Timeline 3D Changelog

What's new in Timeline 3D 5.3.2

Feb 28, 2022
  • Shows proper thumbnail for timeline documents without event media
  • Stability improvements for timeline exports (PDF, Movie, Mail, Web, Slideshow)
  • Bug fixes and performance optimization

New in Timeline 3D 5.3.1 (Oct 24, 2021)

  • Stability improvements related to event web links with long query strings.

New in Timeline 3D 5.3 (Apr 21, 2021)

  • Fixes related to presenting embedded movies.

New in Timeline 3D 5.2 (Nov 15, 2020)

  • Supports Dark Mode
  • 3D timelines use Metal for better performance
  • Refreshed Design
  • Bug Fixes

New in Timeline 3D 5.1.4 (Apr 18, 2017)

  • FIXED: Automatic Event Narration for Movie Exports
  • IMPROVED: When new events are created, typing focus starts with event title.

New in Timeline 3D 5.1.2 (Sep 3, 2016)

  • Stability improvements.

New in Timeline 3D 5.1.1 (Jul 1, 2015)

  • Fixed issue where tick marks would overlap for timelines spanning many thousands of years.
  • Expanded sandboxing entitlements so that media can be accessed during a tab-delimited text import when that media is stored in one of the standard locations (Pictures, Movies, and Music folders).

New in Timeline 3D 5.1 (Jun 8, 2015)

  • Copy / Cut / Paste events within timelines or between Timeline 3D and your favorite spreadsheet application.
  • Images, movies, audio files, and PDFs can now be dragged onto events even when they are not in edit mode.
  • If you put only whitespace in the Custom Date Range, the date will be properly hidden in the graphical timeline charts.
  • Contextual menus added throughout the application and in 3D presentations to aid with feature discovery.
  • Media Well in event edit form improved for Copy / Paste, Undo, and for mouse click interactions.
  • PDF Exports now contain interactive links for events containing links to web pages.
  • PDF Exports scale their contained images resulting in more compact and usable file sizes.

New in Timeline 3D 5.0.4 (May 23, 2015)

  • Slideshow exports always include a final animation back to the 2D perspective.
  • Standard "Enter Full Screen" keyboard shortcut enabled.
  • Custom Date Labels containing only whitespace are handled better during chart layout.

New in Timeline 3D 5.0.3 (Mar 6, 2015)

  • NEW: Event audio and video are embedded with Slideshow and Movie exports.
  • NEW: Event audio is now imported from bdt3 files
  • FIXED: Certain dates were off by one year when displayed in a range.

New in Timeline 3D 5.0.2 (Feb 19, 2015)

  • NEW: Automatic narration using speech synthesis can be added to movies.
  • NEW: Date ranges are compressed typographically. For example: February 9–10, 2015.
  • IMPROVED: Local paths can be used as event links.
  • IMPROVED: Exported Slideshows have a smaller file sizes.
  • IMPROVED: Date formats validate immediately.
  • FIXED: Dates with long month names and times are working. For example: March 15, 2015, 3:00 PM.
  • FIXED: Image Sequences are exported in the chosen file format.

New in Timeline 3D 5.0.1 (Jan 14, 2015)

  • Enabling In-App Purchasing for Export Features.

New in Timeline 3D 3.9 (Dec 19, 2013)

  • Adding a new PowerPoint (PPTX) export that generates a slideshow presentation that can be opened with Keynote or PowerPoint. This is now the preferred way to export slideshows.
  • More information about this new feature can be found at blog.beedocs.com
  • Have you seen the iPhone / iPad version of Timeline 3D yet? Look for it on the App Store.

New in Timeline 3D 3.8 (Jul 10, 2013)

  • FIXED: License registration in OS X 10.9 Mavericks
  • FIXED: Arrow buttons in 3D presentations
  • FIXED: Row title editing on retina displays
  • FIXED: Dragging media onto events when not in edit mode (retina displays)
  • NEW: Adding Custom Date Label, Tags, and Event Color to copy / paste
  • NEW: Adding Custom Date Label and Tags to Tab Delimited Import / Export
  • REMOVED: YouTube publishing was no longer compatible and has been removed. To publish timelines to YouTube, use File > Export 3D > QuickTime Movie… and choose one of the HD presets. Save the movie to your computer and then upload using YouTube's website or video tools.

