The Sequencer is an editor that places scene actor movement and cutscenes on a timeline. Each thing you make is called a clip. Clips are played by the Play animation action in World logic. The server plugin NP Scene plays the same clip in the game.
A clip has two kinds of tracks.
| Track | What | For whom |
|---|
| Actor tracks | Position · rotation · scale · visibility · text · color of scene actors | Everyone sees the same movement. |
| Master tracks | Camera cuts · events (signals) · sounds · titles · fades | Each of the Cutscene viewers of Play animation |
| What | Where |
|---|
| Sequencer | Tools › Sequencer (animation · cutscenes) (the Sequencer tab in the bottom dock area. You can also turn it on from the Window menu) |
Create a clip that moves a display actor in front of a gate sideways over 3 seconds.
- Open the Sequencer.
- Click + next to Clip to create a new clip (4 seconds). Rename it to
gate_open.
- Select the display actor to move in the Outliner.
- Put the playhead at 0 seconds and click Add key. The current state of the checked properties (position · rotation · scale · visibility) becomes a key.
- Click the timeline ruler to move the playhead to 3 seconds.
- Turn on the auto key button.
- Move the actor in the viewport with the gizmo (W). A position key is created at 3 seconds.
- Press Space to play the preview. The actor itself is not changed.
- Add a Play animation action to a world logic rule and pick the clip
gate_open.
| Part | Contents |
|---|
| First row | Clip picker · new clip · duplicate · delete · name · length · Loop · playback buttons · loop range · time |
| Second row | Snap · auto key · Camera view · Cut preview · Add key and property checkboxes · actor to make a track for · property · Track |
| Left tree | Sequence (master track) · Actor tracks (actor groups · property tracks) |
| Right timeline | Ruler · keys · cut bars · titles · fade curve |
| Bottom row | Values of the selected key or section |
| Field | Meaning |
|---|
| Clip | Picks the clip to edit. Clips that have master track sections are marked “sequence”. |
| Name | The clip name. |
| Length | Length in seconds (up to 3600 seconds). |
| Loop | When on, the clip starts over when it ends. On the server it also keeps looping until Stop animation. |
A clip that does not loop stays in its last pose when it ends.
| Property | Value | Meaning |
|---|
Position (pos) | x, y, z | Actor location |
Rotation (rot) | yaw, pitch, roll degrees | Actor direction |
Scale (scale) | x, y, z | Multiplier |
Visible (visible) | true · false | Show · hide |
Text (text) | Text | The text of a text actor |
Color (color) | #aarrggbb | Color |
There are three ways to create a track.
- Select an actor in the Outliner and click Add key. A key is created for each checked property.
- Pick an actor and a property next to Track and click Track.
- Add a property track from the + menu on an actor group row.
Each key has an interpolation. A key’s interpolation is used from that key to the next key.
| Interpolation | Meaning |
|---|
| linear — straight | Changes at a constant speed (default). |
| step — step | The value stays the same until the next key. |
| smooth — smooth | Starts slowly and stops slowly. |
- The visibility and text properties always change in steps.
- Rotation does not wrap past 360 degrees. To go from 350 to 10 degrees, set the keys to 350 → 370.
- When several clips move the same actor property, the clip that started later wins.
| Track | Fields | Meaning |
|---|
| Camera cut | Camera · Blend (seconds) | From that time on, the view is from that camera actor. Picking Player view ends the cutscene. If Blend is greater than 0, the view moves smoothly from the previous camera. |
| Event | Signal | Sends a signal at that time. On signal rules with that name run. |
| Sound | Sound events · Volume · Pitch · Placement | Plays a sound at that time. If the placement is empty, it plays at the viewer’s position. |
| Title | Title · Subtitle · Hold · In · Out | Shows a screen title at that time. |
| Fade | Cover (0–1) · interpolation · color | Covers the screen with a color. 0 = clear, 1 = fully covered. There is one color per clip. |
- Clicking + on a master track row creates a section at the playhead.
