Time Tags improvements

[Anonymous]

Time Tags are helpful tools not only for bookmarking specific places on the timeline, but useful for as animation reference when syncing to audio tracks for example. Some suggestions that can improve Time Tag workflow:

• Users should be able to make Time Tags visible in the Track Bar (timeline below the Time Slider).

• Assign unique colours to markers to help categorize segments, inbetweens, and so forth.

• Intelligent batch name and colour assignment to tags, also to help categorize Time Tags.

• Import/Export Time Tag data to files.

• Read external marker meta-data from audio files, made in Adobe Audition, various sequencers, ect.

• Automation tools to distribute tags in sync with tempo (beats per minute).

• Command to quickly jump to next/previous Time Tag, similar to jumping between key frames when Key Mode is toggled.

[10DSpace]

Agree completely this would be very useful.  If not already implied by the above suggestion, there should be a text field that can be opened up when the tag is selected or double clicked so the user could then enter relevant notes. 

[dswahn]

It would also be useful to create 'sets' (like layers) of time tags that can be toggled on and off whether the tags are relevant or not.

It's common that you want to place time tags for individual objects or events, but currently there are no ways of sorting which tags should be active or not, making it a big mess of tags sometimes.

[dswahn]

Also, being able to see these markers in the Track View (Curve and Dope Sheet) would be really handy. It would give visual reference and overview when syncing animation to specific moments on the timeline.

[mmccforensic]

It’s been over ⅖ decade since these suggestions were made and several major versions of 3ds Max were released in the interim. Yet nothing like this has been done, and here I am running a trial version of 3ds Max 2023. This lack of response to such a very useful, easy-to-implement set of features is a mark against us wanting to purchase Max or anything else from Autodesk. Is anyone there even reading this board?

To add to @Anonymous’s suggestions:

• In addition to markers from audio, markers from video files used for things like Render Environment or Viewport Background should be automatically imported, or at least optionally so, as Time Tags.
  • (For that matter, why can’t we still, in 2022, with Max 2023, use .MP4 or .MKV or other common video formats for this? .AVI or old .MPEG only? Not even .ASF or .WMV? Are you kidding me!?‽)
• In addition to the Track Bar, frames marked as Time Tags should be highlighted (say, by a subtly yet noticeably lighter shade of dark gray if in Dark Theme, or darker shade of light gray if in Light Theme) in the Graph Editors, including the Curve and Dope Sheet Editors, both full and Mini versions, and anywhere else that has a timeline or time bar (I see @dswahn already suggested this). Hovering over a highlighted frame should display the Time Tag text in a Tooltip.
  • Adding the ability to Snap to Time Tags in these Graph Editors and such would be really handy.

[harald.martinoff]

I fully support the idea of making the Time tag system a useful and a visible system to be of help for timeline animation.

- I would love some visible showing of the time tag in viewport

- and also in the Graphs editors.

Finally now 2024 the Assign controller dialog is up where Blender and other have been. The UI is helpful and scalable. Why hid things like Time Tag down there, nearly invisible on the Status bar?

After Blender upgraded its UI with version 2.8, I saw a way forward. Of course they took there ideas from others, but some times I feel like Max is just a bunch of plugins, not really integrated into a common system, when it comes to UI usefulness.

[anthonyyg]

As a start you could simply make the time slider numbers bold so it visually shows where the tags are.

Taking it further -  the reaction controller could be used to activate states based on time tags / regions.

A similar setup could also apply to scene states where a state is active for the duration of certain regions etc.

Time tags / regions could also be used as filename tokens. This would be useful for creating different passes / setups.

Tags could quickly made with a shortcut such as middle clicking the time slider at the current frame or selecting a block of time to create a region / tag.

Middle clicking the time slider arrows could jump to the next bookmark.