Playback Toolbar

The Playback toolbar allows you to play your animation as well as to set some playback options such as looping, audio playback, playback range and playback speed.

Playback Toolbar

Name Button Description
Play

Plays the scene in the Camera or Drawing view.

You can also select Play > Play or Stop from the top menu.

Render and Play

Renders your scene's frames, then opens the rendered frames in Play for playback.

This allows you to preview your scene's animation in real time, with the effects rendered and with no risk of slowdown.

You can click and hold this button to switch its mode to Record and Play or Test SWF Movie.

Record and Play

Exports your scene as it appears in the Camera view into a movie file, then opens it in your workstation's default video player.

This allows you to preview your animation without any risk of slowdown, but it does not preview the effects in your scene. However, it is much faster than Render and Play.

Test SWF Movie

Quickly exports your scene as a Flash Movie (.swf), then opens it in your workstation's default web browser.

Enable Loop

If pressed, your scene will repeat indefinitely when playing. Otherwise, it will stop when the end is reached.

You can also select Play > Loop from the top menu.

Enable Sound

When pressed, your scene's soundtrack will play during playback.

You can also select Play > Enable Sound from the top menu.

Enable Sound Scrubbing

When pressed, you will hear a sample of your scene's soundtrack at the current frame when moving your scene's playhead in the Timeline view.

This allows you to easily situate where the action is relative to the sound track.

You can also select Play > Enable Sound Scrubbing.

Jog Frames

Allows you to quickly play your scene forward or backward to preview your animation.

Moving the handle towards the right will play your scene forward, while moving it towards the left will play your scene backward.

The closer to the edge you move the handle, the faster the playback will be, allowing you to dose the speed at which your scene is played. When the handle is at the edge, your scene will play at its actual framerate.

Once the head is released, it returns to the middle and playback stops.

Frame

 

Lets you manually enter the current frame number, setting the playhead's position.

Start

 

Let's you manually enter the number of the first frame to play during playback.

TIP You can also click on Start (just left of the input field) to quickly set the Start frame to the current frame.

Stop

 

Let's you manually enter the number of the first frame to play during playback.

TIP You can also click on Stop (just left of the input field) to quickly set the Stop frame to the current frame.

FPS (Frames per second)

 

Lets you set the amount of frames that should be played during every second of playback, which is how the playback speed is determined.

NOTE This does not change the frames per second setting in your scene's resolution settings.