time scale
when you launch a dpsvelocity timeline, it defaults to be measured in two second increments the width per given amount of time of the timeline. there is an extensive range of options, running from 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12 or 15 frames, to 1, 2, 4, 10 or 20 seconds, and 1, 2, 4 or 10 minutes.
there are three ways to change the time scale.
· press the + and - buttons in the scale area in the upper left corner of the timeline. the current scale is indicated just below these buttons. or press the + and - buttons on your keyboard's number pad.
· use the main menu to select view ] time scale. a submenu listing all available time scales opens. select the one you want. the timeline view is immediately updated.
· select view ] zoom in/out or click on the magnifying glass button in the toolbar. to increase the time scale, click the left mouse button. to decrease the scale, click the right mouse button. the zoom in/out tool stays centered on the timeline section you are currently viewing as you change the scale of the timeline. to leave zoom mode, press the escape key or drag the mouse somewhere outside of the timeline.
track height
the track height is the vertical scale of the timeline. to adjust the height of a track, place the mouse over a dividing line between track label markers at the left edge of the timeline. the cursor turns to an up and down arrow.
hold the mouse button down and drag the line. when you drag it up, the track above the line is compressed. when you drag it down, the track is expanded.
change all video tracks at once by holding the v key while dragging.
change all audio tracks at once by holding the c key while dragging.
change all track heights at once by holding the b key while dragging. the change doesn't actually take place on all the tracks until you release the mouse button, but you can view the change on the track you are actually dragging immediately.
once a track height is shortened past the point where one line of text can be properly drawn on the clips on that track, the text is no longer displayed.
to compress all the audio or video tracks at once, right click in the timeline and select track height, or select view ] track height from the main menu. there are four options:
contract audio - compresses the audio track display so they no longer take up much space on the timeline. or hold down the shift key and press 1 on the main keyboard.note: when an audio track's height is small, volume and panning adjustments are disallowed, making it easier to grab clips.
contract video - compresses the video track display so they no longer take up much space on the timeline. or hold down the shift key and press the 2 button on the main keyboard.
expand all - resets all tracks that have been shrunk in height so they are the default height while not affecting tracks that are larger than the default height.
reset all - (or hold down the shift key and press 3 on the main keyboard) resets all tracks so that they are a uniform height. tracks that have been expanded so they are taller than the default height are made smaller, and tracks that are shorter than the default height are made taller.
show/hide audio and video tracks
you can also hide video and audio tracks without actually removing them from the interface.
right click on a track header. choose hide track. the track no longer appears on the interface. settings that had been applied to that track -- solo or mute, or in the case of an audio track, that it appears on the vu meter, are unaffected.
right click on a track header. choose view track status. a window opens:
the left side of the window lists all the video tracks that are open on the timeline. the right side lists all the audio tracks.
if a track has a check mark, it is hidden. to make it display again, click on the check box.
view in frames / view in seconds and minutes
right click a blank space in the timeline and choose view in frames see the timeline divided into ntsc or pal frames, depending on the mode in which you are operating your system. to return your system to the default display of seconds and minutes, right click in a blank space in the timeline and choose view in frames again, unchecking it.