Timeline

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Objects Area
Timeline Ruler
Keys Area
Layers Palette
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A note for those who may be looking for sequences:

Don’t panic! Sequences may be gone, but their functionalities are still here, albeit with minor differences.

Click on the name of an animation track in the Objects Area. All corresponding keys, including master keys, will be selected. You can now click on any of the selected keys and move the entire track.
If you want to scale the Timeline temporally, drag one of the Selection Range’s.
If you want to move or copy keys to another track, select them and SHIFT + drag (plus CTRL to copy) them to the target track.

The Timeline is a powerful tool with which you can control, edit and play your animations.

The animation range for all scene objects is displayed in a horizontal window. The “key” element to all animations is the key frame (key). Keys contain movement (and other) information pertaining to an object at that particular time in the animation. Most animations will require the setting of at least two keys. The change in an object’s property’s values will be interpolated between these two keys (i.e. a rotation from 0° in key 1 to 90° in key 50). The movement can then be seen once the animation is played. That’s basically what the Timeline does.

Tracks are used to differentiate what is currently being animated. Simply said, each track represents the temporal change of one object property. This can range from a simple change in position to a change in the Phong rotation. A track can also represent complex special effects such as pulsating, 3D sound rendering, and more. Each track contains the corresponding keys, of which an unlimited number can be created.

In addition, each track has its own F-Curve that controls the interpolation between keys (except for properties that cannot be interpolated, such as an option). F-Curves are located in the expandable menu below the corresponding track’s keys and can be edited here, although only in a limited fashion. F-Curves can be edited much more comfortably in F-Curve mode, in which the curves are displayed larger and are more easily editable.

CINEMA 4D’s new layer system is also helpful when working with the Timeline. Only the objects to be animated and their keys and F-Curves can be made visible, which makes working only with these elements much easier. Objects can be locked to avoid making changes to them by mistake.

In addition, the Objects Manager’s powerful filters have been integrated, which help you concentrate on what is essential.