Dope Sheet menu bar

Edit menu

Many of these menu items appear and behave in a similar fashion to the main Edit menu in the scene view. However, as the Dope Sheet works directly with animation curves and attributes, there are no hierarchy options available within the settings windows for the edit functions.

Note:

The Dope Sheet, the Edit > Keys menu selection, and Time Slider all share a common keys clipboard. Keys copied or cut to the clipboard using one tool are available to the other tools.

Undo/Redo: Undo cancels the last operation. Redo does the last undone operation again.
Cut: Cut removes existing keys from a selected attribute and places a copy of that information on the keys clipboard. If a curve segment is selected in the graph view, this area will be removed when you choose Edit > Cut. If no curve segment is selected, Cut will operate on the item selected in the Outliner portion of the Dope Sheet. See Key > Cut in Key menu.
Copy: Copy copies existing keys from a selected attribute and places that information on the keys clipboard. If you select a curve segment in the graph view, this area will be removed when you choose Edit > Copy. If no curve segment is selected, Copy will operate on the item selected in the Outliner portion of the Dope Sheet. See Key > Copy in Key menu.
Paste: Paste adds keys from the keys clipboard to an attribute. Pasted keys can be merged with existing keys, inserted at a time (displacing existing keys), or used to replace keys at a time. See Key > Paste in Key menu.
Delete: Delete removes existing keys from a selected attribute. It works the same as Cut except it does not place a copy of the removed keys on the keys clipboard. See Key > Delete in Key menu.
Scale: Scale operates on a selected range of keys, expanding or compressing the animation to correspond to a new time range. Note that Scale will operate on the entire range of keys if an attribute is selected in the Dope Sheet outliner and a curve segment is not selected. See Key > Scale in Key menu.
Snap: Use Snap to force selected keys to snap in time to the nearest whole time units. Use Select Unsnapped to check for keys not at whole time units. See Key > Snap in Key menu.
Select Unsnapped: Selects all keys from the selected channel. If no objects or attributes are selected, it selects any keys in the View Area.
Select Curve Nodes: See Select Curve Nodes.
Change Curve Color >: See Change Curve Color.
Remove Curve Color: See Remove Curve Color.

View menu

This menu controls the layout of the Dope Sheet view area.

Note:

When framing the desired range, the Dope Sheet may scale the area within the graph view horizontally and vertically to display the desired range.

Frame All: Frame All adjusts the graph view to fit all animation in the window.
Frame Selection: Adjusts the graph view to fit selected animation in the window.
Frame Playback Range: Frame Playback Range adjusts the graph view to fit the playback range in the window.
Center Current Time: If you want to shift the view so the current time is in the middle of the editor, select Center Current Time from the View menu.
Auto Frame: This adjusts the graph view to fit the display when new curves associated with a selected object are loaded into the Dope Sheet.

Note:
Auto Frame works differently in the Dope Sheet than in the Graph Editor.
Dope Sheet Summary: This option loads the Dope Sheet Summary into the Dope Sheet outliner. See Dope Sheet outliner for more information about summary objects.
Scene Summary: This option loads the Scene Summary into the Dope Sheet outliner.

Curves menu

The Curves menu items are functions for processing animation curves.

Pre and Post Infinity animation curves options

In Maya, animation curves are extrapolated outside the first and last keys of the curve. Curves before the first key and after the last key will be flat (no change in value over time) unless you set the pre and post tangent controls to anything other than constant. You can use these options to automatically generate specific types of repeating animation. For definitions of the pre and post infinity curve types, see Pre and Post Infinity in Graph Editor Curves menu.

Note:

If you want to create editable animation of a repetitious or cyclical nature, you can bake a channel with Infinity turned on.

Bake Channel

This operation calculates a new animation curve for an attribute using the input nodes that contribute to its properties. See Bake Channel Options window in Graph Editor Curves menu. Bake Channel is useful to:

Edit a single animation curve instead of all the contributing attributes that affect the behavior of a single attribute, for example, an object affected by a driven key or an Expression.
Add keys to an existing curve

Change Rotation Interp

Lets you change the rotation interpolation type of existing curves.

