Dev:Ref/Proposals/UI/Timeline and Dope sheet merge

Timeline and Dope sheet merge

The Timeline is a very important Editor type for animation. It is very useful, however, for heavy animation, de Dope sheet is used more, because in the Timeline (in Blender) one can not move the keyframes around.

When I first tried to animate in Blender (2009), having come from Maya, I got frustrated. In Maya you can select, move and edit the keyframes in the timeline. In Blender I tried and didn't manage. So I looked for a tutorial. It said I had to use the Dope Sheet. It looked complicated at first and it scared me as a beginner (which I no longer am).

Also, lots of times I see myself having to have the Dope Sheet and the Timeline open at once because I need functionalities from both editor types. This occupies unnecessary space on the screen.

Proposals for solution:

Proposal 1: Keep everything as is, but have pressing "Tab" over the Timeline go into the Dopesheet summary (basically the Dope sheet would act as an "Edit Mode" for the Timeline). And maybe "Ctrl + TAB" could toggle between Graph Editor and Dope Sheet, and then "Tab" would send it back to Timeline. (Josemaria RRA, 27/Nov/2013)

Proposal 2: Make a new Mode (like the Action Editor, Shape Key Editor, Grease Pencil, etc) for the Dope Sheet called Timeline, delete the Timeline editor type, and move everything from it into this new Mode on the Dope Sheet. Instead of the yellow non-editable stripes as keyframes (like the current Timeline), it would have an editable Dope Sheet Summary look to it. All the rest would look like the normal timeline. One could hit "Tab" to toggle between Dope sheet and Timeline (like Object Mode and Edit Mode in the 3D view). (Josemaria RRA, 27/Nov/2013)

---

I really think this problem should be attended to somehow. If anyone has better ideas please add them to the list.

Josemaria RRA

27/Nov/2013