Selecting, Copying, and Pasting Keyframes

on this page: selecting keyframes | defining a range | cutting | copying | pasting | try it! | copying between two animations

Selecting Keyframes

To select a keyframe, click it. The selected keyframe turns red. To select multiple keyframes, shift-click additional keyframes to add them to the selection. Once you've selected keyframes, you can drag them around in time. To deselect keyframes, click on an empty part of a timeline

You can select at any level of line (master, member, object, property, field). Selecting on a higher-level line is the same as selecting all keys at the same time on lower-level lines. Conversely, when you select on a lower-level line, that keyframe and all of its parents become highlighted.

Defining and Using a Range

The range slider is a blue line that rests inside a pink trough. When you move the cursor into this trough, it highlights. The default range slider runs the full length of the animation, and you can use the View > Reset range option to reset the range to the length of the full animation. Clicking to the left of the range slider extends the blue bar to the left. Clicking to the right of the range slider extends the blue bar to the right. A light gray shading in the time panel indicates the selected range. You can also drag either end of the bar to the correct keyframe. Dragging on the middle of the bar moves the bar to a different part of the animation without changing its length.


Use the range slider to define a range of keyframes you want to cut or paste. Then use the Keyframe > Select in range option to select the keyframes in that range.

Tip: Another useful option that uses the range slider is View > Limit playback to range. Specify a range with the range slider and enable this option. When you play a long animation, this option enables you to view only the parts you're interested in.

Cutting

Choose Keyframe > Cut (or press Ctrl-x or Delete ) to cut selected keyframes.

Copying

Choose Keyframe > Copy (or press Ctrl-c) to copy selected keyframes.

Pasting

The Keyframe Animator has three paste options. All three options in the Keyframe menu use the keyframes currently in the paste buffer.

Paste overlay at current time (Ctrl-v)
pastes the selected keys at the current time. If the keys land at the same time as existing keys, the pasted keys replace the existing keys. If there is no new key to replace an existing key, the existing key is preserved (that is, you'll have a mixture of old and new keys).
Paste replace range (Shift-Ctrl-v)
deletes everything currently in the range and pastes in the new keys. This option is used to replace a section of animation with a new section. If the Paste selection doesn't fit into the specified range, it is truncated.
Paste insert at current time
inserts the Paste selection at the current time, extending the animation the length of the pasted section.

Try It!

This tutorial illustrates use of the three paste options.

  1. Open the file /usr/share/Insight/library/SGI_bookshelves/Help/books/CosmoWorlds_UG/Models/anim.wrl.

  2. Start the Keyframe Animator by pressing the bouncing ball icon.

  3. Choose Animation > Open Animation. Double-click the bendArm animation to open it.

  4. Choose Animation > Set duration and specify 45 frames.

  5. Move the range slider to extend from frame 15 to frame 20. Then choose Keyframe > Select in range. The keyframes from frames 15 to 20 turn red to show they're selected.

  6. Press Ctrl-c to copy the selection.

  7. Move the current time marker (the red triangle) to 23.

  8. Press Ctrl-v to paste the overlay at the current time. The new keyframes are pasted at the current time. If new keyframes fall on existing keyframes, the new ones replace the old. In this example, the old keyframe at frame 25 is retained because there was no new value at that time to replace it.





  9. Select a new range of keys to copy: frames 20 to 25. Press Ctrl-c to copy the selection.





  10. Move the range slider to extend between frames 14 and 19.

  11. Choose Keyframe > Paste replace range. The values in the pasted selection completely replace the values in the selected range. In this case, the keyframe at frame 15 was removed because it was in the paste range.



  12. Move the current time marker to frame 26.

  13. Choose Keyframe > Paste insert at current time. The selected keyframes (frames 20 to 25, from step 9) are inserted at the current time, and the animation is extended to accommodate the new frames.


Copying between Two Different Animations

Note that you can also copy from the same object in one animation to another animation. Select and copy the keyframes in the first animation. Then open the second animation and paste the selected keyframes. For example, if you have a sphere in one animation, you can copy to a sphere in a second animation. If the member in the second animation does not already have an animation associated with it, the lines will be created for it when you paste the animation.

This feature enables you to copy poses from one animation to another--perhaps to duplicate starting and ending poses.

Jump to: Keyframe Animator Quick Reference