New in Timeline 3D 3.7.3 (Nov 22, 2012)

  • IMPROVED: Improving compatibility with Timeline 3D for iPad (not yet released)

New in Timeline 3D 3.7.1 (Sep 26, 2012)

  • FIXED: Documents saved with early version of v2 were not importing.
  • IMPROVED: Improving compatibility with Timeline 3D for iPad (not yet released)

New in Timeline 3D 3.7 (Sep 22, 2012)

  • FIXED: iBooks Author widgets had errors when generated on computers with a retina display attached.
  • IMPROVED: Adding support for documents created with the Timeline 3D for iPad (not yet released)

New in Timeline 3D 3.6.4 (Aug 28, 2012)

  • IMPROVED: Images, audio, and video added to events are immediately copied so that they will still be included in your timeline even if you delete the original media before saving your timeline.
  • FIXED: Some license keys were not validating on Mountain Lion. Please note, if we assigned you a temporary key to work around this issue, it will no longer work with this update. Please revert to the license key you received with your purchase confirmation.

New in Timeline 3D 3.6.3 (Aug 2, 2012)

  • FIXED: En dash in date ranges was not displaying correctly since 3.6 release.

New in Timeline 3D 3.6.2 (Aug 2, 2012)

  • FIXED: Some translations were missing from the last update.

New in Timeline 3D 3.6.1 (Aug 1, 2012)

  • NOTE: This version drops support for older Macs using PowerPC processors.
  • FIXED: Mountain Lion stability issues with iBooks Author export and Motion Blur rendering.

New in Timeline 3D 3.6 (Jul 13, 2012)

  • FIXED: Event descenders weren't lining up exactly with tick marks in 3D presentations.
  • IMPROVED: Pixel alignment improvements for sharper lines, tick marks, and borders.

New in Timeline 3D 3.5.3 (Jun 20, 2012)

  • FIXED: Layout now works with MacBook Pro retina display.
  • IMPROVED: Icons updated for MacBook Pro retina display.
  • IMPROVED: Event tags and color can be encoded in tab-delimited export / import.
  • IMPROVED: Spotlight data contains more information about file.

New in Timeline 3D 3.5.2 (May 31, 2012)

  • FIXED: Properly handle event links with encoded special characters in the URL
  • NOTE - Event Links can now handle the links provided by the DropBox contextual menu "Get Link"

New in Timeline 3D 3.5 (Mar 29, 2012)

  • NEW: Share > iBooks Author Widget allows you to create an interactive widget to use within custom e-books
  • NEW: Image Sequence export now supports iPad Retina display size (2048 x 1536 pixels)
  • NEW: Keynote export now supports iPad Retina display size (2048 x 1536 pixels)
  • NEW: QuickTime export now supports iPad aspect ratio (960 x 720 pixels)
  • IMPROVED: Adding leading zeros to Image Sequence exports so that automatic sorting works in iBooks Author
  • IMPROVED: Images added to events are now stored at a higher resolution (max size 1808 x 1010 pixels)
  • FIXED: Crashing bug during save in pre-Lion versions of Mac OS X.
  • FIXED: Event notes and titles with certain special characters now display properly in web export.

New in Timeline 3D 3.4 (Mar 7, 2012)

  • FIXED: Pasting multiple events into a timeline, then undoing the operation would create an unstable document.
  • FIXED: Removing an event row in bulk edit mode could create an unstable document.
  • FIXED: Pasting arbitrary text into the background of a timeline could cause a crash.
  • FIXED: Generating compressed QuickLook previews in Mac OS X 10.6.8 triggered a memory leak in Apple's system level frameworks. We removed the compression which will create slightly larger document sizes in exchange for more stability.

New in Timeline 3D 3.3.3 (Mar 2, 2012)

  • IMPROVED: Publish to Keynote improved for Mac OS X Lion's new document system.
  • IMPROVED: Temporary movie files created for Keynote publishing are removed once presentation is saved
  • FIXED: Compatibility with PPC based Macs running 10.5.8 was broken in last release.

