Freeze Frame

Pins upstream content to a single frame, ignoring the playhead.

Category: Time Menu path: Time > Freeze Frame

Ports

Port	Type	Direction	Description
in	imageRgba16f	input	Upstream content to freeze.
out	imageRgba16f	output	Upstream evaluated at frame, regardless of where the playhead is.

Parameters

Param	Type	Default	Description
frame	scalar	0	The frame to freeze to. Layer-relative by default (0 = first frame of this layer's clip). Set useLayerTime to false for absolute composition frames.
useLayerTime	boolean	true	When true, frame is relative to the layer's clip start. When false, frame is an absolute composition frame number.

Expose Channels

Port	Type	Overrides
frame_in	scalar	frame

How It Works

Re-evaluates the upstream subgraph at the specified frame instead of the current comp_frame. Same primitive as TimeShift, but with a constant target instead of an offset.

When useLayerTime is true (default), the target frame is computed as layer_start_frame + frame. So frame=0 always means "the first frame of this clip" regardless of where the layer sits on the comp timeline. This is usually what you want for clip-level freeze frames.

Usage Examples

Basic — freeze on a hero pose

Animated character → FreezeFrame(frame=42) → Output. Plays back the content of frame 42 forever.

Animated freeze point

Time → Math → FreezeFrame.frame_in. Animate the freeze point itself for ramp / hold / ramp patterns. Useful for stop-and-go choreography.

Side-by-side comparison

Same animated source split into two layers. Layer A: pass-through. Layer B: FreezeFrame(frame=N). Compare any moving frame against a fixed reference.

Tips

• For "freeze at the current playhead and continue from there" (a "hold" gesture), animate frame_in with a step keyframe at the moment you want to freeze.
• Frame 0 in layer-relative mode shows whatever upstream produces at clip start. If your upstream is a video that hasn't started yet at clip start, you'll see a blank frame.
• Combine with Loop to play a frozen frame for N frames then resume normal playback.

Related Nodes

• Time Shift — offset rather than pin.
• Posterize Time — discrete-step playback (a moving FreezeFrame).
• Loop — cycle, with HoldLast mode similar to FreezeFrame.
• FileCache — bake upstream to disk for fast freeze.