Dope Sheet

First, an animation has to be made. In this example the animated sphere used above, will be used. You can do that by following the steps above. Then from the Menus, select “Graph Editors>Track view-Dope Sheet”. This opens the Track View window.

Figure 6-9: Track view-Dope Sheet

The sphere is an object, so click on the + sign next to Objects to open the list of objects. Open the object whose keyframes you want to edit. In this case we are editing Sphere01.

Then open up its transform track, since you're editing its change in Position, which is a transform. Now you should see the keyframes for your object. If you don't, press zoom extents (it is in the bottom left-hand corner of the track view window), and that will zoom out all the way. (In this case the sphere will have two, since it only goes from one place to another during this animation)

Curve Editor

The Track View - Curve Editor is a Track View mode that allows you to work with motion expressed as function curves on a graph. It lets you visualize the interpolation of the motion, and the object transformations that the software creates between the keyframes. You can easily see and control the motion and animation of the objects in the scene using tangent handles on the keys found on the curves.

The Curve Editor interface consists of a menu bar, a toolbar, a Controller window, and a Key window. There is also a time ruler, and navigation and status tools at the bottom of the interface.

The Track View

Curve Editor is a Track View mode that allows you to work with motion expressed as function curves on a graph. It lets you visualize the interpolation of the motion, and the object transformations that the software creates between the keyframes. You can easily see and control the motion and animation of the objects in the scene using tangent handles on the keys found on the curves. The Curve Editor interface consists of a menu bar, a toolbar, a Controller window, and a Key window. There is also a time ruler, and navigation and status tools at the bottom of the interface.

Figure 6-10: Track view-Curve Editor

Select the animated track (like position, rotation, or scale) and press the function curves button. Now the function curve for your animation will open up. If you click on the graph, the keys will become apparent.

• To move the keys, adjust their values, or both, by using the move button.

Motion Panel

The Motion panel provides tools to adjust the motion of the selected object. Key timing and easing in and out of a key are parameters that you can adjust with tools on the Motion panel, for instance. The Motion panel also provides an alternative to Track View for assigning animation controllers.

Figure 6-11: Motion Panel

The Parameters button on the Motion panel lets you assign controllers, and create and delete keys too. Controllers are custom key-creating algorithms that can be defined through the Parameters rollout. These controllers are assigned by selecting the position, rotation, or scaling track and clicking on the Assign Controller button to open a list of applicable controllers that you can select.

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