Relevant to Blender v2.31
With the TimeIpo curve you can manipulate the animation time of objects without changing the animation or the other Ipos. In fact, it changes the mapping of animation time to global animation time (Figure 14.7, “Linear time IPO”).
To grasp this concept, make a simple keyframe-animation of a moving object,
from a position to another in, say, 50 frames. Then select the
Time channel and create a
TimeIpo in the IpoWindow going from point (1,1) to point (50,50).
It is easy to set the start and end point of an IPO by using NKEY
and entering the values numerically.
In frames where the slope of the TimeIpo is positive, your object will advance in its animation. The speed depends on the value of the slope. A slope bigger than 1 will animate faster than the base animation. A slope smaller than 1 will animate slower. A slope of 1 means no change in the animation, negative power slopes allow you to reverse the animation.
The TimeIpo is especially interesting for particle systems, allowing you to "freeze" the particles or to animate particles absorbed by an object instead of emitted. Other possibilities are to make a time lapse or slow motion animation.
Multiple Time IPOs
You need to copy the TimeIpo for every animation system to get a full slow motion. But by stopping only some animations, and continue to animate, for example, the camera you can achieve some very nice effects (like those used to stunning effect in the movie "The Matrix")