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Preferences

Intro

Set custom preferences for working in Cavalry.

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This window appears under the Edit menu on Windows and the Cavalry menu on macOS.

Preferences

Show Experimental Features - When checked, features under the 'experimental' tag will be available.

Save

JSON format - Set the format files will be saved in:

  • Pretty - Indents are set to 4 spaces. This is the most 'human readable' format but produces the largest file sizes.
  • Compact - Indents are set to 1 space and the file is further 'compacted'. This is 'human readable' but produces smaller file sizes than Pretty.
  • One Line - The entire file is saved to a single line. This is not easily 'human readable' but produces the smallest file sizes.
Pretty Print

Files saved as Compact or One Line can still be converted to the Pretty format using pretty-print features in VSCode/Sublime/etc. or via a website like JSONLint.com.

Autosave:

  • Off - Do not autosave.
  • Reminders - Show reminders in the notifications bar.
  • Autosave - Save the file based on the Autosave Interval. An autosave file will only be created if any changes have been made since the last save.

Autosave Interval - Set a time in minutes to autosave.

Autosave Folders - Separate autosave files into daily directories:

  • Off - Do not save into directories.
  • Weekday-Day-Month-Year - e.g. Thu-26-03-2023
  • Weekday-Month-Day-Year - e.g. Thu-03-26-2023
  • Year-Month-Day-Weekday - e.g. 2023-03-26-Thu

Autosave Limit - Set the maximum number of autosave files that will be created. When the maximum is reached, the oldest autosave file is deleted whenever a new one is created. If Autosave Folders are being used, this limit applies for each day.

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If you have a project set then any auto saves will be saved in the directory set in the Project Settings. If no project is set, then files will be saved into an autosave directory in the same location as your scene file.

UI

UI Font Size - Set the font size for the User Interface.

  • Default - Set the default font size.
  • Large -Set the large font size.

Infinite Scrubbing - When checked, scrubbing the values in Controls is not constrained by the bounds of a display. The cursor will also be hidden when scrubbing values.

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When using a tablet/pen this preference is ignored. If the cursor did wrap, it would become inconsistent with where the pen is positioned on screen for tablets with displays.

Show Tips button in Message Bar - Show/hide the Tips and Tricks button in the Message Bar.

Show Feedback button in Message Bar - Show/hide the Feedback button in the Message Bar.

Max Attribute Editor UIs - Set a limit for the number of UIs that can be loaded into the Attribute Editor. When this limit is reached, the addition of any new UIs will remove the last (bottom) UI. Note - this limit is exclusive of any pinned UIs.

Large Previews in the Attribute Editor - Set the height of previews for the Layers that include them (Noise, Random, Sequence etc).

Arrow Keys Control Hierarchy - When checked, using the arrow keys will navigate the hierarchy in the Scene Tree. When unchecked, the arrow keys will nudge selected layers in the Viewport and holding Option/Alt will then navigate the hierarchy.

Locking Layers Prevents Selection in the Scene Window - When checked, locking a Layer in the Scene Window will prevent selection of that Layer. Note that this will also prevent Live Mode from working when single clicking a locked Layer.

Preview Compositions in the Assets Window - When checked, previews will be shown when hovering Compositions in the Assets Window.

Viewport Canvas Color - Set a color for the Viewport's canvas (the area outside the Composition).

Features

Add new Layers to selected Tags - If a Tag or several Tags are selected, any new Layers created will be added to it/them on creation.

Remember Graph Editor Curve Framing - When checked the Graph Editor will remember the framing/zoom level of an animation curve from the last time you were working with it.

Maintain Proportional Easing - When checked, moving a keyframe in the Time Editor or Graph Editor will also scale any bézier handles in order to maintain easing.

Use Absolute Bézier Positions - When checked, the Value and Frame values for the positions of bézier handles when double clicking a keyframe in the Graph Editor are displayed as absolute positions. When unchecked, the values are displayed as relative to the keyframe.

Full Screen Focus Mode - When checked, Cavalry will switch to Full Screen Mode when entering Focus Mode.

Nudge Step - Set the number of frames a Keyframe or Visibility Clip will be moved by when using the Animation > Nudge Backwards/Forwards commands.

Viewport/ Rendering

Show Viewport Timecode - Show/hide a timecode in the Viewport.

  • Never - Never show the timecode in the Viewport.
  • During Playback - Only show the timecode in the Viewport during playback.
  • Always - Always show the timecode in the Viewport.

Render Notifications - Send OS notifications on completion of renders.

  • None - Do not send a notification.
  • End of Render Queue Item - Send a notification when each Render Queue Item completes.
  • End of Render Queue - Send a notification when the entire Render Queue completes.

Export

Lottie Author - The text you enter here will be added to the .json file for any Lottie exports.

Bake Animation

The Bake Animation command samples an animation curve and redraws it based on the chosen settings. It can also be used to convert procedural animation via Behaviours or Magic Easing to keyframed animation. These settings can be used to reduce or increase the number of keyframes created when using the command.

Collinear Tolerance - When sampling the animation curve, the Bake Animation command determines whether keyframes will fall withing this angle of the animation curve and not create them if they do. For example, setting a value of 1 will remove all keyframes that fall within a range of +/- 1° away from the animation curve. A higher value will create less keyframes and so a cleaner but less accurate result.

Bake Accuracy - A higher setting will result in a more accurate shape but will create more keyframes.

Performance

Image Cache Size (MB) - Set a maximum limit for image caches saved in RAM.

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The settings above can be manually edited via Preferences.