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Can't delete keys from timeline

Question asked by Justin Dehetre on Jan 23, 2017
Latest reply on Dec 5, 2017 by Bojan Simonović

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I'm trying to create an animation to show the assembly procedure for an add-on kit, but I'm having a lot of trouble getting things to appear in the order that I want them to. In all honesty, I have about 20 hours of Composer experience, and 8 years of SolidWorks, so I may be fighting myself more than I should.

We have an assembly that consists of a tank strapped to a frame, and the customer can order add-on kits to customize the assembly as they see fit. This particular assembly turns it into a trailer. I animated the frame being turned upside down to show the attachment of the axle, faded in the axle and had it drop into position, and all seemed to work fine. When I tried to fade in the hardware, it wants to start fading in the hardware at the very beginning of the animation! No matter what I do, I can't reorder the keys to get the hardware to fade in when I want it to. I tried deleting the keys and starting over, but they reappeared right where they'd left off. It was then that I noticed my timeline was grayed out a few seconds ahead of my actual workflow. When I highlighted the timeline, it showed all the keys I thought I'd deleted!

What the heck is going on here?!

Derek Parks Jan 25, 2017 9:54 AM

Correct Answer

Dropping in views and editing keys can confuse you since it usually adds keys you may not even need for your specific animation. I would stick with either or not a combination. I personally only use keys and never drop views unless its a super simple transition or something but definitely not an assembly procedure. Also remember with your keys you always need a key for each property (a start and end). So if you want to fade you would set a key for 255 opacity then scroll to your fade out area and set a key for 255 and another for 0 giving you the fade. You can use the fade out key but you still need the initial 255 key at the last spot you want your part to be visible otherwise it thinks it needs to start the fade from the last opacity key available and for you that's at 0 of your timeline.

Hope this is clear, I am not always the best at explaining.

Cheers,

Derek

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Dirk Rautenberg Jan 24, 2017 1:00 AM

have a look to the collaboration menu

klick on all actors, Ground, BOM, etc.

May be, there are keys for those actors

if not have a look to the structure. klick on all parts.

if there must be keys, but you dont find them, this keys are from hidden actors

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Justin Dehetre Jan 24, 2017 9:58 AM

Quick update: In researching Dirk's suggestion that the keys were from hidden actors, I think I stumbled upon my problem. At one point, I'd tried to save a little time by dropping in views to get the orientations that I wanted quickly, then modifying with keys as appropriate for fade-in/out, movement, etc. I noticed that when I dropped in a view that used a different Render Mode, Composer automatically added keys to transition the animation between the Render Modes. These are the "Phantom Keys" that I'm seeing. I still need to get rid of them, though. Any suggestions?

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Dirk Rautenberg @ Justin Dehetre on Jan 24, 2017 12:52 PM

Hi Justin,

pardon, but there is no possibility to animate a render mode! And Render Mode is no property of any actor.

Each Key is only possible for actors of composer and only for those properties which have NO red point left of the property-name. (like name, BOM-ID, etc).

is it possible to get a hardcopy of your expanded collaboration menu? (see example picture).

In most cases the hidden "Phantom" keys are keys by BOM, Ground or any cutting plane.

If you use an actor in animation or not, using a view to create an animation, all actors inside your project create keys!!! Thats one of the reason not to use normal views to create animations.

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Derek Parks @ Justin Dehetre on Jan 25, 2017 9:54 AM

Hope this is clear, I am not always the best at explaining.

Cheers,

Derek

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Bojan Simonović Dec 5, 2017 1:53 AM

Those phantom keys are BOM keys in 99%. Just unhide (activate) BOM actor in collaboration menu, and phantom keys will be visible and delete-able.

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5 Replies

Dirk Rautenberg Jan 24, 2017 1:00 AM
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Correct Answer
have a look to the collaboration menu
klick on all actors, Ground, BOM, etc.
May be, there are keys for those actors
if not have a look to the structure. klick on all parts.

if there must be keys, but you dont find them, this keys are from hidden actors
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Justin Dehetre Jan 24, 2017 9:58 AM
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Correct Answer
Quick update: In researching Dirk's suggestion that the keys were from hidden actors, I think I stumbled upon my problem. At one point, I'd tried to save a little time by dropping in views to get the orientations that I wanted quickly, then modifying with keys as appropriate for fade-in/out, movement, etc. I noticed that when I dropped in a view that used a different Render Mode, Composer automatically added keys to transition the animation between the Render Modes. These are the "Phantom Keys" that I'm seeing. I still need to get rid of them, though. Any suggestions?
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- Dirk Rautenberg @ Justin Dehetre on Jan 24, 2017 12:52 PM
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  Hi Justin,
  
  pardon, but there is no possibility to animate a render mode! And Render Mode is no property of any actor.
  Each Key is only possible for actors of composer and only for those properties which have NO red point left of the property-name. (like name, BOM-ID, etc).
  
  is it possible to get a hardcopy of your expanded collaboration menu? (see example picture).
  In most cases the hidden "Phantom" keys are keys by BOM, Ground or any cutting plane.
  
  If you use an actor in animation or not, using a view to create an animation, all actors inside your project create keys!!! Thats one of the reason not to use normal views to create animations.
  Like • Show 1 Like1
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- Derek Parks @ Justin Dehetre on Jan 25, 2017 9:54 AM
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  Correct Answer
  Dropping in views and editing keys can confuse you since it usually adds keys you may not even need for your specific animation. I would stick with either or not a combination. I personally only use keys and never drop views unless its a super simple transition or something but definitely not an assembly procedure. Also remember with your keys you always need a key for each property (a start and end). So if you want to fade you would set a key for 255 opacity then scroll to your fade out area and set a key for 255 and another for 0 giving you the fade. You can use the fade out key but you still need the initial 255 key at the last spot you want your part to be visible otherwise it thinks it needs to start the fade from the last opacity key available and for you that's at 0 of your timeline.
  Hope this is clear, I am not always the best at explaining.
  
  Cheers,
  Derek
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Bojan Simonović Dec 5, 2017 1:53 AM
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Those phantom keys are BOM keys in 99%. Just unhide (activate) BOM actor in collaboration menu, and phantom keys will be visible and delete-able.
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Can't delete keys from timeline

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