When I add an animation track of a skeletal character, I can drag the end point of the animation and it will trim it accordingly, however, if I drag the input, it is repositioning the beginning of the motion clip, not trimming it.
Second, If the animation track clip starts at frame zero, you can not grab the beginning of the clip to drag the in point. You have to move the entire clip out then grab the start to manipulate it.
Three things that would be nice to have.
A manual way to type in a frame number to set the current frame on the timeline.
A way to split/cut an animation track so you can easily separate different segments with start and end frames in tact.
the option to see some of the manual input fields for things like start and end offset in frames, rather than seconds.
The edges of the animation track are the points in the sequence at which the animation begins playing and stops playing and the Start/End Offsets are used for what you’re requesting. Other software like Motionbuilder does have ways of handling the Offsets manually, so I added a Feature Request for this (UE-24929). I made a suggestion in the feature request that a modifier key be used to cause this to happen when dragging the ends of a track.
In your second point, I’m not having any trouble manipulating the Start Point of the track when it is at frame 0 of the sequence. Could you expand on your description?
I’ve entered a Feature Request (UE-24927), suggesting that a shortcut for this be created. Preferably the shortcut button would be reachable with your hand on or near the NumPad for quick navigation.
I’ve entered Feature Request (UE-24928)
I’ve entered Feature Request (UE-24930)
Thanks for the suggestions and please enter more AnswerHub posts as you have more suggestions. Sequencer is in active development and now is the best time for feature requests!!
Here is a screenshot of my timeline. You will notice that the control widget for all of the tracks START is not visible and clicking as close to the start, as possible only allows the entire clip to be dragged down the timeline.
I should point out that this is a good example of where "trimming the start point of the attached motion would be better that moving where the first frame of the motion clip begins on the timeline.
I doubt this functionality will be changed as you only run into it when your In Time is exactly the same time as the start point of your clip. You can get around this by setting your In Frame to -1 or less. It’s also generally good practice to stay zoomed out a little bit from your play range.
As far as trimming the start point, I believe the current behavior will remain the default, but having a modifier key to change the behavior would be nice (and is what I requested).
Also I just closed UE-24928 as it already exists (Right click track>Edit>Split)
