How the Auto timeline works
Kirocast reads every click in the take. Clicks that land close together count as one action, and the zoom aims at the middle of them. Each zoom arrives just before its click, holds at 1.75×, and pulls back to the full frame once you have been idle for a moment. A take that ends mid-action keeps its zoom to the last frame.
On the Zoom row, each zoom is an amber block labelled with its level.
Tune the rules
Open the Animation tab in the inspector. Its Auto timeline settings apply to the whole recording:
| Setting | What it does | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Zoom transition | How long a zoom takes to move in, from 0.2 to 4 s | 1.00 s |
| Click anticipation | How early the zoom is on target before the click, from 0.05 to 1.5 s. Clicks closer than this count as one action. | 0.40 s |
| Zoom out after | Idle time after an action before the view pulls back, from 1 to 20 s | 1.0 s |
| Curve | Smooth eases in and out; Linear moves at an even pace | Smooth |
A change rebuilds the Zoom and Position rows from your clicks. If you have edited them by hand, Kirocast asks first with Rebuild the timeline?; Rebuild replaces your edits, and ⌘Z brings them back. Once the rows carry hand edits, Reset, beside the heading, rebuilds them from your clicks.
Adjust one zoom
Click a zoom block. The inspector shows its Range, its Transition, and a Zoom level slider from 1× to 4×. The preview pulls back to the whole picture with a dashed rectangle for the framing: drag the sight to aim the zoom.
- In Simple mode, drag either edge of the block. The left edge sets when the zoom starts; the right edge sets how long it holds.
- In Advanced mode, each transition, the zoom back out included, has handles of its own. Drag it to move the zoom, or drag its ends to make the transition longer or shorter. Drag the handle between two zooms to move the seam; carry it across a zoom to merge the two.
Hold ⌥ while dragging to place an edge anywhere; let go of it and edges snap to nearby keys again.
Add and remove zooms
Hover a flat stretch of the Zoom row and a dashed block offers a zoom there. Click it: Kirocast places a zoom in, a hold of at least three seconds and a zoom back out; with no room to pull back, the zoom holds until the next zoom or the end of the take. The + at the end of the row, Add zoom, places a zoom in at the playhead. New zooms use the level, transition and curve of the Auto timeline.
To remove one, select it and press ⌫, choose Remove Zoom in the inspector, or right-click it and choose Delete. The full-frame opening at 0:00 always stays.
Position keys
In Advanced mode, the Position row shows where the camera points. Each generated zoom owns two keys on its focal point: one where it lands, one where its hold ends. Dragging a zoom’s sight moves both.
Select a key to see its Time, its Target and what it is Driven by. Drag the sight in the preview to move it; the key then reads Hand and stays where you put it, even when its zoom moves. The + at the end of the row, Add position, adds a key at the playhead. The start key is pinned at 0:00.
To give a zoom one clean focal point again, choose Rebuild position keys in the inspector or in the zoom’s right-click menu. It lays a fresh pair on the point the zoom shows now.