Time remapping
A keyframed playback curve that makes one clip speed up, slow down, freeze, or reverse at different moments.
See it
What it is
Time remapping draws a new relationship between timeline time and source time. A steep section of the curve races through source frames, a shallow section slows them down, a flat section freezes one frame, and a curve running backward reverses the shot. A speed ramp is one common use of time remapping, not a separate retiming engine.
Reach for it when an action must land on a music beat, a product reveal needs a brief hold, or one shot needs several speeds without being cut into pieces. Adobe After Effects exposes it as the Time Remap property, whose keyframe values point to moments in the source clip.
Gotcha: the curve can request frames that do not exist. Slow sections will repeat or interpolate frames, while steep sections can skip important action. Audio also changes pitch and rhythm unless it is handled separately. Watch the source-time values as well as the curve, because an overshooting handle can briefly reverse the footage.
Ask AI for it
Enable Time Remapping on this layer in Adobe After Effects with Ctrl or Cmd + Alt or Option + T. Add keyframes before the action, on the impact, and after the recovery; use the Graph Editor to ease from 100 percent speed into a short 40 percent section, hold the impact for 8 frames with two identical Time Remap values, then accelerate back to 100 percent. Keep source-time values monotonic outside the intentional freeze, use Pixel Motion only where frames are missing, and detach the production audio before retiming.