Sequencer is seriously not intuitive...

[Jambax]

I’ve recently decided it’s time to start using Sequencer for my cinematic needs instead of Matinee, but there are a few things I’ve since discovered that are extremely intuitive or frustrating when it comes to using it.

The first problem is that I could never seem to get my Viewport back to where it was before I created a new Level Sequence. I created a level sequence and added a Camera Track, and the Viewport switched to the view of that new camera - that’s fine. As soon as I close the Sequence Editor however, I’m still in that camera’s view and not the default level editor camera - so my FOV was all messed up. Worse still, if you add a fade track to sequencer and fade the screen out, then close the level sequence editor you now can’t see a **** thing. I also discovered that this new view isn’t even the Cinematic Viewport, it’s some in-between state.

So I fiddled around for ages with the Viewport settings but couldn’t figure out how to get back to a normal viewport, the only way I could do this was by clicking on ‘Perspective’, and switching to Cinematic Viewport then back to the Default Viewport. My camera now seems back to normal (though I have no idea how I did it) - but this new toolbar has been left behind:

And now, the button to switch between world and local transform no longer works while this toolbar is active. You can’t seem to use the Relative Transform gizmo at all while using Sequencer (which makes rotating Cameras practically impossible).

This button now does nothing, no matter how many times I click it!

On that subject, I also found Keyframing Cameras in Sequencer a nightmare. I’d move my camera to where I want it to be using Pilot mode, then adjust the slider in Sequencer to the right position. As soon as I drag the slider, the camera goes back to it’s previous keyframe. I then tried moving the Slider before moving the Camera. I rotated and moved the camera - and as soon as I hit the Keyframe button for Location, the rotation snapped back to the previous keyframe too!

This is suuuuuuuuuper frustrating. It feels like the useability of Sequencer is far below what Matinee’s is.

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Am I alone in this? Are people really adopting Sequencer or sticking to Matinee? I’m honestly tempted to go back to what I know…

EDIT: There also seems to be zero documentation on how to correctly reference and play Level Sequences from C++. All tutorials favor Blueprint…

[Poet_11 (William K)]

@TheJamsh;704693

I’ve recently decided it’s time to start using Sequencer for my cinematic needs instead of Matinee, …

You are not alone in finding Sequencer annoying to use, as newcomers a few years back we found Matinee a nightmare to use. Maybe its a matter of getting used to and we are generally very patient with new software, but the way things are done is usually still annoying, with that said i haven’t used it for the past 2 releases, perhaps I can give better feedback when i do.

It is definitely an improvement over Matinee (user interface wise) but there are still user workflow issues with it and some features we missed in tutorials. (if anyone has a link, we would like to see more of “seamless transitions” video tutorials/tips from Epic regarding Sequencer cinematic cut scenes into and from gameplay).

Side note: On the other hand it will be interesting what Unity devs will present us with their version of Sequencer, the interface from the previews “seemed” very intuitive and more user friendly in a traditional way. It will be an interesting comparison or feedback perhaps.

[BlackFangTech]

I could never manage to learn matinee or sequencer. They don’t make sense to me. I usually end up making a blueprint to do whatever would have been done in them.

[cyaoeu]

I haven’t used Sequencer that much yet but when I used it it made sense to me, maybe because I’ve animated stuff before.

@TheJamsh;704693

I’ve recently decided it’s time to start using Sequencer for my cinematic needs instead of Matinee, but there are a few things I’ve since discovered that are extremely intuitive or frustrating when it comes to using it.

The first problem is that I could never seem to get my Viewport back to where it was before I created a new Level Sequence. I created a level sequence and added a Camera Track, and the Viewport switched to the view of that new camera - that’s fine. As soon as I close the Sequence Editor however, I’m still in that camera’s view and not the default level editor camera - so my FOV was all messed up. Worse still, if you add a fade track to sequencer and fade the screen out, then close the level sequence editor you now can’t see a **** thing. I also discovered that this new view isn’t even the Cinematic Viewport, it’s some in-between state.

I could repro the FOV part and posted a bug report at Sequencer: closing Sequencer after locking to CineCameraActor doesn't reset FOV back to defaults - Cinematics & Media - Epic Developer Community Forums . Fade track worked fine for me though, the view was reset as expected. (using 4.16 preview 2)

So I fiddled around for ages with the Viewport settings but couldn’t figure out how to get back to a normal viewport, the only way I could do this was by clicking on ‘Perspective’, and switching to Cinematic Viewport then back to the Default Viewport. My camera now seems back to normal (though I have no idea how I did it) - but this new toolbar has been left behind:

The easiest way to get back to a normal state is to just open the sequence and pilot the camera again, toggling it twice to get back to normal FOV. You can also lock the viewport to the Camera Cuts track which seems to work fine.

On that subject, I also found Keyframing Cameras in Sequencer a nightmare. I’d move my camera to where I want it to be using Pilot mode, then adjust the slider in Sequencer to the right position. As soon as I drag the slider, the camera goes back to it’s previous keyframe. I then tried moving the Slider before moving the Camera. I rotated and moved the camera - and as soon as I hit the Keyframe button for Location, the rotation snapped back to the previous keyframe too!

This is expected behavior. If you’ve only got one keyframe it will stay that way for the whole timeline. If you change the transforms without adding a keyframe and move the slider the camera will snap back. That’s why in animation you do things the other way around, you go to the frame you want things to happen in and add a keyframe there with the changes. Sometimes you will make some change to your animation and notice that you’re on the wrong frame, in that case, instead of changing the frame and losing your changes, add a keyframe so the changes are saved. You can then easily move the keyframe to where you want in the timeline.

The same thing goes for the rotation stuff. If you change the location and rotation of your camera but only key the location, the next frame the camera rotation will snap back to the previous keyframe. If you wanted to keep both the location and rotation you need to insert keyframes on both, or more easily, insert a transform key.

You can also use auto-key (next to snapping) and keys will automatically get created when you change transforms and other keyable stuff. An important thing to remember though is whether you’re piloting the camera or not. If you forget you’re piloting the camera you can add a bunch of keyframes you didn’t want to add and mess up your animation.

[Jambax]

I played around a bit more and finally understood the keyframing with auto-key etc, that part makes sense now.

However, not being able to use relative transform and having that extra toolbar pop up in the viewport and stay there no matter what is frustrating. That needs to be fixed asap, the only way to get around it is reopen the editor and ensure you don’t open the Sequence Editor. I like sequencer, it’s a big step up from Matinee for sure - but it’s odd that when I close the sequence editor, everything doesn’t go back to where it was. That doesn’t feel like it fits in line with the rest of the editor.