How to Manage Multiple Objects on the Timeline – Powtoon Business

While an object can be displayed by itself on the slide, you may want to display several objects together in order to tell your story.

The following are some examples:

Two characters talking to each other
A character and an image, such as a person sitting by a desk
A character with a caption (displaying text)

When two (or more) objects appear simultaneously on the timeline, the total number of objects is displayed on the timeline with a group tag. In the example below, the number 3 represents the two characters and the toy who enter (at 3.0 sec) and exit (at 10.0 sec) together.

Selecting one object in a group

Once objects are grouped together, you may want to then select only one object from the group in order to edit it individually.

Click the group tag on the timeline. Tags representing the individual objects will be displayed.

Click the tag representing the object you want to select.
The object will be selected on the stage/
Edit the selected object or change its duration on the slide as required.

Selecting and deselecting multiple objects

If your slide contains many objects or groups of objects, you can select some or all of them using the following methods:

Selecting and deselecting on the stage

Select the first object on the stage. In the example below, the drone is selected.

With the ctrl (PC) or cmd (Mac) key pressed, select the additional objects. In the example below, the robot is also selected.
If the objects are next to each other, you can also group them together using a selection rectangle.
Perform the required editing. The changes you make will apply to all the objects that you selected.

To deselect all the objects, click anywhere outside of the current selection.

Selecting and deselecting on the timeline (Advanced)

This method is useful when you have many objects on the stage and not all of them are visible (overlapping objects).
Note that pressing the ctrl (PC) or cmd (Mac) key, while clicking an object tag, alternates between select and deselect.

Hover over the group tag in which you want to begin your selection.

With the ctrl (PC) or cmd (Mac) key pressed, select the tags of the relevant objects.

If required, continue selecting tags in other groups. Make sure that the ctrl (PC) or cmd (Mac) key is pressed while you are selecting.

It may be more convenient for you to select the entire group of tags and then to deselect the tags that you do not want to include.
Perform the required editing. The changes you make will apply to all the objects that you selected.
To deselect all the objects, click anywhere outside of the current selection.

Applying an enter or exit effect to a group of objects

When objects are grouped together on the timeline, you can apply the same enter or exit effect to all of them together.

Click the group tag, displaying the number of objects in the group.
On the timeline, click the effect that you want to work on. In the example below, the enter effect
has been selected.

Note that the guidelines in the following steps also apply to exit effects.
Select the effect that best matches how you want all the objects to appear on the slide.
Optional: Click Add Hand if you would like to add a hand to the effect you selected in the
previous step.

This will create an effect of a human hand moving the objects onto the slide. Note that Add Hand will be enabled only if a hand can be added to the effect you selected.
Optional: Click Add Sound if you would like to add a sound to the effect you selected.

Selecting one object in a group

Selecting and deselecting multiple objects

Selecting and deselecting on the stage

Selecting and deselecting on the timeline (Advanced)

Applying an enter or exit effect to a group of objects

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