Setting Timeline Duration via Play Rate

The Timeline editor includes a Length field to set the length of the Timeline (which is often used to set the duration of the timeline when used).

However, using the Length field to set the duration creates a problem, especially when

• (A) the duration needs to differ between actors using the timeline and
• (B) when the timeline Length is not normalized

Below is how we normalize the Timeline length and control its duration via Set Play Rate.

---

Normalizing Timeline Length and Controlling Duration

We need a separate Duration float variable which will be used to control the desired length of time the Timeline should update over.

To modify how long the Timeline plays for, the Timeline length should be divided by the duration from the variable, and this value should be inserted into the Set Play Rate node of the Timeline (which is a component).

For example -> With a timeline length of 1.0, and a duration of 10, we get the following: 1.0 / 10.0 = 0.10

This sets the playback rate to 1/10th of its default (1.0), meaning the timeline will now run for a total of 10 seconds.

Another example -> With a timeline length of 1.0, and a duration of 50, we get the following: 1.0 / 50.0 = 0.02

This sets the playback rate to 1/50th of its default (1.0), meaning the timeline will now run for a total of 50 seconds.

---