Timeline and Modes

The Timeline sits in the bottom half of your screen when you first open a movie. Navigate the Timeline to add and edit content, keyframes, and more. Tap and hold just above the Ruler and drag up and down to change the ratio of your Timeline → Stage area.

The Timeline is comprised of tracks, content, the three Modes, Movie settings , Multi-select , and the Create menu.

Tracks contain content and keyframe information within the Timeline. Think of them as the containers for the content in your project.

Content is comprised of Flipbooks, drawings, video and audio files, etc. Essentially anything that can be added to a Track on the Timeline is content.

The three modes of using the Timeline in Procreate Dreams:

1. Compose - organise your tracks and content, modify the arrangement on the Stage.

2. Perform - record your input to produce keyframes for a piece of content. Move and scale it, rotate it, add filter keyframes, all with your input.

3. Keyframe - add and edit keyframes to your content to modify its properties over time.

Keyframe tracks are visible only in the Keyframe and Perform modes, and they contain information about the keyframe data you have added to content.

Tap and hold on a keyframe track to bring up options to Expand the keyframe information, set the Easings of all keyframes on that track, or Delete all of the keyframes for that track.

The ruler displays time information such as seconds and frames. This responds dynamically to your current Playhead location and Timeline zoom level.

Return to the Theater by tapping this button. You will not lose your stored Undos.

This button can be tapped to access movie settings .

Tap this to play back and pause your movie.

Change your playback options in movie settings → Timeline. Loop will repeatedly play back your movie, Ping Pong will play it forwards then backwards repeatedly, and One Shot will play it once.

Multi-select can be used in any mode to perform actions on multiple tracks, pieces of content, or keyframes.

Activate it by tapping, then draw around multiple elements on the Timeline with your Apple Pencil. Once they are highlighted, tap and drag to move the elements, or tap and hold to bring up a contextual menu.

Tap the plus icon in any mode to bring up the Create menu. This is your one-stop shop for adding content into your Timeline.

Your options in here are:

1. Flipbook - enter Draw & Paint mode so you can create a self-contained frame by frame animation at your current spot on the Timeline.

2. Drawing - enter Draw & Paint mode so you can create a painted element that will fill from your current position on the Timeline until the end of your movie. Useful for backgrounds and images that you'd like to keyframe.

3. Text - create typography for your movie, such as titles, credits and subtitles. Will fill from your current position to the end of your movie.

4. Track - add an empty track above your currently-selected track in the Timeline.

5. Photo - summon the Photos interface so you can select one or more images to import into your project. They will import at your current position and each image will occupy the same length of time up until the end of your movie.

6. Video - summon the Photos interface so you can select one or more videos to import into your project. The videos will import in order and at their full duration.

1. File - summon the Files interface so you can select one or more files of various types to import into your project. If you import multiple different filetypes, each will occupy any compatible track at the current point on the Timeline, or they will create new tracks if necessary.

1. Track - create an empty track directly above your currently-selected track on the Timeline.

Playhead

The Playhead in Procreate Dreams allows you to scrub along the Timeline and navigate your content. The Playhead will change its appearance in the three different Modes, which are explained below.

In all modes you can drag the Playhead around or tap anywhere on the Timeline and the Playhead will jump to that spot and highlight the active piece of content. You can also flick the Playhead to the left quickly to start playback of your movie.

Timeline Modes

There are three modes in the Procreate Dreams Timeline; Compose, Perform, and Keyframe. Each mode provides you with different ways to create and edit your content.

In all modes, you can add, reposition, and trim content, and use Multi-Select to modify multiple pieces of content and tracks together.

Compose

Compose is the main mode of Procreate Dreams. It allows you to freely move content on the Timeline and in the Stage area. Tap on Compose at the bottom of the interface to enter Compose mode.

In Compose mode, your Playhead will extend vertically from the top of the Timeline to the bottom. This gives you a clear indicator of where each piece of content lands in that specific time.

When using Compose mode, a blue bounding box will appear around your active content on the Stage. You can modify the position, orientation, and scale of an object without impacting its keyframes.

Perform

Perform mode allows you to record your input directly and apply keyframes to content based on your movements. Tap on Perform at the bottom of the interface to enter Perform mode.

In Perform mode, the Playhead turns into a record icon. If you sit the playhead on a piece of content that is movable, you can immediately drag, scale or skew that content in or around the Stage area, and your movements will be recorded as keyframes.

Tap on Move to access Perform options for your content. You can Move & Scale, Distort, and Warp image and video content. Perform will record at the Frames per second set for your movie in movie settings → Project → Frames per second.

1. Move & Scale allows you to record move, scale, and rotate actions on piece of content.

2. Warp allows you to record moving segments of your content using the warp grid.

3. Distort allows you to record skew and shear actions you perform on your content.

Tap on Filter to access Perform options for your content. You can apply image filters and video content. Perform will record at the Frames per second set for your movie in movie settings → Project → Frames per second.

Tapping each option within this menu will present sliders that you can drag to perform changes to the relevant values.

1. Opacity - adjust how transparent your content is over time.

2. Gaussian Blur - blur your content over time using a Gaussian function.

3. Sharpen - sharpen and soften your content.

4. Noise - apply various noise filters to the content.

5. HSB - Apply Hue, Saturation and Brightness changes to your content.

6. Lens Blur - apply a lens blur effect to your content, simulating the depth applied by a camera lens.

Tap here to access options for Perform mode.

1. Motion filtering - adjusting this changes how much your performance motion is smoothed over times. Lower values produce keyframes closer to your direct input, higher values produce keyframes that smooth your input out a little.

2. Roll sensitivity - when using Apple Pencil Pro's barrel roll feature to rotate content, this slider affects how sensitive the rolling is when producing rotation keyframes.

When this indicator is slowly flashing in the top left of the interface, it means that Procreate Dreams is ready to record input. Any action on the Stage or the current Filters slider will record input and produce keyframes for the active content.

Keyframe

In Keyframe mode, you can create and adjust keyframes and easings for your content. Tap on Keyframe at the bottom of the interface to enter Keyframe mode.

In Keyframe mode, the Playhead turns into a clapperboard icon. Tap on a piece of content to send the Playhead there, in preparation for setting up some keyframes for your content.

Tap on the Playhead to access Keyframe options for the currently-highlighted content, explained below.

Tap on Move to access Keyframe options for your content. You can Move & Scale, Distort, and Warp image and video content. Tapping on any of the options will create a keyframe track for that property, below the content.

It will also create a keyframe at the current position of the Playhead, which will use whatever values the content has at that moment.

1. Move & Scale allows you to keyframe the movement, scale, and rotation of content.

2. Warp allows you to keyframe segments of your content using the warp grid, over time.

3. Distort allows you to keyframe skewing and shearing your content over time.

Position the Playhead on a piece of content, then tap on it to bring up keyframe options for Filters. These allow you to apply image filters to your drawn, animated, and video content.

Tapping each option within this menu will present sliders that you can set keyframes for that moment. Position the Playhead on the keyframe track at another point in time and adjust the value to have the filter change over time.

1. Opacity - adjust how transparent your content is over time.

2. Gaussian Blur - blur your content over time using a Gaussian function.

3. Sharpen - sharpen and soften your content.

4. Noise - apply various noise filters to the content.

5. HSB - Apply Hue, Saturation and Brightness changes to your content.

6. Lens Blur - apply a lens blur effect to your content, simulating the depth applied by a camera lens.

Learn how to group, ungroup, and organize content using Multi-select in the Tracks and content section of this Handbook.