Editing movies in the Timeline Editor

You use the Timeline Editor to add tracks, effects, and interactivity to QuickTime movies.


The Timeline Editor A. Sample editing tools B. Track list area C. Marker menu D. Time ruler E. Time cursor F. Track content area G. Mouse pointer position in track content area H. Expand/collapse tracks with samples I. Show/hide track information J. Loop K. Palindrome control L. Playback controls M. Time scale slider

Selection tool

You use the Selection tool  for selecting tracks, samples, and other items in the Timeline Editor. You can also use this tool for dragging tracks in the track list to set the layering order, and to display the properties for a track or sample in the Inspector. To select multiple items, hold Shift while clicking, or drag a selection rectangle over the tracks. After selecting multiple items, you can use the Multiple Inspector to align the timing of the items. (See Aligning the timing of tracks and samples.)

Sample editing tools

You use the sample tools to create and manipulate keyframes and samples within tracks that contain samples, such as sprites and text tracks. For information on samples, see Adding and editing samples.

Playback controls

Controls the playback of a movie when the Preview tab in the movie window is active. Click the Loop button to play the complete movie repeatedly. Click the Loop button and then the Palindrome button to play the complete movie forward and then backward repeatedly. Click the Backward button to rewind the movie by a single step, or hold down this button to rewind the movie continuously. Click the Stop button to stop movie playback at the current time, or double-click to rewind the movie to the beginning. Click the Play button to play the movie in the Preview tab. Click the Forward button to advance the movie a single step, or hold down this button to advance the movie continuously.

Note: The playback controls apply to the current working session only. For information on saving loop and palindrome settings with a movie, see Setting movie properties and annotating a movie.

Track information

Show or hide track information by clicking the Show/Hide Track Info button . The columns display the following information:

• V shows whether a visible track is visible or a sound or MIDI track is audible. Click the eye icon  to show or hide visible tracks, or to turn mute on and off for audible tracks. In general, hidden tracks can affect the boundaries of a movie.
• L shows whether a track is locked. Click the lock icon  to lock or unlock the track. When a track is locked, you can't change it, and the word locked appears in parentheses next to the track name in the track content area.
• Type icon shows what type of track it is. For example, the video icon  identifies a video track, the text icon  identifies a text track.

Track list area

This list on the left side of the Time Editor displays the tracks in the movie. Each track bar is identified by its name (such as Video Track 1) or title if you enter one in the appropriate Inspector. To delete a track, select it and choose Edit > Delete (Windows) or Edit/Clear (Mac OS). The relative position of tracks in the track list determine the layering order of a movie. (See Setting the layering order of tracks.)

Track content area

This list on the right side of the Time Editor displays a bar (or keyframe for a sprite sample) that represents the media on each track. The left edge of the bar marks the start time of the track, and the right edge marks the end time. The keyframe marks the start time of the sprite sample. (See Adding and editing samples.)

Marker menu 

This menu lists the time markers you create and lets you move the time cursor directly to a point on the time ruler. GoLive displays the frame at that time in the movie window. To create a new marker, position your mouse pointer on the Mouse Time row below the time ruler. When the mouse pointer becomes a small triangle, place the triangle at the time location where you want to create new marker and then click. Enter a name for the marker in the text box.

Time ruler

Displays time intervals for the tracks in the track content area, depending on what you have selected in the time scale slider at the bottom of the window.

Time scale slider

Controls the time scale shown in the track content area. You can adjust the time scale to make it easier to examine the timing relationships between the tracks in multiple track movies. Drag the time scale slider to the right to decrease the resolution of the time scale (up to a maximum of one minute) and compress the track bars. This allows you to survey larger sections of the movie. Drag the time scale slider to the left to increase the resolution of the time scale (down to a minimum of one frame) and lengthen the track bars. Any changes you make with the time scale slider are saved between sessions. The default time scale setting is 6 frames per second.

Time cursor

Controls the location of the current frame (or time) in a movie that appears in the Preview tab. To change the current frame, drag the time cursor left or right or click on the time ruler. Before adding a new track, position the time cursor at the time where you want the new track to begin.