Local Time Scope

Defines a temporary focused time range for editing and playback

This mode displays a prefab or a selection of tracks and keyframes in an isolated timeline. Use this to edit and preview in local time relative to the parent object.

This feature behaves similar to precomps, but with no extra setup or overhead. Use this mode with any selected tracks, keyframes, markers, or for editing prefabs.

Prefabs are recommended to create reusable animations with built-in override capability. For more details, see Prefabs

The 'Cutscenes' sample scene uses markers to segment different regions of time. See Cutscenes

How to Use

Double-click on any selected track to place the Timeflow view in Local Time Scope mode. This sets the start and end time of the timeline to match the selection, and optionally adjusts the time display to show local time units.

To exit Local Time Scope, toggle the icon or double-click in any empty area of the track view or menu bar.

Use the keyboard shortcut S to toggle Local Time Scope mode on and off. This automatically sets the time region to the current selection, or if nothing is selected then it displays the previously set range.

Markers

To preserve the existing default behavior, local time scope is not automatically enabled for markers. To enable it, click the icon or select the Timeflow object in the hierarchy to view it in the inspector, and then go to the Markers section.

Time Mode

Select Global Time to display markers in the full global timeline defined by Timeflow (the default behavior). Or select Local Time Scope to set the local time relative to the marker's time range (viewing a cropped section of time). This is applied automatically, such as when selecting a marker from the 'Jump to...' menu.

Set Work Area

This option is recommended if you are using the Work Area in combination with Local Time Scope. When in local time, the Work Area must be within the start and end time range or it will automatically be adjusted.

Enabling Set Work Area ensures that the work area is valid and doesn't conflict with the new time scope range when set.

Either way the work area is adjusted automatically if it is outside of the current timeline range to avoid an impossible playback situation.

Local Time Scope vs Work Area

The Work Area and Local Time Scope have some similarity in that they both define regions of time for editing and playback. However, the key difference is that Local Time Scope actually crops to the designated time, while the Work Area sets a region within the global or local time. For controlling playback, either method may be used with the same net result, but using Local Time Scope is better for focused editing.

Editor Settings

Select the active Timeflow object to view it in the inspector and open the Local Time Scope section.

Enabled

This toggles the Local Time Scope mode on and off. The Enabled checkbox (shown above) is the same as toggling the time scope icon button in the Timeflow view toolbar, or using the keyboard shortcut S.

Localize Time

This toggles the time display between local and global time. When Localize Time is enabled, all affected time fields are highlighted in the current object color.

Time fields and the horizontal scroll bar are highlighted in green matching the selected marker color.

As a helpful visual queue when local time is active, the horizontal scroll bar and all affected time fields are highlighted in the color of the object that set the time scope.

Localize Time can be disabled to show global time while retaining the cropped time range.

Note that all time is internally stored and serialized in global time. When Localize Time is enabled, time fields automatically convert between local and global time for display purposes.

To precompose objects and animations for reuse, see Prefabs