The Timeline Window

Producer has two windows for timelines: the Timeline window (one per open timeline) for editing cues on a time axis, and the Timelines window (one list) for managing every timeline. The timeline concepts — playback states, lock states, cues, layers, and zoom — are covered in Understanding the Timeline. This page covers the windows themselves.

Timeline Window Layout

Open a timeline by double-clicking it in the Timelines window. From top to bottom the window has:

  • Top bar — the current time as HH:MM:SS.mmm (press T to type a time and jump to it), the hovered cue's name, start, and duration, and a countdown.
  • Countdown — counts down to the next marker cue that has a countdown, colored green above 10 s, orange from 5 to 10 s, and red under 5 s.
  • Sync dot — a green dot pulses for about two seconds each time the timeline re-syncs to the show clock.
  • Jump button — scrolls the view back to the playhead when it is off-screen, or moves the playhead to the last start position when it is already visible.
  • Layer headers (left) — one row per layer. Click to make a layer active, double-click to open its properties. A splitter sets the column width.
  • Time ruler and cue area — cues sit as bars on their layers. The playhead line is solid when Click Jumps to Time is on and dotted when off (toggle with Ctrl+T). Overlapping cues on one layer show a striped pattern.
  • Transport (bottom-left) — Play, Pause, and Stop for this timeline. The active state is highlighted, and the controls dim in Hands Off.
  • Tween panel and minimap (bottom) — the selected cue's tween curves, and a strip showing the whole timeline with a draggable view thumb.

The window border signals state: a green accent when active, dimmed when inactive, and a distinct color in blind edit (with "(Edit)" added to the title), Locked, or Hands Off.

Editing in the Window

Drag assets, devices, or variables onto the cue area to create cues — a normal drop adds them in sequence, Ctrl+drop on separate layers. Add non-media cues from the Timeline menu or the right-click menu:

Add Play Control Cue (Ctrl+P), Add Pause Control Cue (Ctrl+Shift+P), Add Marker Cue (Ctrl+Enter), Add Output Cue, and Add Placeholder Cue.

With Snap on (Ctrl+N), cues snap to the edges of cues on the same or an adjacent layer and to the playhead, within 6 pixels. Hold Shift while dragging to suspend snapping.

For selecting, moving, trimming, grouping, layers, blind edit, zoom, and insert/delete time, see Understanding the Timeline, Working with Layers, Blind Edit Mode, and Insert and Delete Time.

The Timelines Window

Open the Timelines window with Window > Timelines (Ctrl+Alt+T). It lists every timeline in a tree table with folders.

Columns: Name (with lock, auto-run, and stacking icons), Status, Time, Countdown, Play / Pause / Stop Expression, and ID. Click a header to sort. Column visibility is configurable.

Right-click for Add Timeline, Add Folder, Collapse All Folders, and Copy ID. Drag timelines into folders to group them. Folders nest and remember their open state. Double-click a timeline to open it.

The panel columns, lock states, auto-run, stacking order, and timeline properties are documented in Understanding the Timeline.

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