Creating Custom Timeline Views

Moviola's Resource Center: 

  Tips, Tutorials, Articles & More »

Creating a customized Timeline View:

In this tutorial, I'm going to make a Timeline View for use when I'm mixing audio.

First, I'd like my audio tracks wider, and my video tracks narrower. In the Track Selector Panel (the purple buttons in your timeline window) select the tracks you want to change, then go to the Edit Menu and select either Enlarge Track or Reduce Track. Note the keyboard shortcuts next to the menu selections, as they're much faster.

Another method to enlarge or reduce your track height is to hold down the Option key (Mac) or the Control key (PC) and then move the cursor below the track you'd like to change (see picture below), and then with the mouse button held down, drag the track wider or narrower. *Note: in Avid Xpress Pro you make these changes directly. There is no need to use the Option/Control key.

Now I'll add some additional displays to the tracks. In this case I'll enable the "Auto Gain" feature so I can keyframe audio levels, and I'll also enable "Sample Plot" so that waveforms will appear. From the Timeline Fast Menu, go to "Audio Data" and from the submenu select both "Auto Gain" and then "Sample Plot." *Note: in Avid Xpress Pro you make these selections directly. There is no Audio Data submenu.

Fast Menu	Audio Data Submenu

Now my timeline looks like this:

Next, I'll make it easier to see the Auto Gain and Sample Plot displays by changing the color of the audio tracks to white. Enable the track(s) you want to change. Then from the Timeline Fast Menu, select "Track Color," and then select white (or some other color) from the palette.

Now my timeline looks like this:

Next we'll save this configuration so we can access it easily at any time in the future. At the bottom of your Timeline window is the View Menu (see yellow arrow in picture below). Click on that menu and select "Save As" and name your Timeline View whatever you like.

In the future you may rename or delete your Timeline settings by going to your Project Window, selecting the Settings tab, and then scrolling down to "Timeline Settings."

It's also helpful to know that a saved Timeline View remembers any selection that is enabled (or disabled) from the Timeline Fast Menu, such as Clip Color. And on that topic, I suggest enabling the "Offline" color to appear in all of your timeline view settings to alert you immediately if/when something is offline.

Timeline Views will also remember the backgrond color of the timeline window as well as your selected font size and font type face.