Using the Timeline tool window

Animating the Threshold parameter is a nice addition, but the animation now falls apart into two 

separate parts. It would be better to start the zoom earlier, but how do we do this?

The most powerful way to edit your animations is the 

Timeline tool window. It shows all parameters that can 

be animated, together with an overview of the range of 

frames over which they are animated.

Click the Timeline button on the animation bar 

  to open the Timeline tool window.

The 

Timeline tool window

Click the Reset View button in the toolbar to 

make sure the complete animation fits in the 

  window.

On the left side, the Timeline tool window shows a tree view of all parameters in the fractal, grouped 

by layer and category. On the right, the animated range of each category and parameter is shown.

In this case, the animated range for both the entire fractal and the Background layer ranges from 

frame 1 to 200. The location is animated from frame 101 to frame 200, and the outside coloring 

algorithm is animated from frame 1 to 120. Click on a category in the tree or on a range bar to see 

the exact begin and end frames.

G     

Expand the Location and Outside categories to see the individual parameters that form 

the animated range of each category. Note how you can select an animation key to edit it 

individually.

G     

Move the mouse cursor over the left hand end of the range bar of the Location category 

until it changes into a resize cursor. Drag the left end to frame 30. (You can also enter 30 

into the Begin Frame input box at the bottom while the Location category is selected.)

Close the Timeline tool window and preview the animation to see the effect of this change. Note how 

the fractal already begins zooming at frame 30. This is good, but maybe it would be even better if 

the zoom would start slower. We can accomplish this by inserting additional animation keys 

somewhere between frame 30 and frame 200.

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