# Timeline

Each shot has its own keyframe timeline (see [Animation](/compose/animation.md)). The Sequence Timeline is the level above: it lays out every shot in the project end-to-end as an edit, in the order you'll deliver. Scrub through to play the assembled cut.

![Scene Timeline tab active at the bottom of Compose mode, showing per-object animation tracks for the active scene with shot rows and time-based keyframe layout](/files/KaROm87eyhGhTaK18TKr)

## What it does

Composing individual shots is half the work. Putting them into an edit – this shot first, that one second, this one cut to length – is the other half. The Sequence Timeline gives you a project-wide view of all your shots as a single horizontal strip, with their durations and ordering manipulable directly.

## How to access it

The Compose-mode bottom panel has three tabs:

* **Storyboard** – default. Shots laid out as cards in their authored order, each card showing the shot's key frame. See [Storyboard view](/compose/storyboard-view.md).
* **Sequence** – the assembled-cut view. Shots laid out as time-bound segments along a horizontal axis, with each segment's duration to scale.
* **Scene Timeline** – the per-scene track view. Rows for each animated object in the active scene, with keyframes laid out along time. See [Animation](/compose/animation.md) for what gets a track.

Click **Sequence** to switch to the assembled-cut view documented on this page.

## How to use it

The horizontal axis represents time; each shot occupies a segment of that axis sized to its duration. Shots play back-to-back with no gaps. Drag, resize, reorder.

1. **Reorder shots.** Drag a shot segment along the axis to move it earlier or later in the sequence.
2. **Resize shots.** Drag the right edge of a shot segment to extend or shorten its duration. The shot's animation timeline scales with the duration – an animation extended to twice its length plays at half speed unless you also extend the keyframes.
3. **Scrub the playhead.** Drag the vertical playhead line. The viewport plays back the assembled sequence – cutting between shots' camera and animation states as the playhead crosses each segment.

## Sequence scope

A sequence is scoped to a single scene. Shots in the Sequence tab come from the active scene and play back-to-back. Cross-scene playback – stitching scenes together for a multi-location cut – happens in [Publish mode](/publish/publish-tab.md), not in the Sequence Timeline.

## Where the sequence is used

* **Presentation mode** plays the sequence end-to-end as a fullscreen presentation. See [Presentation mode](/publish/presentation-mode.md).
* **Export Video** renders the sequence as a single output file. See [Export video](/publish/export-video.md).
* **Scene to video** bundles all shots from a single scene into a single video output, respecting their order in the sequence. See [Scene to video](/publish/scene-to-video.md).

## Common mistakes

* **Resizing a shot without scaling its animation.** Extending a shot's duration doesn't automatically stretch the animation; the keyframes stay at their original positions. The result is the animation completing in its original window and the camera holding for the rest. To scale animation, adjust keyframe positions in the shot's own timeline, or scale the keyframe spread when extending.
* **Sequencing without naming.** A timeline of "shot-1" through "shot-12" is unmanageable past five shots. Name shots descriptively in [Shot details](/compose/shot-details.md) before you sequence.

## Limits and known issues

* **No loop region.** There's no gesture for setting a loop region in the Sequence tab. Scrub manually to repeat-watch a section.
* **No cross-shot transitions.** All shot-to-shot junctions render as hard cuts. No dissolve, cross-fade, or wipe options are exposed. Transitions are downstream editorial work.
* **No audio mixing in the sequence.** Audio is not mixed at the per-shot or sequence level. Audio assembly is downstream work.

## Related

* [Shots](/compose/shots.md)
* [Storyboard view](/compose/storyboard-view.md)
* [Animation](/compose/animation.md)
* [Presentation mode](/publish/presentation-mode.md)
* [Export video](/publish/export-video.md)


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