Add Timeline on State context menu?

General Discussion
#1

Hi, all. I was wondering if anyone can fill me in on the + Add Timeline > Default button which appears when you right click a state.

I tried it and it seems to

  • create a timeline with two states as end keyframes
  • deletes the ability of a state to actually work properly!

What are its uses and applications? What does it do?

#2

Hi @donnav,

The ‘Default’ option when right clicking on state sets what state will be activated when the experience is run.

Lets take the display controller for example - it has 2 states, shown and hidden. Shown automatically set to default so when the experience is run, all the assets in the scene will be shown. Right clicking on the hidden state and clicking ‘Make Default’ will update this value and make the assets hidden when the experience is run.

Hope this helps!

George

#3

Hey there! I appreciate that but I must have phrased my question poorly.

When I right click on a state, I get an item + Add Timeline. It adds a timeline to an existing state. I was asking what the purpose of this is. Why embed a Timeline in a state?

#4

Hi @donnav,

My apologies, from what I understand that you are wondering why there is an option to add a timeline to an existing state?

If I take my previous example of the display controller, we have the shown and hidden states. As this controller is automatically added to every project, it has different properties of the root node already being changed depending on which state is activated. I have added a screenshot below to explain this further, but each property has a transition time that can be changed from instant, fast, normal or slow.

shownState

Editing these values and selecting the shown and hidden states simultaneously will give a visual representation as to the difference between each transition. As seen below -

ShownStateExample

These transitions are actually timelines being set up automatically behind the scenes and the way to access them is to right-click on the state and click add timeline! I have added an example which first shows the fast timeline, from the shown to hidden state and then goes onto showing the slow timeline from the hidden to shown -

ShownStateTransitionTimeline

So in answer to the question, these embedded timelines are used to create unique and edit existing transitions from one state to another.

Hope this helps :slight_smile:

George