You can set the following preferences in the Time Slider category of the Preferences window.
To return to the default factory settings, choose in this window. Note that this resets the preferences in every category in the Preferences window.
in the lower-right corner of the Maya window.
Time Slider
- Playback start/end
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Specifies playback range start and end times. The playback start and end times specify the Time Slider playback range. The playback range is always within the animation range. You can also specify the time units. See Edit animation preferences.
- Animation start/end
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Specifies animation range start and end times. The animation start and end times specify the Range Slider range. The playback range always stays within the animation range, so changing the animation start and end times can also change the playback start and end times. Default animation start time is 1.00. Default animation end time is 48.00. You can also specify the time units. See Edit animation preferences.
- Height
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Specifies the Time Slider height (the vertical space it occupies). Increasing the height is especially useful when you are working with sound. Double or quadruple the height for a better display of sound waveforms. Click 1x (normal height), 2x (double height), or 4x (quadruple height). Default is 1x.
- Grease Pencil Frames
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Lets you set how Grease Pencil frames display in the Time Slider. Default is Active, so that Grease Pencil frames display for the current camera only.
Set to None if you don't want Grease Pencil frames to display in the Time Slider, or set to All if you want to see all Grease Pencil frames regardless of the active camera. See also Control display of Grease Pencil frames in the Time Slider.
- Key ticks
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Specifies how the line markers that indicate keys appear on the Time Slider. Click None, Active, or Channel Box. Default is Active.
- None
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Specifies that key ticks are not displayed. Selecting None is useful if you have a lot of keys and want to improve workspace selection performance.
- Active
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Specifies that key ticks are displayed, with associated keys available for selection and editing.
- Channel Box
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Specifies that key ticks appear only for the currently selected channels in the Channel Box. This is useful if you are using the Time Slider to edit keys on particular channels of an animated object.
- Smart
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Allows you to switch between displaying all key ticks and key ticks associated with specific channels.
- Key tick size
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Change the thickness of ticks that represent keyframes in the Maya Time Slider. Key thickness is measured in pixels. The minimum key thickness is 1 pixel and the maximum is 63 pixels.
- Options
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Options include Timecode and Snapping.
- Timecode
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When on, Maya displays the current time in video standard timecode. The current time is displayed next to the Current Time Indicator in the Time Slider. Default is off.
- Snapping
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When on, Maya steps through animation times by integer values, snapping to the nearest integer. Default is on. If working with sound or small time ranges, you can turn off Snapping for smoother scrubbing.
- Tick Span
- Specifies the way key ticks are displayed when zooming in or out in the Time Slider. Tick span is measured in multiples of 24, so you can display ticks every 6, 12, 24, or 48 frames. The default value for this preference is 0.
Playback
- Update view
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If your workspace layout includes several views (for example, selected from Panels > Layouts), you can improve performance by having the scene play in only the currently active view. Click Active or All. Default is Active.
- Active
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Scene plays only in the current, active view.
- All
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Scene plays in all the workspace views.
- Looping
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Specifies what happens when the scene plays forward and then reaches the playback end time (or if playing backwards, the playback start time). Click Once, Oscillate, or Continuous. Default is Continuous.
- Once
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Specifies that the scene plays once and then stops.
- Oscillate
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Specifies that the scene plays forwards (or backwards) and then plays backwards (or forwards) until you stop playback.
- Continuous
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Specifies the scene plays forward to the playback end time (or plays backward to the playback start time) and then begins again at the playback start time (or playback end time) until you stop playback.
- Playback speed
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Specifies the speed at which your scene plays. Select Play Every Frame, Real-time (24 fps), Half (12 fps), Twice (48 fps), or Other. Default is Play Every Frame.
You can also specify the playback time units. See Edit animation preferences.
- Play every frame
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When selected, all the frames in your scene play, updating each before displaying the next. The speed depends on how long it takes your workstation to compute and draw each frame. You can specify the playback frame increment in the Playback by field. For example, a Playback value of 2.0 plays only every other frame.
- Real-time
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When selected, your scene plays in real-time or 24 frames per second (fps). Maya may not display all frames, depending on your workstation’s capabilities, the scene’s complexity, and the display mode (for example, wireframe or smooth shading).
- Half
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When selected, your scene plays at half the speed of real-time or 12 frames per second (fps).
- Twice
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When selected, your scene plays at twice the speed of real-time or 48 frames per second (fps).
- Other
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When selected, your scene plays at the custom playback speed specified with the Other Speed setting.
- Other Speed
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Available only when Playback Speed is set to Other.
Specifies a custom playback speed (in frames per second) for your scene. For example, if you specify an Other Speed value of 72, animation plays back at 72 fps.
- Playback by
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Specifies playback increments if Playback speed is set to Play Every Frame. For example, if you enter 4, Maya plays only every fourth frame (or time). Default is 1.000. You can also specify the playback time units.
- Max Playback Speed
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Lets you clamp the animation playback speed by specifying a value the speed cannot exceed. This is useful when working with scenes that have fluctuating levels of heavy CPU activity, such as a scene with a complex particle effect.
- Free
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Specifies no Max Playback Speed.
- Real-time (24 fps)
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Specifies that the overall playback speed of your scene’s animation is as fast as possible, but it does not exceed 24 fps.
- Half (12 fps)
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Specifies that the overall playback speed of your scene’s animation is as fast as possible, but it does not exceed 12 fps.
- Twice (48 fps)
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Specifies that the overall playback speed of your scene’s animation is as fast as possible, but it does not exceed 48 fps.