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# Navigating Clips Using the Timesmear

Timesmear provides a visual “snapshot” of the contents of the focus clip. A timesmear is comprised of one vertical line of pixels scanned from each frame in the clip; the lines are arranged sequentially and displayed horizontally below the image window in the Player. The timesmear gives you an idea of the contents of the clip or track, and shows the relative location of different parts of it. You can use the timesmear to navigate the clip or track, and you can set in and out points and cue marks directly on it. You can also use it to verify the colour or luminance consistency of a clip.

In Source Focus, the timesmear is created for the current (focus) source clip; in Record Focus, it is created for the current Primary track or current layer.

There are two preferences for timesmear that you set in the Preferences menu. One specifies the number of frames that are sampled, in steps. The other specifies the location on the frame where the line of pixels is sampled. See Timesmear.

(a) Timesmear

You can opt to render the timesmear automatically or manually. With automatic rendering, the timesmear is updated each time you make a change to the focus clip or change the focus clip. Automatic timesmear rendering is set at the lowest priority in relation to all user interface interactions. The moment you perform any action in Smoke, automatic timesmear rendering is interrupted, and only resumes when that action is completed. With manual rendering, you update the timesmear when needed. Unlike automatic rendering, with manual rendering you must wait until it is completed before you can resume working in Smoke.

Rendered timesmears are saved with every layer or video track on the framestore, so they are available for use when you restart the application.

To display the timesmear for the focus clip:

1. Click the Player Options tab.
2. Enable Timesmear.
3. Enable Auto to have the timesmear rendered automatically each time you modify the clip, or click Refresh to manually render the timesmear.

   The timesmear appears below the image window.

To navigate the clip using the timesmear:

1. Do one of the following:
   - Click on the timesmear at the location you want to go to.
   - Jog the timesmear positioner.

   The current frame updates to the new location.

   NoteIn Smoke PAL projects, when using small-size monitors at 1280 x1024 resolution, the playback controls do not appear when timesmear is enabled due to a lack of space.