Advanced Workflows

Beyond basic daily usage, TimeSlider Set shines in complex production scenarios. Here are some professional workflows to maximize your efficiency.

👥 Crowd & Multi-Character Scenes

When working with multiple characters referenced in the same scene, the TimeSlider is usually unusable.

The “Hero Character” Focus

  1. Run the Create Set command on your primary character’s controls.
  2. Rename the set in the Outliner to Hero_Focus_Set.
  3. Whenever you need to time your hero against the crowd, just click Apply.
  4. The TimeSlider is now clean, showing only your hero’s keys, ignoring the heavy crowd animation data.

🎮 Game Engine Export Prep

Game animations often require baking to specific skeletons or locators. It’s easy to lose track of which bones actually have keys versus which are just driven by constraints.

  1. Select your export skeleton root hierarchy.
  2. Add to a new set.
  3. Now, as you scrub the timeline, you see exactly where the baked keys are (or aren’t).
  4. This is a huge time-saver for debugging “why is my character sliding?” issues in Unity/Unreal.

🛠️ Rig Debugging

For Rigger/TDs: You can create a “Debug Set” containing hidden nodes, IK handles, or utility nodes that are normally not selectable in the viewport.

  1. Select the utility nodes in the Node Editor.
  2. Create a set.
  3. Now you can visualize their activity on the timeline without needing to keep the Node Editor open or awkwardly selecting hidden objects.

🔄 The “Layered” Workflow

If you use AnimLayers heavily:

  1. Create a set for BaseAnimation (Body mechanics).
  2. Create a separate set for your Adjustment Layers (Polishing).
  3. Switch between them to see density differences.
    • Adjustment set might have dense keys (mocap fixes).
    • This visual separation helps you keep your base layer clean.

⚡ Speed Polishing with Smart Navigator

When polishing curves in the Graph Editor, you often need to jump between keys on specific curves.

  1. Open the Graph Editor and isolate the curves you want to fix (e.g., translateX).
  2. Hover your mouse over the Graph Editor.
  3. Use your Smart Next/Prev hotkeys.
  4. The time cursor jumps only to the keys on that visible curve.
  5. Need to check the overall timing? Move your mouse to the viewport or TimeSlider and press the same hotkey. It seamlessly switches to full-timeline navigation.