Timeline and Time Control in Unity

Coming from Unreal Engine?

Unity’s Timeline with a Playable Director is the equivalent of Level Sequences in Unreal Engine. The workflow is similar — you keyframe animations in the engine and control playback from Designer via Timecode.

The Unity plugin offers Timecode support. This means that if any GameObject has a Playable Director component and is animated using timeline functionality, it will be reflected in the Designer timeline.

Adding time control to an object in Unity

1. Select Window followed by Sequencing followed by Timeline.
2. Optionally, move the Timeline Window from the main panel to the bottom panel (i.e. drag and drop Timeline Window next to Console Window).
3. Select an object from within the scene (e.g. any user placed prop).
4. Click the Create button within the Timeline Window.
5. Save the new Timeline.
6. Hit the Record button on the newly created Animator for the chosen object within the Timeline.
7. Add an initial keyframe by right-clicking on any animatable property of the object (e.g. Position) and select Add Key.
8. Move the playhead along the Timeline.
9. Modify your chosen property either by using the 3D controls within the Scene or by updating the value directly from within the Inspector panel (a keyframe will be added automatically when a value is changed).
10. Hit the Record button again to stop recording.
11. Return the playhead to the beginning of the Timeline and play the sequence to confirm your animation is correct.
12. With the object still selected, select Add Component at the bottom of the Inspector panel.
13. Add the Time Control component.

Build and test time control

1. Build the project.
2. Ensure that the build folder is copied to your RenderStream Projects folder.
3. Save and close Unity.
4. Open the RenderStream layer in Designer and start the workload.
5. Play your timeline in Designer.