Timeline
The timeline is different way to play a show : in the contrary fo the dashboard that is a sequencer, the content is linearly organized, like a film.
However the timeline and the dashboard have been designed to work together, thus a timeline can be imported into the dashboard.
Principle
First of all, create a timeline from the + timeline button (next to the dashboard tab).
By default, a new timeline has a duration fo 3 minutes and targets the first canvas; change this by clicking the setup button :
You can choose to use a custom canvas to set a particular resolution (not binding to an output canvas) :
Or even all canvases to create a multi-canvas timeline. In this case, the timeline source created in the library will choose the correct canvas automatically when added to a dashboard.
Still in this popup, you can trim the timeline, affect how it plays the content via the synchronized option (more info in asynchronous timeline section) and drives it via a timecode (more info in this article : Timecodes
).
Once setup, drag-and-drop some media from the Finder or the library, then hit the play button to check the result.
You can adjust the timing of the media and dragging it over the timeline, or resizing it (if the duration on the timeline exceeds the duration of the media itself, it will obviously loop). Maintain SHIFT to snap your media to interesting timings, or select then press SHIFT+COMMAND+X to cut a media.
If you need more accuracy, you can zoom in and out with the + and - button located in the bottom-right corner.
Of course, you can create multiple timelines and even embed one in another one.
Timelines are displayed as tabs in the interface, so you can easily switch between them. But you can close each tab as well (to only see the one you are working on) : when closed, a timeline can be reopen from the library.
Lastly, from the Timeline menubar, select Create a Proxy... to convert your timeline into a pre-rendered file for performance purpose. Now, if you import this timeline in any other one or into a dashboard, Millumin will render the proxy file instead of rendering the whole timeline in realtime. Be careful however, if you modify your timeline after this operation, your proxy will be outdated, you will have to create a new one. A timeline can also be rendered to a movie file by selecting Export to File...
Segments
A very important concept for timelines are segments. Indeed, this allows you to split a timeline in several parts. This is especially useful in the dashboard, see next section.
To show segments, click the keyframes/segments button :
By default, there is only one segment over the whole timeline, but you can split it as many times as needed. Select the segment then click split segment in properties-view :
Now, if you play your timeline, each segment will be played individually and you can choose to make it loop or play once by setting its loop mode property. You can even set an intro that will play only once during the segment (obviously only if the loop mode is set to loop).
Also, unless playing the last segment, a smaller >> button will be displayed next the main play button : this allows you to play the next segment.
In the Dashboard
Once your timeline has been created, import it in the dashboard by drag-and-dropping it from the library. Then extend it over several columns :
Millumin will automatically set a different segment on each column, so everytime you launch a column, this will play this particular segment. Please note that the segment will follow the loop mode defined inside the timeline (loop or play-once).
You can override this behavior editing the board and changing such segment, or simply by setting a custom segment in timeline’s properties.
Timeline Parameters
To affect layers inside an embed timeline, you can use timeline parameters. Indeed, such parameters can be accessed and controlled from boards or other timelines. Thus, this can be very great to create a template and make infinite variation (for captions for example).
To create a parameter, choose a property of a layer, a media or an effect in the properties-view, then click on its label to make it a timeline parameter :
You can see the list of the parameters by clicking the setup button :
Then you can change these parameters in your timeline embed in the dashboard or on another timeline :
See this project to get an example :
🔗 timeline_parameters.millumin
Asynchronous Timeline
In this mode, Millumin will wait for media to finish. This is very handy to get natural transitions in your content, but this is a bit more complex to understand.
Uncheck the synchronized option in the setup popup to unleash this power, and read this tutorial to understand a use case : Natural Transitions with Timelines