Keyframe Animator

Find it: Click its button on the Action palette:

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Key Terms

The Keyframe Animator lets you add action to your scene: fish can swim, birds can fly, and robots can dance. You define a set of key poses at particular points in time. These poses are called keyframes. The Keyframe Animator then interpolates between the poses, filling in the motion to move from one pose to the next.

Typically, the things you'll animate are Transform properties (translations, rotations, and scales). Other properties can be animated as well, so you'll want to experiment with the effects of animating materials and colors too. In addition, you can animate viewpoints, and you can "morph" from one shape to another. The basic principle is still the same: you define the object at various keyframes, and the Keyframe Animator interpolates between the keyframes for you.

A scene can have one or more animations associated with it. Within each animation, there can be one or more members. Think of an animation member as one of the cast members of a play. It's an object (such as a rocking chair) or a collection of grouped objects (such as a linked chain or a human figure) that moves as a unit within the scene. Of course, the parts of a member can be articulated and can move independently of each other (when the man moves his hand, he may not move his elbow or leg). Once you've added an object as a member, all of the objects grouped underneath that object are automatically eligible to be animated.

Another key element of the animation is the timeline, since animation involves a series of changes over a particular time period. Each member of the animation has its own timeline.

Quick Reference Card

This diagram points out the key elements of the Keyframe Animator. Additional Help cards explain how each button works in more detail.



Click image for full view.

More Information

For a more detailed description of each section of the Keyframe Animator, see:

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