Grouping and Ungrouping

When you set up voice and lip sync keys for a character, or add a lot of Transform and Sprite Switch keys to create an animation for Characters or the Props, then it is a real time-consuming task to move a range of keys from on time duration to another. It also takes a lot of time to manually move these keys one by one.

In the Timeline, you can use the Group or Ungroup features to quickly achieve this.

Main Types for Grouping and Ungrouping

The data types that support grouping and ungrouping:

• Head: Voice Clips, Facial Motion Clips, Transform Keys/Sprite Switches (all sub-tracks included).
• Body: Layer Keys, Motion Clips, Transform Keys/Sprite Switches (all sub-tracks included).

Ungrouping Clips

1. Select any clip in the Master or Main Tracks.
2. Drag it to another time frame.
   
3. Ungroup it to dissect all the keys inside of the clip into corresponding sub-tracks.
   
   • Ungroup by clicking the Ungroup button on the timeline tool bar.
   • Right-click on the clip and select the Ungroup command from the menu.
     

Grouping Keys

1. Select a character or a prop. Use the Layer Tab (in the Scene Manager), Motion Key Editor (for characters), the Prop Key Editor (for props), and the Sprite Editor (for characters and props) to add keys.
2. You will see a lot of keys shown on the sub-tracks, under the Voice Clip, Facial Clip, Face Motion, Layer and Motion tracks in the timeline.
3. In the Master or Main Tracks, drag to form a range that captures all the transform keys, and sprite switch keys, under them.
   
4. Group the keys to form a new clip:
   
   • Group by clicking the Group button on the timeline tool bar.
     
   • Right-click in the range and select the Group command from the menu.