New in Timeline 3D 3.3.2 (Feb 15, 2012)

  • NEW: Kensington Presenter remote controls can now be used to control live 3D presentations.

New in Timeline 3D 3.3.1 (Dec 2, 2011)

  • NEW: Searching based on event link is now available.
  • FIXED: Tabbing through the Custom Date Range field in Bulk Edit would incorrectly set it to hide the date.
  • FIXED: Skitch importer updated for new Mac App Store version of Skitch.
  • FIXED: RSS importer would create a corrupt document if document was saved before all images were downloaded.
  • IMPROVED: iTunes importer can now find libraries that use a file alias to store it in a non-standard location.
  • IMPROVED: Accuracy, speed, and stability of importing iTunes cover art is improved.

New in Timeline 3D 3.3 (Nov 5, 2011)

  • IMPROVED: In 3D modes, zooming is improved for events with large images, large fonts, and long notes.
  • FIXED: Image Sequence export would erase exported images if closed immediately after render was complete.

New in Timeline 3D 3.2.8 (Oct 26, 2011)

  • FIXED: Last update broke event image selection for Mac OS X 10.5.8

New in Timeline 3D 3.2.7 (Oct 15, 2011)

  • FIXED: Importing event data via text file will no longer freeze if image and media links are invalid
  • FIXED: When editing a row label, automatically scrolls to the end of the chart so the edit form is visible
  • FIXED: Colors specified in custom color spaces (using 3rd party pickers) will no longer crash movie renders

New in Timeline 3D 3.2.6 (Sep 28, 2011)

  • MPROVED: Dates entered with only the month or year will be set to 12pm on the first day of the month to avoid time zone issues
  • FIXED: Chart export for 2D graphics is now working
  • FIXED: Colors specified in custom color spaces (using 3rd party pickers) will no longer crash 3D presentations

New in Timeline 3D 3.2.5 (Sep 26, 2011)

  • IMPROVED: Basecamp projects are displayed in sorted order
  • IMPROVED: Basecamp importer displays customer names associated with projects
  • IMPROVED: Basecamp importer imports message contents without HTML tags
  • FIXED: Basecamp importer was sometimes missing projects for large accounts

New in Timeline 3D 3.2.4 (Sep 21, 2011)

  • NEW: Help documentation for French
  • FIXED: Basecamp importer now saves passwords in Keychain

New in Timeline 3D 3.2.3 (Sep 8, 2011)

  • NEW: Help documentation for Italian
  • FIXED: Event links can start with "www" in addition to "http"
  • FIXED: PDF and image exports were sometimes offset improperly in Lion.
  • FIXED: PDF links were not positioned correct for very long charts.
  • FIXED: PDF links did not handle non-ASCII characters

New in Timeline 3D 3.2.2 (Aug 20, 2011)

  • NEW: Help documentation now available in Swedish, Russian, Korean, Italian, German, and Dutch.
  • FIXED: Last release was broken for PPC processors.

New in Timeline 3D 3.2.1 (Aug 6, 2011)

  • FIXED: 3.2 was unable to open documents in Snow Leopard.
  • IMPROVED: Italian localization is nearly complete.

New in Timeline 3D 3.2 (Aug 4, 2011)

  • NEW: Full Screen mode in Lion for timeline editing
  • FIXED: In Lion, returning to editing mode from a 3D presentation no longer requires an extra click
  • IMPROVED: Elastic scrolling feature in Lion feels more solid for side scrolling timelines.
  • IMPROVED: Swedish, Dutch, and Chinese localizations are nearly complete

New in Timeline 3D 3.1 (Jul 14, 2011)

  • FIXED: Timelines with a search filter are handled correctly in 3D presentations and movies.
  • FIXED: Memory handling improvements allow for movie exports with long timelines (now stable with several hundred events in HD)
  • FIXED: Movie export process temporarily overrides Energy Saver settings for more stable exports.
  • IMPROVED: Now showing motion blur in rendering preview
  • IMPROVED: Localization improvements to all 18 languages. German and French localizations are nearly complete

New in Timeline 3D 3.0.27 (Apr 20, 2011)

  • Fixes some serious bugs that were affecting customers using Leopard (Mac OS X 10.5).
  • Also has other stability and usability fixes for all customers.

