How do you remove chunks of timeline

mea_v4 · Post by **mea_v4** » Fri Feb 12, 2010 6:25 pm

Currently running Anime Studio Pro 6.

The problem: A while back I did an animation for a project that involved 5 characters talking to each other. The client now wants a new version, one with a few lines of dialogue removed in the middle.

I need to be able to remove the appropriate chunks of timeline (example: frames 173 to 390 and all the animation in them) without ditching the rest of the animation. Is there a way to do this? The manual wasn't very helpful and I haven't found anything here after running a few searches.

Thanks in advance,
-Mea

slowtiger · Post by **slowtiger** » Fri Feb 12, 2010 6:49 pm

Can't you edit this in the video files? That would be the easiest way.

Without diving into all individual timelines, I'd do it this way:
- put each character into a group layer
- duplicate each character group
- shift the duplicate in the sequencer
- switch visibility

muffysb · Post by **muffysb** » Fri Feb 12, 2010 7:13 pm

I haven't tried this, but maybe Animation > Rescale Keyframes would help?

You could grab all the keyframes in the document from frame 390 onward, then "rescale" them back to frame 170 without REALLY doing any rescaling...the manual says this is possible (p.245).

I don't know what happens to the keyframes that already exist in that area, though. If AS doesn't delete them then you may need to do some manual deleting first.

muffysb · Post by **muffysb** » Fri Feb 12, 2010 7:17 pm

OR, if the potential for overlapping keyframes is a problem, you could "rescale" all the frames starting at 390 and move them 173 frames down the timeline, then "rescale" the first 173 frames and move them so they start at 390, leaving the unwanted keyframes BEFORE your animation actually starts.

It's messy but there'd be no overlap.

mea_v4 · Post by **mea_v4** » Fri Feb 12, 2010 7:19 pm

slowtiger wrote:Can't you edit this in the video files? That would be the easiest way.

Wish I could but unfortunately the edit happens in the middle of a wide shot so there'd be a jump between edits.

I'll give those ideas a try, though it may have to wait until Monday - snowing here and there's talk of leaving early.

Thanks for the ideas.

EDIT: I thought the Rescale method almost worked but it ended up playing holy hell with all the following keyframes. The grouping/sequencing method did work however. Just gotta tweak a few tweens and I think I'm good. Thanks again.