Timelapse

Scrub and replay how a canvas was painted, step by step.

Timelapse scrubber

Every Image node remembers how it was painted. Open its timeline to step back through your strokes and layer changes, replay the whole thing, or jump to any moment. Capture is always on, so there is nothing to arm or start first.

Open the timeline#

Select an Image node, then click the playback badge on its title or press Cmd/Ctrl + Shift + T. A small transport panel appears.

The transport#

  • Skip to start / end: jump to the blank canvas or the latest state.
  • Play / Pause: replay the painting, one change at a time.
  • Scrubber: drag the timeline to land on any moment. It reads position / total.

The canvas updates live as you scrub. What you see is the real canvas, not a separate video track, so wherever you stop is exactly where painting picks back up.

What's on the timeline#

Per canvas: every paint stroke and every layer change (add, delete, reorder, opacity, blend mode, lock, merge). Board-level edits like lasso selections live in the normal undo timeline (Cmd/Ctrl + Z), not here.

The timeline shares one cursor with undo and redo, the same linear history as Procreate and Photoshop. Scrub back, keep painting, and the later history is replaced from that point on.

How far it remembers#

Each canvas keeps a capped number of recent changes. Open the timeline's settings (the dots) to set Keep last N actions, or pick Unbounded. The default is the last 20. Your choice saves with the document.

Saving#

A saved .mage keeps the finished pixels of every layer. The scrub timeline itself is per session: reopen the file and history starts fresh from the painting as saved. Your retention setting is remembered.

Where to next#