Chapter 16: How to Create Templates

You can create a template from a layer or from cells. You can store anything available in the Timeline view as a template.

When creating a template from the Timeline view, it will lose the extra connections, effects and groupings from the Node view.

Creating a template by selecting a layer will incorporate the layer and all the drawings that were created in it, even if they're not exposed in the Timeline view. Selecting cells will only save those specific drawings in the template.

Creating a Template from the Node View

The Timeline and Node views display different information about a scene.

A main character's template, also known as a master template, is created from the Node view. This template contains all the connections, effects, composites, nodes, pegs, advanced groupings, function columns, scene lengths, drawings, timings, and so on. The template is saved in the Library view and must be imported back into the scene for use, either into the Node view or the left side of the Timeline view.

NOTE: If you are creating a template from a character rig master template, you should collapse everything inside a master peg and put a keyframe on the first frame before creating the template.