Timeline
Read and control the timeline transport: frame, FPS, play/pause, and range.
What it does
Timeline is a live window onto the composition's transport: the playhead frame, the frame range, play/pause, speed, loop, and frame rate. Transport state is read every frame, and the connection is bidirectional. Change a value on this node, by hand or by wiring something into it, and the composition's transport updates to match, exactly as if the transport controls outside the graph had been used.
Three derived scalars come out alongside: Normalized Time, a 0–1 position through the current range, the current time in seconds, and the active frames per second.
When to use it
Behaviour that depends on the current frame, playhead position, or time in seconds.
Driving playback from inside the graph: seek, play/pause, speed, loop, or frame range, instead of the transport controls.
Reading the composition's frame rate into an expression or another node.
A subgraph that should inherit the parent composition's transport, run on its own, or stay linked two-way to the parent.
| Parameter | Type | Default | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|
current_frame | Number | 0 | Current playhead frame (change to seek) |
start_frame | Number | 0 | Timeline range start frame |
end_frame | Number | 500 | Timeline range end frame |
is_playing | Boolean | false | Play/pause toggle |
speed | Number | 1 | Playback speed multiplier (negative = reverse) |
loop_mode | Boolean | false | Loop playback at range end |
fps | Number | 30 | Frames per second for this composition |
parent_mode | String | "Match Parent" | How this node relates to the parent graph. Match Parent inherits values. Independent uses local values. Link Parent creates a bidirectional connection. One of: Match Parent, Independent, Link Parent. |
Gotchas
Parent Mode gates everything else. Under Match Parent or Link Parent, the frame, range, play/pause, speed, and loop controls are read-only: they mirror the parent composition and cannot be edited locally. Independent takes direct local control.
Current Frame, Start Frame, and End Frame are clamped to a fixed span, roughly ±10,000 to 100,000 frames. A composition that needs frame values outside that span may have to be rethought in seconds instead.
Speed accepts negative values, which plays the timeline in reverse. Loop wraps playback back to the start of the range when it hits the end.
Worked example
Add a Timeline node. Leave Parent Mode on "Match Parent" to read the composition's current frame, range, and FPS wherever you need them.
Set Parent Mode to "Independent" if you want this node to hold its own frame range and playback state, separate from the composition transport.
Wire Normalized Time or Time Seconds into another node's parameter to drive an animation off the current position in the timeline.
Toggle Is Playing or set Speed to control playback directly from the graph. The composition's transport follows.
See also
Time Remap · Step Sequencer · State Machine · Numbers, signals & audio