📖Glossary

Reference for common terms and definitions

ADSR

ADSR is an acronym for Attack, Decay, Sustain, and Release. This is commonly used in electronic music and frequently referred to as an envelope. It controls the timing of each note played from its onset to completion. This results in a rising and falling value over time, from off to on to off again, represented as a normalized value from 0 to 1. This is illustrated in the diagram below.

Note that Attack, Decay, and Release are each time values (in seconds) while Sustain is a level of intensity 0-1

The graph above shows linear interpolation but may be customized for easing in and out. For more information, see Midi Tween and Midi Receiver.

Behaviors

Any component that defines animation or other behaviors for Timeflow must derive from the TimeflowBehavior base class. This builds upon Unity’s standard MonoBehaviour using class inheritance with custom virtual methods to integrate with Timeflow.

Channels

A channel most often maps to a specific property value with keyframe data or procedurally generated animation. Each channel is displayed in its own horizontal row in the Timeflow view, listed under each object. Channels themselves are not components but rather a special data type created and managed by component behaviors. Some behaviors such as Keyframer may have any number of channels, while other behaviors such as Tween may only have 1.

Keyframes

A keyframe represents a point of data in time associated with an animation channel. In Timeflow this is a unique data object not to be confused with Unity's keyframe object. Keyframes can store various numeric or reference values and are designed to be highly flexible and work across a range of data types. This provides users greater creative freedom to change channel types and mappings without losing or having to recreate animation data.

Objects

Officially named TimeflowObject, so as not to be confused with other object types, this is the base component required to receive timing updates. It acts as a container for behaviors and channels on the object. It manages all timing and update calls relative to its place in the hierarchy and Timeflow context. All behaviors require an active TimeflowObject to function.

Tracks

Every TimeflowObject has a Track channel displayed in the Timeflow view. This controls the active state of the object and its behaviors. The track concept is inspired by industry standard audio and graphics production tools, though has unique differences as explained in more detail in the Track View documentation.

Interpolation Modes

Selects a method of blending from one value to another.

The following examples demonstrate what each curve looks like using Tween.

None

This mode does not interpolate but acts more like an on/off switch. The value changes at the midpoint of the interpolation.

Linear

Ease In

All Ease methods are based on quadratic curves.

Ease Out

Ease In Out'

Ease In Expo

Ease Out Expo

Ease In Out Expo

Ease In Circle

Ease Out Circle

Ease In Out Circle

Animation Curve

When this mode is selected, a Unity Animation Curve may be used to customize interpolation.

Use Channel Curve

This uses the channel animation in Timeflow for interpolation.

Note that this mode requires a keyframe channel and may not be applicable with all behaviors.