🥅Work Areas

Manage sections of time with looping and other playback options

New in v1.10 Timeflow now supports multiple work areas!

Please note that the following video is outdated and will be replaced soon.

The work area is both an editor feature to aid in creative workflow as well as used at runtime to loop sections of time, which may be useful for editing and controlling interactive applications.

The active work area is shown in red (the color may be customized in the settings per work area)

Additional settings can also be found in the inspector under Work Areas.

Enable Work Area

This toggles the work area on and off. When enabled, this defines the playable region of time (looped, if enabled) and can be used for playback and edit operations.

Toggle the work area on and off by pressing the W key.

The work area time range is displayed in the timeline view with draggable handles for both the start and end times. Slight shadowing is applied over the area outside of the range to help spotlight the work area.

When the work area is disabled, it has no effect on playback and is hidden from view.

Press Shift + W to enable the work area and also set the range automatically to fit the currently selected keyframes or tracks.

Use the keyboard shortcut Control + L to set the work are to the current selection and enable looping. This differs from the shortcut above, which doesn't affect the loop setting.

Work Area Menu

When the Work Area is enabled, additional options are displayed in the toolbar. Click the 3 dots to open the Work Area menu.

Show Work Area Names

Enable this option to display the active work area name in the toolbar. When displayed, you can edit the name of the current work area by clicking and typing in the field. This setting if enabled also displays each work area name in the timeline view.

Show All Work Areas

When enabled, all work areas defined are displayed in the Timeflow view. The active work area is highlighted in its assigned color, while all others are displayed dim.

When displaying all work areas and the work area is not locked, you can select a different work area by clicking on its start or end handle.

Auto Time Scope

When this setting is on, any time a work area is selected it also sets the Time Scope range. This puts the timeline in a focused mode where only the work area time is displayed. This is useful primarily for editing.

Set Time Scope

When Auto Time Scope is off, use this command to manually set the Time Scope to the current work area.

Note that when the Time Scope is set by a work area, it inherits the work area color. This only updates when using Set Time Scope or Auto Time Scope.

New Work Area

This copies the current work area as a new definition which you can then modify.

Delete Current Work Area

Deletes the active work area from Timeflow.

Clear All Work Areas

Once confirmed, removes all work areas from the current Timeflow view.

At least 1 work area is required by Timeflow at all times, so the Delete and Clear All actions will be disabled if there is only 1 work area.

Edit Work Areas

This is a shortcut to open the Timeflow inspector to the Work Areas section, where you can manage a list of work areas with additional tools. See Work Areas

Locking the Work Area

When locked, the work area selection, start, and stop times cannot be changed. This is useful to prevent accidentally selecting or dragging the work area handles while working in the view. It can also be used to prevent scripts from changing the work area while editing.

Editing the Work Area

To manually set or edit the work area, enable it first and then drag the start and end handles in the timeline to the desired locations, or alternatively edit the ranges in the Timeflow inspector.

Changes to the work area are undoable.

To move the work area while maintaining its duration, hold the Shift key while dragging.

Hold the Alt key while dragging to snap to the grid. This can be combined with the Shift modifier above.

The work area can never be outside of the timeline and is prevented from doing so. The smallest size a work area can be is a single frame.

For further documentation on commands and editing features using the work area, please see the Work Area Menu section.