- Time without a camera cut is the player’s own view.
- To make a moving camera shot, put position and rotation tracks for that camera actor in the same clip.
- Pilot this camera on a cut turns on Camera view with that cut’s camera.
- An event section sends its signal once per playback. A looping clip sends it every loop. It is not sent after Stop animation.
- When the clip ends, the fade cover is lifted.
| Feature | What it does |
|---|
| Play · pause | Preview. Actors are not changed; only their pose is drawn in the viewport. Sound sections are auditioned, and event sections are shown as notifications. |
| Stop | Stops and returns to the original state. |
| Loop range | Plays only the yellow range on the ruler repeatedly. Drag the handles to change it. |
| Snap | Snaps keys and the playhead to 0.05 seconds (one server tick). Hold Shift to turn it off temporarily. |
| Auto key | When on, moving an actor with the gizmo creates position, rotation and scale keys at the current time. The move and the key are two undo steps. |
| Camera view | Locks the viewport to the view of the selected camera actor (or the current cut camera if none). Moving in the viewport moves the camera actor along. With auto key, keys are created. |
| Cut preview | During playback and time scrubbing, camera cuts move the viewport camera. Fades and titles are drawn on top too. |
| type | Kind | Fields | What it does |
|---|
anim_play Play animation | Action | Clip · Cutscene viewers · Wait until it ends | Plays the clip from the start. Restarts from the beginning even if it is already playing. |
anim_stop Stop animation | Action | Clip | Stops in place. Does not revert. Event sections and the end signal also stop. |
anim_finished When a sequence ends | Trigger | Clip (empty = any clip) | Runs when a non-looping clip reaches its end. |
- Cutscene viewers are the players who see the master tracks (cuts · sounds · titles · fades). The values are
player (the triggering player) · inside · world · radius. Actor tracks are always visible to everyone.
- When Wait until it ends is on, the next action runs after the clip ends. For a looping clip, after one loop.
- When a sequence ends does not fire if the clip was stopped with Stop animation.
- A When a sequence ends rule inherits the triggering player of the rule that played the clip.
Since 0.9.7: The Wait until it ends field and the When a sequence ends trigger were added. Signals from event sections are also sent at the exact time in the Play preview.
| Option | Default | Meaning |
|---|
| Loop | Off | Repeats the clip. |
| Snap | On | Snap to 0.05-second steps |
| Auto key | Off | Keys when moving with the gizmo |
| Cut preview | On | Camera cuts move the viewport camera |
| Add key property checkboxes | Position · rotation · scale · visibility | Properties included in Add key |
Keys when the timeline has focus.
| Key · action | Action |
|---|
| Space | Play · pause |
| ← · → | One frame (0.05 s) back · forward |
| Home · End | Go to start · end (range start · end when the loop range is on) |
| F | Fit view |
| Ctrl+mouse wheel | Zoom in · out around the mouse position |
| Shift+mouse wheel · middle-drag | Pan the timeline |
| Mouse wheel | Scroll tracks up and down |
| Click · drag ruler | Playhead |
| Click a key | Select a key (Ctrl · Shift = add) |
| Drag an empty spot | Box-select keys |
| Drag selected keys | Move keys (one undo step on release) |
| Double-click a row | Insert a key or section at that time |
| Right-click | Interpolation · copy · delete / key here · paste · loop range |
| Ctrl+C · Ctrl+V | Copy selected keys · paste at the playhead |
| Ctrl+A | Select all keys |
| Delete | Delete selected keys |
- The Sequencer preview is non-destructive. Stopping or closing the tab restores the original state.
- In editor Play, Play animation shows actor tracks, events, sounds, titles and fades. Camera cuts do not change the view; they are only logged. Check cuts with Cut preview.
- The vanilla client cannot change a camera actor’s roll or field of view (FOV). The server ignores them; only the editor preview uses the FOV.
- Position keys are converted to coordinates relative to the building’s minimum corner on export.
- On the server, a cutscene viewer can skip the cutscene by pressing Shift.