New in Timeline 3D 3.0.22 (Mar 28, 2011)

  • Publish to Web:
  • Publish an Interactive Timeline:
  • You can now publish an interactive timeline chart to the web. Interactive timelines are optimized for a wide range of browsers including mobile devices such as the iPad and iPhone.
  • Choose a Web Look:
  • When you publish to the web you will have multiple Web Looks to choose from, so you can select the Look which best suits the content of your timeline.
  • Manage Published Timelines:
  • When you select Manage Published Timelines from the Share menu you will see a list of all of the timelines you have published to the web. You can view your timelines both in the viewer or by launching your browser. You can also check the status of timelines that are processing, change the Web Look, or delete existing timelines.
  • Embed Timelines in Websites:
  • You can now embed an interactive timeline chart in your web or blog article. If you are posting an article or story that has chronological events, an embedded timeline chart can help viewers to understand the larger story.
  • Cinematic Timelines:
  • Event Movies and Audio:
  • In addition to images, you can now drag movie or audio files onto events. You can use any multimedia file type that the Apple's QuickTime Player can play. When you mouse over the event, the play button for the audio or movie file will appear. You can click on it to play the movie or listen to the audio.
  • Timeline Soundtracks:
  • Drag an audio file onto the background of your chart to set a timeline soundtrack. The music will be used for movie exports and will automatically be mixed with the audio that is associated with events.
  • Automatic Event Narration:
  • The auto-narration feature allows you to have the events in your timeline chart narrated by your computer in the exported movie. This option is off by default but can be turned on using the advanced settings during a movie export.
  • BEEDOCS Logo:
  • Movie exports can include a short BEEDOCS logo at the end of the movie. This option is on by default but can be turned off using the advanced settings during a movie export.
  • Publish Movies to YouTube:
  • You can now publish your timeline movie directly to your YouTube channel. Click the YouTube icon in the menu bar and enter your YouTube name and password. Timeline 3D will connect to your YouTube account and publish a cinematic timeline directly to your YouTube page.
  • 3D Presentations:
  • 3D Controller:
  • A new controller makes it easy to discover the navigation options in a 3D presentation. Use the arrows to switch events. Press the 3D button to rotate your timeline. The media button lights up when there is event movies or audio attached to an event. The web link button lights up when there is an event link that you can open.
  • Bee-Line Navigator:
  • The bee-line is visible in 3D mode to help you keep track of where you are in your timeline chart and quickly skip to events in your timeline. You can hover your mouse over the tick marks to scan through your events, or click to skip directly to an event.
  • Website Links:
  • When you are in presentation mode, you can open the web link by clicking the link on the 3D controller or using the keyboard shortcut "L". This will launch your browser. To return to presentation mode, click on your Timeline 3D application icon. You will return to your 3D presentation.
  • Event Movies and Audio:
  • Multimedia content that you have added to events can be played during a 3D presentation, either use the new 3D controller or the keyboard short "M" to play media for the current event.
  • Ease of Use Improvements:
  • New Timeline Types:
  • You can now choose from three different types of timeline charts, each with different date formats. Below is a brief overview:
  • Dates & Times: Create timelines using specific dates and times. An example is: August 23, 2011.
  • Geologic Time Scale: Create timelines for events that occurred more than 2 million years ago. An example is: 3,211.2 Billion AD
  • Quantities: Create a timeline chart based on quantities instead of exact dates. An example is: Chapter 1
  • Please see our blog for more details and examples of the new date formats.
  • Improved Date Formatting:
  • Timeline 3D will automatically adjust the Event Date Format settings based on the date you enter. Dates ranges will be displayed in a way that takes up less space and is easier to understand. For detailed explanations of the improved date formatting, please see this blog post.
  • Share using iTunes:
  • The functionality that was previously in Devices toolbar button has been reorganized and is now in the iTunes toolbar button. This feature allows more control over the size of your exports. You have the option to optimize your timeline move for an iPhone and iPod, Apple TV, or computer.
  • Save As PDF:
  • To automatically save your timeline as a PDF document, in the main menu choose File > Save As PDF. This is a more simple alternative to using File > Export Chart with the format set to PDF.
  • Event Tagging:
  • Tags are a series of short or one word phrases separated by commas that will allow you to categorize your events so that you can search through your timeline chart. Tags will be included when you publish a timeline to the web where they can be used for filtering events. One potential use of the tagging feature is to export movies that only pause on a single category of events. Simply search for an event tag (which will automatically select those events) and then share your timeline as a movie.
  • Save a Custom Look:
  • If you create a visual design combination that you like (Font, Background Color, Image Fill, etc) you can save the design as a Look which you can re-use for future timeline charts. Go to Format > Save Look to save that visual design combination. Your custom look will show up in the intro sheet whenever you open create a new Timeline 3D document.
  • Hiding Event Information:
  • You can hide Event Images, Notes, Range Bars, or Titles in order to make your timeline chart more compact for printing purposes, or to customize the view for the presentation experience using options in the View menu. The information remains editable in the event edit panel and your timeline chart will remain fully searchable, even if certain event information is hidden.
  • Document Specific 3D Settings:
  • Settings used to export timelines as movies and control the 3D transition speeds used to be set using Timeline 3D Preferences. Now these settings are accessible through advanced settings during a movie export and are saved in association with the specific timeline your are working with.
  • Efficiency Improvements:
  • Smaller File Sizes with QuickTime Export:
  • For HD movie exports, Quicktime export will create much smaller file sizes than in the previous version of Timeline 3D. Exporting your movie will take less time and take up less space on your computer.
  • Faster Saving for Timeline Documents:
  • The Timeline 3D document format has been updated which results in faster saving times and better compatibility with Apple's Time Machine backups. The new format also supports storage of event movies, audio, and timeline soundtracks.
  • Faster Movie Exports:
  • Movie exports take better advantage of multi-core processors on modern computers to render and compress movies faster.
  • User Interface Fits Better on Small Screens:
  • The user interface has been adjusted to fit better on small size screens such as those on the MacBook Air.
  • Pause on Selected Event is Implied:
  • When movies are exported, the presentation pauses on every event if no events are selected, one event is selected, or all the events are selected. If some other combination of events is selected, the movie will only pause on those events.

