Animate Button

Status bar > Time controls > Animate button

Keyboard > N

The Animate button turns keyframing mode on or off. All movement, rotation, and scale changes are keyframed while the Animate button is on. When it's off, these changes are applied to frame 0.

The Animate button is red when itÆs on. The active viewport is also outlined in red when the Animate button is on. The time slider turns red when the Animate button is on. All this to remind you that you are in Animate mode, and that you are setting keyframes with your actions.

Warning: Be sure to turn the Animate button off after keyframing, or you may inadvertently create unwanted animation. If you do, use Undo to remove the unwanted animation. Be careful; itÆs easy to forget.

Within an existing animation, you can create keyframes for transforms without the use of the Animate button by right-clicking the time slider and then setting the source and destination time. For example, you can use this function to copy an existing Move key to a later frame, so an object pauses its motion momentarily (to keep the object still, you must use linear interpolation). You can also set keyframes for other animatable parameters in Track View and the Motion panel without using the Animate button.

See also

Using the Animate Button

Procedures

To animate an object:

1. Turn on the Animate button.

   The Animate button and the highlight border around the active viewport both turn red.

2. Drag the time slider to a time other than 0.

3. Do one of the following:

   • Move, scale, or rotate an object.

   • Change an animatable parameter.

     For example, assume you start with a cylinder that has not been animated yet and therefore has no keys. You then turn on the Animate button, and on frame 20 you rotate the cylinder 90 degrees about its Y axis. This action creates Rotation keys at frames 0 and 20. The key at frame 0 stores the original orientation of the cylinder, while the key at frame 20 stores the animated rotation of 90 degrees. When you play the animation in the viewport, the cylinder rotates 90 degrees about its Y axis over 20 frames.

4. Turn off the Animate button when you are done.

Example: To animate an object between three points:

1. Turn on the Animate button.

2. Drag the time slider (to frame 25, for example).

3. Move the object from point A to point B.

   A Move key is created at frames 0 and 25. The establishing key at frame 0 describes the object's position at point A. The key at frame 25 describes the object's position at frame 25.

4. Drag the time slider (to frame 50, for example).

5. Move the object from point B to point C.

   A Move key is created at frame 50 that describes the object's position at point C.

6. Click the Playback button.

7. The object moves from point A to point B over frames 0 to 25, then proceeds to point C over frames 26 to 50.

8. The Playback button turns into a Stop button. Click it to stop playback.

   The position of the object in between the keyframes is determined by the interpolation type used by the controller. Right-click the keys in Track bar and select the transform key to see the controls for adjusting the timing of the in-betweens.

9. Turn off the Animate button.

To remove the animation from a scene and start again:

1. Choose File menu > New.

2. In the New Scene dialog, turn on Keep Objects And Hierarchy.

   All the objects remain in the scene but all keyframes have been removed.

To animate a deformation curve of a loft object:

1. Turn on the Animate button.

2. Set a current frame with the time slider.

3. Select one or more control points in the deformation curve of a loft object.

4. Use the Move Control Point or Scale Control Point buttons to transform the control points.

To animate a hierarchy with IK interactively:

1. Select any hierarchy that does not already have an IK Solver applied.

2. Click IK on the Hierarchy panel.

3. Turn on the Animate button.

4. On the Inverse Kinematics rollout, turn on Interactive IK.

5. Select and move objects in the IK structure on different frames.

   Note: This will work on linked hierarchies and bones that do not already have an IK Limb Solver applied. This technique allows you to animate hierarchies using IK methods without applying any IK solver.