Storyline 3: Syncing Entrance and Exit Animations

It's easy to synchronize animations in Storyline 3. In this user guide, we'll look at three ways to sync entrance and exit animations. (To learn how to sync motion path animations, see this user guide.)

• Manually Adjusting the Timing and Duration of Objects
• Using the Playhead to Sync Animations
• Using Cue Points to Sync Animations

Manually Adjusting the Timing and Duration of Objects

One way to sync entrance animations is to change the timing of objects manually. Just drag objects left or right along the timeline to adjust when they appear (or animate in).

To sync exit animations, just change the duration of objects. Drag the right edge of an object along the timeline to adjust when it disappears (or animates out).

When you right-click an object on the timeline, you'll see additional options for managing timing and duration:

Show Until End	This displays the object until the end of the slide.
Show Always	This displays the object for the entire duration of the slide.
Timing	This lets you specify the exact start time and duration of the object (in seconds).

Using the Playhead to Sync Animations

Perhaps the quickest and easiest way to synchronize animations is to align objects to the playhead. Here's how:

1. Go to the slide where you want to sync animations and open the timeline.
2. Click the play/pause button in the lower left corner of the timeline to play the slide audio.
3. When your audio reaches the point where you want an object to animate into the slide, click the play/pause button again to pause the playhead. (You can also press the spacebar on your keyboard to play/pause.)
4. Right-click the object on the timeline that you want to animate and select Align to Playhead.
5. Repeat steps 2–4 until you've synchronized the entire slide.

Using Cue Points to Sync Animations

Another way to sync animations is to use cue points. Cue points let you precisely align objects on the timeline.

First, you'll need to place cue points on the timeline where you want animations to occur (see details below). Then, right-click each object on the timeline, scroll to Align to Cue Point, and choose a cue point.

Here's how to add, delete, and move cue points on the timeline:

Add	Right-click anywhere in the timeline and select Create Cue Point at Playhead. Tip: To add cue points on the fly, click the play button in the lower left corner of the timeline, then press C on your keyboard at any point where you want to insert a cue point.
Delete	Right-click the cue point marker you want to delete and select Delete Cue Point.
Delete All	Right-click anywhere in the timeline and select Delete All Cue Points. (This only deletes cue points for the current slide.)
Move	Drag a cue point marker left or right along the timeline to reposition it.