Animation pauses

Animation pauses temporarily suspend playback at specific moments in time. Because Irakasi is designed for explanatory content, pausing gives viewers time to absorb an idea before the animation moves on to the next one.

In traditional animation tools, pauses are often baked directly into individual animation tracks and keyframes. Adjusting the length or position of a pause later requires shifting every subsequent block manually. Irakasi separates animating motion from pacing the explanation:

• You can animate your shapes first, then drop in pauses to pace the delivery.
• Because playback in Irakasi is interactive, pauses also double as milestones for presentations. A presenter can talk through each idea at their own speed and advance when ready.

Irakasi provides two distinct types of pauses:

• Pause markers: global stops that pause the entire animation sequence across all tracks and act as presentation milestones in the Player.
• Block pauses: local hold segments placed inside individual animation blocks that hold those blocks while other animations keep playing, even on the same shapes.

Both types of timed pause follow the playback speed, including in video and GIF exports. A pause set to 2 seconds lasts 1 second at 2x or 4 seconds at 0.5x. Changing speed during a pause adjusts the remaining wait without restarting it.

Comparing pause types

Pause markers

A pause marker defines a moment on the timeline where the entire animation halts. It is represented as a vertical line extending across the timeline ruler and through every track.

Creating a pause marker

• Operation: with nothing selected, move the playhead to the desired time and click Create Pause in the Actions panel.
• Needs: the playhead positioned on the timeline, no shape, block, pause marker, or block pause selected, and no existing pause marker at that time.
• Result: a vertical pause marker appears across the timeline ruler and all tracks at the playhead position, selected, with a default duration of 1 second.
• Tip: click an empty spot in the timeline tracks to clear any active selection before creating a pause marker.

Moving a pause marker

To move a pause marker, drag its vertical line in the timeline tracks. You do not need to select it first. A pause marker cannot be dropped on top of another pause marker.

Attributes

With a pause marker selected, the Pause Marker section of the Attributes panel shows its timing:

• Time: the timeline position in seconds where playback halts.
• Duration: how long the pause lasts in seconds at 1x speed. Setting the duration to 0 deletes the marker.

Playback modes

Pause markers support two distinct playback modes:

• Regular playback (timed holds): playback pauses at each marker for its configured Duration divided by the playback speed, then resumes automatically. This is the standard behavior in the editor timeline, and can also be used in the Player.
• Presentation mode (click to continue): each pause marker acts as an interactive milestone where playback stops and waits for user interaction before advancing.

Choose the initial mode in Player settings. Presentation mode is on by default when the selected sequence has pause markers. Viewers can use Presentation mode in the bottom bar to switch modes for their current session.

While Presentation mode is active:

• Playback stops completely when the playhead reaches a pause marker, giving the presenter time to explain without rushing.
• To play through to the next milestone, click or tap the Player canvas, or click Play to next pause.
• Double-clicking Play to next pause jumps directly to the next pause marker. Seek to previous pause returns to the preceding pause marker.
• Switching Presentation mode off in the Player playback settings returns to regular playback with timed holds.

Exporting

Video and GIF exports include pause markers by default. Each marker holds the animation for its configured Duration divided by the playback speed, just as in timed playback. Video audio is silent during the hold and resumes with the animation.

Turn off Include pause markers in the export settings to skip these holds. This setting applies to both video and GIF exports. Block pauses are always included.

Deleting a pause marker

• Operation: select the pause marker in the Timeline panel and click Delete Pause in the Actions panel, or set its Duration to 0 in the Attributes panel.
• Needs: a pause marker selected in the Timeline panel.
• Result: the pause marker is removed from the sequence. Animation blocks keep their timing.

Block pauses

A block pause is a hold segment placed directly inside selected animation blocks on shape tracks. While the pause segment runs, those blocks hold their current values. Motion before and after the pause segment runs at its original speed. Other blocks continue playing without interruption, even on the same shapes.

Creating a block pause

• Operation: select one or more animation blocks, move the playhead inside their span, and click Create Block Pause in the Actions panel.
• Needs: one or more animation blocks selected (selecting an existing block pause isn't enough). Active camera blocks take no block pauses. The playhead must be inside every target block and outside their existing pauses, and each block needs room to grow without running into a later block of the same kind.
• Result: a pause segment appears inside each target block bar at the playhead position, with a default duration of 1 second. The target blocks expand by 1 second, shifting any later block pauses within them to the right. The gap before a later pause can be shorter than 1 second.
• Tip: you can pause multiple animation blocks simultaneously when they all overlap the current playhead position. They share one pause, so moving or deleting it affects all of them.

Adjusting a block pause

• Move the segment: press the pause segment inside the block bar and drag it horizontally.
• Resize the pause: drag the left or right edge of the pause segment to change its start or end time.
• Snap the playhead: double-click an edge of the pause segment to move the playhead to that point.

Attributes

With a block pause segment selected, the Block Pause section of the Attributes panel shows its timing:

• Time: the start and end times of the pause segment, in seconds.
• Duration: the length of the pause segment, in seconds. Setting the duration to 0 deletes the block pause.

Exporting

A block pause belongs to its animation blocks and forms part of their motion timing. Because of this, block pauses are preserved when exporting animations to video or animated GIF.

Deleting a block pause

• Operation: select the block pause segment in the Timeline panel and click Delete Block Pause in the Actions panel, or set its Duration to 0 in the Attributes panel.
• Needs: a block pause segment selected in the Timeline panel.
• Result: the block pause segment is removed. The target blocks shrink back by the pause's duration, shifting any later block pauses earlier by that same amount.