Animation Control Panel

The animation control panel can be found at the bottom of the main window:

All animation playback functions refer to the selected range of frames, the playback limit. That means only the part of the animation that is selected with First frame for playback and Last frame for playback will be played. This range is marked with a green line at the bottom.

Click on the frame numbers in the timeline to jump to certain frames or click and drag to navigate through.

You can apply a frame selection with Ctrl/Shift + left click in a common way. A selection automatically defines the playback range temporarily.
Selected frames can be moved by dragging them around. Use the right mouse button when dragging to create a copy of the frames at the final destination.
If you have a lot of frames that exceed the area that is present then a scrollbar will appear once you move the mouse over the timeline.

Right click on the timeline to open the context menu and access additional functions:
Delete Frame(s) removes the selected frames.
Insert Frame Copy adds a frame copy after the current frame.
Insert empty Frame adds an empty frame after the current frame.
Select all selects all frames.
Select none removes frame selection.
Insert empty Frame adds an empty frame after the current frame.
Set as Playback Limit defines the currently selected frames as playback limit.
Reset Playback Limit resets the playback limit to use the entire animation.
Limit Navigation if enabled it limits previous and next frame functions to the playback limit.
Auto rewind if enabled then jumps back to the current frame after starting the animation playback and stopping it again.
Reverse Frames reverts the order of the selected frames.
Toggle Key Frame make current frame to be a key frame or not.
Key Frame Settings change key frame settings like color or description.

Shortcut: Shift+4
Loops animation backward until STOP is pressed.

Shortcut: ESC
Stops animation playback.

Shortcut: Shift+1
Jumps to the first frame.

Shortcut: 1
Jumps to the previous frame.

Shortcut: 2
Jumps to the next frame.

Shortcut: Shift+2
Jumps to the last frame.

Shortcut: Shift+5
Plays animation backward one time.

Shortcut: 5
Plays animation forward one time.

Shortcut: 6
Plays animation ping-pong until STOP is pressed.

Shortcut: 4
Loops animation forward until STOP is pressed.

Shortcut: Ctrl+Ins
Inserts a frame to the current position.
Hold Ctrl while clicking on this button to insert a range of frames.

Shortcut: Ctrl+Del
Deletes the current frame.
Hold Ctrl while clicking on this button to delete a range of frames.

The Frame delay defines the time duration a frame stays on screen before the next one is displayed. You can enter a value for the current frame directly. Behind the edit field you can see and change the current duration unit which is either milliseconds of "frames per second" (fps)
If you click on the unit button then you can access general speed settings to also change the type of frame delay/speed you want to use.

Example: If you want to display 25 frames and the first 5 frames should use the first second then each of the 5 frames need a delay of 5 fps.
The A button can be used to set the current delay value to all selected frames. Hold the Ctrl key when using the A button to specify a different range of frames to set the current delay to.

The title bar of the animation window always contains the current frame number and the number of frames.

Time Line and Key Frames

The available frames are displayed on the timeline. You can click on a timeline position to jump to the corresponding frame.
Right click on a frame section to define the frame as a key frame. Key frames are special frames of an animation that can be used with the light table. Key frame definitions are also handy just to mark a certain frame for different purposes, e.g. the start of a certain frame sequence within the overall animation. You can jump between key frames using the corresponding functions from menu Frame. Double-click on a frame entry in the timeline to open extended key frame settings.

Related topics

Animation Speed
Floating Selection
Key Frame Settings
Light Table Settings
Menu Animation
Menu Edit
Transformations
Workspace