New in Timeline 3D 2.11.7 (Feb 8, 2011)

  • Fixed a bug related to special characters in v3 registration e-mails.

New in Timeline 3D 2.11.3 (May 21, 2010)

  • Fixes the freezing issue that some of you were experiencing during movie exports.

New in Timeline 3D 2.11.2 (Apr 20, 2010)

  • Adding notes and links to tab-delimited text import / export

New in Timeline 3D 2.11.1 (Apr 8, 2010)

  • Updates Aperture automatic importer to work with Aperture 3.

New in Timeline 3D 2.10.0 (Feb 10, 2010)

  • Input Managers known to cause conflicts are now blocked.
  • Application specific URLs are supported in event links (MailTags, etc...).
  • Added new help articles on Movies, PDF, and Keynote.
  • Streamline license purchasing process.
  • FIXED: Problem with multi-row timelines with hidden tick marks.

New in Timeline 3D 2.9.3 (Oct 22, 2009)

  • Fixed the Keynote export
  • Improved the export performance a little
  • The exports without blur are very fast now

New in Timeline 3D 2.5.1 (Mar 24, 2009)

  • NEW: Select which monitor the 3D Presentation Mode uses for display in Preference pane.
  • IMPROVED: Up to 10x performance increase for automatic layout.
  • IMPROVED: "Things" importer has option for including / excluding completed To Do items.
  • IMPROVED: Timelines that are necessarily tall (stacked events, many rows) are now more efficient in width.
  • IMPROVED: In windowed timeline mode, shift-arrow and control-arrow combinations now work as expected.
  • FIXED: "Things" importer works with databases stored in non-standard locations.
  • FIXED: In windowed timeline mode, sometimes arrow keys didn't traverse in the proper order.
  • FIXED: Height of complex timelines were sometimes too tall.
  • FIXED: Subversion (SVN) compatibility for timeline documents improved.
  • FIXED: Change default export from Pixlet to Photo-JPG for wider playback compatibility.
  • FIXED: Exporting 3D timelines that use image backgrounds would sometimes show a white flickering line on the back edge of the chart.

