Connect or visually mark keyframes with identical values (like Blender/Cavalry)

[karmart93]

When two consecutive keyframes on the same property have the same value, the Timeline should visually indicate that they form a “hold” or plateau. For example:

• Draw a small horizontal connector line between them.

• Or tint/mark the in-between area so it’s obvious at a glance that no change happens between those keys.

Why it matters:
Currently, in the Timeline, even if two keyframes have the same value, there’s no visual difference compared to changing-value keys — you only see it by scrubbing or checking the value numerically. This slows down workflow when checking for “freezes” in animation, especially across many layers.

Other software (like Blender or Cavalry) makes it clear visually when keys hold the same value, which helps animators quickly spot:

• Loops or cycles

• Freeze frames

• Plateaus where nothing changes

Details / Proposal:

1. Visual connection

   • A small flat horizontal line between identical-value keys in the Timeline view.

   • Or a faint shading/connector overlay.

2. Per-property

   • Works individually for Position X/Y/Z, Scale %, Rotation, Opacity, effect sliders, etc.

3. Tolerance setting

   • Optional preference: treat values within ±0.0001 as equal (to avoid float noise).

4. User control

   • Toggle in Timeline Display Settings:

     •  Highlight Identical Keyframes

   • Non-destructive — only affects visuals, not data or interpolation.

Benefits:

• Immediate readability of where animation changes vs. where it’s flat.

• Faster cleanup when you accidentally duplicate keys without meaning to.

• Easier to identify holds in timing workflows (common in character animation and motion graphics).

• Matches animator expectations from Blender/Cavalry and improves parity with those workflows.

[karmart93]

[Warren Heaton]

I think you're onto something interesting, but consecutive keyframes in After Effects with the same value does not mean that those two like values are held steady between them.  Whichever property is being animated can still change over time depending on the keyframe interpolation (Linear, Auto Bezier, Continuous Bezier, Bezier, or Hold) between two like value keyframes.   

For a value be held steady, the temporal keyframe interpolation of the first of the two keyframes with like values needs to be set to "Hold".  As such, the first keyframe value will hold steady until another keyframe defines a different value.  
 

The shape of the keyframe represents the current interpolation.  While the square shape of a keyframe when temporal keyframe interpolation is set to Hold is fairly easy to spot, a small horizontal line extending from that until the frame before the next keyframe could be helpful to visually reinforce the duration of the hold in the Timeline.