walk cycle or a wave and need to watch it over and over. Between passes, Previous keyframe and Next keyframe jump the playhead straight from key to key so you can hop through your important poses.

The green Play button reading Stop while the scene plays.
The green Play button reading Stop while the scene plays.See the full screen
Loop plus a short frame range is the tightest feedback loop in animation. Set it looping, tweak, watch, tweak again, until the motion is right.
Pro note
Play to feel it, Loop to watch it forever, and Next keyframe to leapfrog between your big poses. That is the entire remote control.

12Stepped playback: on ones, twos, threes

Real hand-drawn animation often holds each drawing for more than one frame, and the stepped playback toggle lets you preview that feel. On 1s shows a fresh drawing every frame (the smoothest, most work), On 2s holds each drawing for two frames (the classic look), and On 3s holds for three (snappier, more stylised). A per-frame Hold field reads out as "on ones" or "on twos" so you can see how long a given drawing sits.

The stepped playback button, which cycles through on ones, on twos and on threes.
The stepped playback button, which cycles through on ones, on twos and on threes.See the full screen
The Hold field on the Frame tab, which sets how long one drawing stays on screen.
The Hold field on the Frame tab, which sets how long one drawing stays on screen.See the full screen
Animating on twos is the traditional default for a reason: it looks great and halves the drawings. Save on ones for the moments that truly need buttery smoothness.
Pro note
On twos is the old-school sweet spot: smooth enough, half the drawings. Switch to ones only when a move really has to glide.

13Onion skin: see the frames around you

The Onion eye shows ghosts of the neighbouring drawings so you can draw or pose in relation to them. Past frames ghost in red, and a forward stepper (+N) shows future frames ghosting in green, so you can sandwich the frame you are on between where it came from and where it is going. This is how you keep motion arcs smooth and spacing even, because you can literally see the trail your movement is drawing.

Onion skin on frame 7: the drawings before and after show faintly on either side.
Onion skin on frame 7: the drawings before and after show faintly on either side.See the full screen
The Onion row on the timeline, with its eye toggle and forward stepper.
The Onion row on the timeline, with its eye toggle and forward stepper.See the full screen
Onion skin is most useful on Art rows where you draw frames by hand, but it helps you judge spacing on any animated element.
Pro note
Onion skin is your ghost trail. Red behind, green ahead. Draw the middle so it sits nicely between the two and your motion flows.

14Markers and inserting frames

Two timeline helpers keep a longer shot organised. Markers drop a labelled flag at the playhead ("Marker at frame {n}", then Add marker), and Jump to previous marker and Jump to next marker whisk you between them, with Delete marker to clear one. Insert frames ("Frames to insert", then Insert) opens up room in the middle of a scene, shifting everything after the insert point later so you can add breathing space.

The Markers list with one marker, First bounce.
The Markers list with one marker, First bounce.See the full screen
Insert frames, asking how many frames to add at the playhead.
Insert frames, asking how many frames to add at the playhead.See the full screen
Insert frames shifts everything after it, so use it before you fine-tune the timing at the end, not after, or you will move keys you already dialled in.
Pro note
Markers are labelled flags on the timeline; jump between them to find your place. Insert frames when a scene needs more room in the middle.

15Reading your timeline like a pro

Put it together and a healthy timeline tells a story you can read. Blocked poses show as clean keys in the Frames view, busy rows get untangled in Channels, the big structure gets arranged in the Sequencer, and the feel gets shaped in the Motion Graph. Loop a short range, scrub the tricky moments, and use markers to navigate. When you can glance at the timeline and know what happens when, you are animating, not just fiddling.

A good habit: block, then time, then polish. Set poses in Frames, fix timing by dragging keys, then shape the curves last in the Motion Graph.
Pro note
Block in Frames, untangle in Channels, arrange in Sequencer, polish in Motion Graph. Four views, one shot, and now you speak all of them.

Get timeline-fluent

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Questions about the timeline

A value pinned to a specific frame, such as a pose or a position. The studio automatically fills the frames between your keys, so two keys already make a movement and you only set the moments that matter.

New keys land at the playhead while Auto-key is on. If a key showed up in a surprising spot, the playhead was there when you made the change. Check the toggle and the playhead position before posing.

Frames for overall timing and blocking, Channels to isolate one value on a busy row, Sequencer to arrange the big blocks of a scene, and Motion Graph to shape how a value eases between keys.

In the Motion Graph, set the interpolation to Ease in/out so moves start and stop smoothly, and use Add curve handles for hand-shaped timing. Linear interpolation is what makes movement feel mechanical.

It is how many frames each drawing is held. On 1s shows a new drawing every frame (smoothest, most work), On 2s holds each for two frames (the classic look), and On 3s holds for three (snappier and more stylised).

It shows faint ghosts of the neighbouring frames so you can draw or pose in relation to them. Past frames ghost red and future frames ghost green via the forward stepper, which keeps your motion arcs and spacing consistent.

Use Insert frames: set how many frames to insert and press Insert, and everything after that point shifts later to make room. Do it before you finalise the end timing so you do not disturb keys you already set.

Turn on Loop and work within a short frame range so playback repeats that section. Looping a small range while you tweak is the fastest way to dial in a cycle or a beat.

Use Previous keyframe and Next keyframe in the transport to hop the playhead from key to key, and drop Markers on frames you return to often so you can jump between them by name.

The clock is yours now

You can read the timeline top to bottom: playhead and frames, keyframes and Auto-key, the four views, and the whole transport. That is real timeline literacy, and it makes every other animation tool easier to use. Next, we turn a finished animation into something readers can actually watch.

Publishing your animation →