New in Timeline 3D 2.5 (Mar 6, 2009)

  • NEW: Export full motion 3D QuickTime to Keynote slides.
  • NEW: Option to skip to selected events for 3D exports.
  • NEW: Professional quality motion blur for 3D video exports.
  • NEW: Automatically import To Do items from Things by Cultured Code.
  • IMPROVED: Video export is more efficient (faster).
  • IMPROVED: Quality improved for video export presets.
  • IMPROVED: When entering 3D mode, current selection is respected.
  • FIXED: Removing an event in bulk edit while editing text caused freeze.
  • FIXED: Undo was not working properly for deleted events in bulk edit.
  • FIXED: Undo was not working properly for newly added events in bulk edit.
  • FIXED: QuickTime chapters are no longer added to HD exports for compatibility with iMovie.

New in Timeline 3D 2.3 (Jan 23, 2009)

  • 3D Image Sequence export to PNG, TIFF, GIF, JPEG, or BMG.
  • Improved anti-aliasing quality for 3D exports.

New in Timeline 3D 2.2.2 (Jan 1, 2009)

  • Expanded and updated help documentation including tutorials and FAQ.
  • Updated purchase links.

New in Timeline 3D 2.2.1 (Oct 28, 2008)

  • FIXED: Era date format now supports users localization date preferences
  • 3D: Timelines without any tick marks did not render in 3D

New in Timeline 3D 2.2 (Sep 13, 2008)

  • Image quality for event images is improved.
  • Bulk Edit automatically switches to Chart View before entering full screen 3D.
  • 3D: Images other than 72 DPI now display properly in 3D.
  • 3D: Tick mark text is now rendered at a higher quality.
  • FIXED: Mail Timeline function now ensures that new message is visible.
  • FIXED: German and French localization fixes.

New in Timeline 3D 2.1.5 (Aug 11, 2008)

  • FIXED: In 2.1.4 release, 3D did not work for timelines containing events with blank labels.

New in Timeline 3D 2.1.4 (Aug 8, 2008)

  • 3D: Frame rates are dramatically improved
  • 3D: Image quality of 3D improved
  • 3D: Improved z-order logic for overlapping events
  • 3D: Dithering added to 3D spotlight to reduce color banding
  • 3D: Caching errors that occasionally resulted in clipped or swapped events have been fixed
  • FIXED: Page scaling setting now works when printing
  • License key entry is more forgiving of whitespace

New in Timeline 3D 2.1.3 (Jul 5, 2008)

  • 3D: Event tick marks were sometimes incorrectly placed in 3D display
  • 3D: Event duration field is now correctly parsed during 3D QuickTime export
  • FIXED: "Save as" to overwrite original location caused file corruption
  • FIXED: Certain tick mark settings were not available when using 24 hour time formats
  • Address Book import now uses full name instead of first name only

New in Timeline 3D 2.1.2 (Jun 14, 2008)

  • 3D: Fixed compatibility issue with QuickTime 7.5
  • 3D: Fixed issues where hold durations were being ignored during export

New in Timeline 3D 2.1.1 (May 29, 2008)

  • NEW FEATURE: French Localization
  • NEW FEATURE: German Localization
  • 3D: Improved 3D layering of date span lines
  • 3D: Selection boxes are now semi-transparent
  • 3D: Rendering of descender lines improved
  • 3D: Auto-zoom for very tall events is improved
  • 3D: Anti-aliasing is better optimized for output size
  • 3D: QuickTime export now sets chapters at correct points
  • 3D: Export now treats the "Event hold time" properly
  • 3D: During export of final event, cross-fade renders properly
  • Improved reliability of registration panel
  • Fixed typing RSS feed which resulted in extra characters
  • Fixed Settings and Photo Browser menu items
  • A little transparency added to selection boxes and moved above the date span bar
  • Updated Credits. Thank you to all the volunteers who helped with the localization!