🌈Track Colors

Assigning color labels to tracks and channels

Color labels allow you to visually organize objects and channels. Colors may be assigned based on component and/or channel type, sequentially in order, or randomly.

Applying Colors

To set an object or channel's color, click the color swatch to the left of its name. Colors are either applied to individual objects, or all selected objects and channels.

Single Assignment

If the swatch clicked belongs to an object/channel that is not selected, setting the color only applies to it individually.

Bulk Assignment

Alternatively, if the swatch clicked belongs to any selected object/channel, then the color applies to all selected.

Assignment to All

Click the color swatch in the column heading to apply colors to all objects currently displayed in the Timeflow view.

Direct Assignment

To set colors directly, click the color selector in the info panel at the bottom of the view. This opens Unity's built-in color picker which may be used to set the color of the selected objects and channels directly, bypassing the track color presets.

Color Palette

The color palette menu presents predefined colors and various methods for applying them to the item(s) selected. The menu may either be displayed as a small floating palette, or it can be expanded to a list with descriptions.

Track colors displayed as a list

Click the gear icon to select the palette layout and to edit the colors.

Which color definitions are displayed in the palette and list can be customized in the Track Color Palette asset.

Customizing Color Palettes

Track color settings are assigned in the Timeflow Preferences. Timeflow comes with a set of default colors which may be customized or replaced with your own colors. Colors are defined by a TrackColorPalette asset.

Click the Track Colors field to reveal the asset in the project. Multiple assets may be created, though only 1 may be assigned at any time.

Click the New button to create a new empty color palette. Or you may duplicate an existing palette asset to make modifications.

The default track colors asset is located at: Assets/Plugins/Timeflow/Settings/DefaultTrackColors.asset

Editing Colors

Locate and select the TrackColorPalette asset either from the project view, or by double-clicking it in the preferences window. View the Inspector window to configure the color settings.

You may modify this asset directly, or make a copy. It may be renamed and moved anywhere in the project.

Color by Component Type

When this option is enabled, colors may be associated with a specific type of component. This can be assigned to any built-in, custom, or 3rd party type. The drop down menu is populated with all types found in the project.

Colors are applied by type in the order they are listed (from top to bottom) when viewing Display Sorted By . The first matching component found on the object determines its color. If you wish for a certain type assignment to have priority, make sure it is higher in the list.

Conform Channel Colors

If this option is enabled, channel colors are automatically assigned the same color as their parent track. Use this option if you generally do not want channels to have separate colors.

Enabling this option disables Color by Channel Type.

Color by Channel Type

When enabled, colors may also be associated with a type of Timeflow Channel. Whereas the component type affects the object track color, the channel type affects the channel's color. If this option is off, or no channel type is assigned, then the color is applied matching the object it belongs to.

Allow Fully Random Colors

When randomly assigning colors (available in the color palette popup) this setting determines whether new colors are generated, or if only existing colors are picked at random. Enable this option to allow new colors to be randomly generated each time.

Default Random Color

When enabled, new objects and tracks added to the Timeflow view are assigned a new random color. This option is only available when the Type Assignment Mode is set to User Controlled, otherwise the type colors override it.

Default Color

This specifies a color to use for new objects and tracks when they are first added to the Timeflow view. This option is only available in User Controlled mode and when Default Random Color is off.

Type Assignment Mode

When using the options to color by component or channel type, this setting determines how the colors are applied.

User Controlled

Colors are only applied when specifically assigned from the color palette popup. This mode prevents tracks from changing colors automatically. This mode is best for users that don't want track colors changing automatically.

Automatic Yield

This mode allows objects to update their color automatically, but only once Automatic mode has been applied to the object. Whenever a user-specified color is applied, it stops automatic color updating on that item.

Automatic Forced

This mode causes all track and channel colors to update automatically in the scene. Changes made to objects, such as adding and removing components, can cause the colors to update automatically when using type assignments. Only use this mode if you want track colors to strictly follow the type assignments defined.

Display Sorted By

There are 2 sorting methods used by the color definitions: one for displaying the colors palette, and another for assigning by type.

Color Palette Order

This displays the colors in the order they are to appear in the color palette menu. This also determines the order when assigning colors sequentially.

Rearrange items by clicking and dragging the move handle on the left side of each list time.

Type Assignment Order

While viewing the list in this mode, arrange the items by component and channel type to determine priority. Those listed first (from top down) have priority over those below.

It is advised to put common components such as Transform low on the list and less common components such as MotionPath towards the top.

Sort Method

This drop down menu provides common sorting methods to help organize the list. It applies to the currently selected mode: either Color Palette Order, or the Type Assignment Order.

Type Search Filter

Use this field to filter the type drop down menus to show similarly named items. Since the number of component types can be very lengthy, it can be helpful to enter a search string to narrow the options.

Using the search filter to find components matching the name 'Transform'

Skip

If this box is checked, then the color definition is not included when applying color sequentially or randomly. These colors are only applied by type, or when picked explicitly by the user. This is helpful to define colors for specific types that you don't want to show in other modes.

Hide

When this checkbox is enabled, the color will be hidden from the float palette when selecting colors. This is helpful to define color assignments by type that you don't want visible in the palette when manually selecting colors.

Global Adjustment

These controls provide a way to globally modify all colors. Changes made to these settings are applied as a filter and do not affect the original track color definitions. This makes it possible for users to modify all colors without having to change definitions or switch palettes.

Using global adjustment to reduce saturation and lightness.

Enable Color Adjustment

The global adjustments may be toggled on and off using this setting.

Hue

Adjust the hue (or color frequency) globally.

Saturation

Affects how rich the colors are. A lower saturation can be easier on the eyes and is preferred by some users, while higher saturation creates more visual distinction between colors.

Lightness

Affects the overall brightness or darkness of the colors. Reducing the lightness also affects saturation.