Story window controls

The Story controls, arranged along the top of the Story window, let you manipulate tracks, clips, and animation.

Story window controls

The Story controls that display change depending on what is currently selected. For example, the Clips and Edit options are always shown, but the Keys and Ghosts options appear only if a Animation, Camera Animation, or Character track is selected.

Story window displaying Shot and Character track controls

This section covers the Story controls that appear when any clip is selected. Story controls that are specific to particular types of tracks are covered with the track information.

Story Mode option

The Story Mode option lets you activate and disable the Story window. The Story Mode menu lets you select between Action and Edit modes. This option is also in the Transport Controls window.

Story controls A. Story Mode option B. Story Mode menu

Disable Story Mode so that only the take selected in the Transport Controls window plays. If Story Mode is active, the animation in the Story window can override or blend with the take selected in the Transport Controls window.

When Story window animation is active, the Story Mode menu is also active. This menu lets you select between the Story window Action and Edit modes. See Disabling the Story window for more information.

Manipulation options

The Manipulation options let you manipulate clips:

Manipulation options A. Loop/Scale B. Snap

Manipulation option	Behavior
Loop/Scale	Lets you loop and trim clips, or scale clips. Looping is the default clip manipulation mode. Note: Currently, you can only loop read-only clips.
Maintain Shot and Clip Shot Lengths	Syncs the lengths of a shot and its associated shot clip when stretching one or the other, instead of creating loops. This mode only affects shots and shot clips and does not affect other types of clips (animation, audio, video). Note: To access this mode, Time Discontinuity and Loop Mode must be turned on.
Snap	Lets you snap the clip to frames, clips, shots, or to the current time, when you drag a clip along a track, depending which option is active in the Snap context menu. See Snap menu options for descriptions of the different Snap options.

Edit buttons

Lets you slice, cut, copy and paste clips.

Edit buttons A. Razor B. Cut C. Copy D. Paste

Button	Function
Razor	Lets you slice a selected clip in two. Note: To slice selected clips on multiple tracks at the same time, place the Timeline indicator over the clips and use the Razor option in the context menu instead. See Razoring clips.
Cut	Removes selected clips and stores them in memory. You can also use the keyboard short-cut Ctrl-X to cut selected clips.
Copy	The Copy button copies selected clips. You can also use the keyboard short-cut Ctrl-C to copy selected clips.
Paste	Inserts a copied or cut selection into another location.

Record to Memory or Disk option

The Record to memory/disk option lets you record many takes without stopping to free up memory, record in real time session, and so on.

For more information on how to record takes using this option, see Recording Story tracks to memory or disk.

Summary Clips On or Off option

If there are many clips within a folder, then it is time consuming to select and move each clip along the timeline. To avoid this, the Summary Clips On/Off tool in the Story toolbar allows you to display a summary clip, as part of the folder track. By moving the summary clip, you can move all the clips in a folder.

To display the summary clip, click the Summary Clips On/Off icon from the Story toolbar.

See Adding a Summary clip for tracks.

Filtering by Selection options

The Filtering by selection () tool displays only the animation tracks that belong to the objects that you select in a scene.

If you want to perform additional tasks on the scene, such as inserting an object, it is important to lock the view in the Story window. To achieve this, click the Lock filtering by selection () tool.

See Displaying only the selected tracks.

Show or hide story clip's text

When turned off, the Show Clip's Text option hides a story clip's text during playback and manipulation, improving performance in scenes that have many clips. This option is turned on by default.

Tip: If you want to hide your clips' texts and have this selection persist throughout sessions, turn on Settings > Preferences > Story > Remove Clips' Texts During Playback & Manipulation.

Multiple Clips option

The Multiple Clips option displays when an Animation, Camera Animation, or Character track is selected.

When the Multiple Clips option is active, clips are automatically created along the track as you move the Timeline indicator and transform selected assets. A clip is created for each keyframe.

Story window A. Multiple Clips option set to active B. Clips created for keyframes at frame 0, 49, and 81

Note: The color of the clips on the track represent the keyframes they represent.

When the Multiple Clips option is disabled, only one clip is created when you transform selected assets. When the option is disabled, the clip stretches to include the keyframes you set.

Story window A. Multiple Clips option disabled B. Clip encompassing keyframes at frame 0, 49, and 81

You can change the contents of a keyless clip by placing the Timeline indicator over it and transforming the selected assets again.

Ghosts options

The Ghosts options let you hide and show various ghosts. These options display only when Animation, Camera Animation, and Character tracks or clips are selected.

The Ghosts options consist of the following:

Option	Behavior
Ghost option	Hides or shows all ghosts of selected tracks or clips. For more information, see Ghost option.
Model option	Hides or shows a model’s ghost.
Clip Vector/Travelling Node	Hides or shows either clip vector ghosts or travelling nodes, depending on whether tracks or clips are selected. For more information, see Clip Vector/Travelling Node.
Ghost Match Object	Hides or shows the match object ghosts of tracks and clips. Ghosts of match objects look like crosses in the Viewer window. See Matching clips for more information on match objects.
Travelling Node(s)	Lets you define a different travelling node for an Animation, Character, or Camera Animation track. For more information, see Work with ghosts in Story.

Match Controls

The Match Controls let you blend animation between clips and tracks smoothly. You can match a selected clip to the clip that comes before or after it. You can also match more than one clip at once by selecting all but the first clip.

Story controls A. Match Options button B. Auto Match option C. Match Object field D. Match Object button

The Match Controls are active only when an animation, camera animation, or character clip is selected. See Matching clips for more information.