You can change the rotation interpolation type only on rotation channels that have keyframes on all three channels (rotateX, rotateY, rotateZ). In addition, because the rotateX, rotateY and rotateZ channels always share the same interpolation type, changing interpolation for a single channel such as rotateX, will automatically change rotateY and rotateZ as well.

See Change Rotation Interp in Graph Editor Curves menu.

Simplify Curve

Use this operation to remove keys that are not necessary to describe the shape of an animation curve. Excess keys may accumulate on an animation curve as a result of adding keys manually or performing operations such as a Bake Channel. You may need to remove keys from an animation curve to reduce the complexity of the graph view. You might also need to provide larger spans for adjusting curve tangents.

See Simplify Curve in Graph Editor Curves menu.

Euler Filter

See Euler Filter in Graph Editor Curves menu, Euler angle filtering in Keyframe animation and the Graph Editor.

Resampling curves

You can resample dense data curves with the Curve > Resample Curves option in the Graph Editor or Dope Sheet. Resampling creates a periodic frame rate by placing keys at uniform intervals.

To resample a curve, you select a sampling filter, which is an algorithm defining how the keys in the curve are resampled. Tangent and curve values are ignored. The filter converts animation curves with keys at either uniform or non-uniform intervals to curves with keys at a uniform interval that you specify. See Resample Curve Options in Graph Editor Curves menu.

Tip:

The resampling filters are designed to reduce the number of keys in dense data curves. It may not produce the desired results when used on curves with few keys.

Spreadsheet

This menu selection lets you edit the attributes of the selected animation curves in the Attribute Editor spreadsheet.

Non-Weighted and Weighted Tangents

Specify the tangent weighting for selected keys. The default setting is non-weighted tangents, which provide simple handles for manipulating the tangent’s angle.

Weighted tangents represent the amount of influence a tangent has on an animation curve segment. By turning on Free Tangent Weight, it is possible to simultaneously edit the influence and angle of the tangent quickly and intuitively. Users of desktop illustration packages will recognize the familiar Bezier-style behavior when in this mode.

Keys menu

Convert to Key

Converts selected breakdowns to keys.

Convert to Breakdown

Converts selected keys to breakdowns.

Add Inbetween

Inserts an inbetween at the current time.

Remove Inbetween

Removes an Inbetween at the current time.

Mute Key

Mutes the selected keys. Keys that are muted do not contribute to the animation on their channels.

When keys are muted, the following occurs:

A green symbol appears next to the names of the muted keys channels in the Dope Sheet Outliner.
Mute channels with keys appear under the muted keys channels in the Dope Sheet.
Mute channels have the same number of keys as the muted keys animation channels, and their keys are positioned the same as those on the muted keys animation channels.

Unmute Key

Unmutes the selected keys. Keys that are not muted contribute to the animation on their channels. Unmuting keys disables their Mute channels (indicated by the red x symbol next to the names of the muted keys channels in the Dope Sheet Outliner) but does not remove them.

To remove Mute channels, see Mute keys in the Dope Sheet or Graph Editor.

Tangents menu

Tangents describe the entry and exit of curve segments from a key. This menu operates on the shape of curve segments around selected keys. Note that these settings affect only existing animation curves segments’ tangents. See Graph Editor Tangents menu.

Spline

Specifying a spline tangent creates an animation curve that is smooth between the key before and the key after the selected key. The tangents of the curve are co-linear (both at the same angle). This ensures that the animation curve smoothly enters and exits the key. When animating fluid movement, a spline tangent is an excellent place to start. You use a minimum number of keys to achieve your look.

Linear

Specifying a linear tangent creates an animation curve as a straight line joining two keys. If the in tangent type is linear, the curve segment before the key is a straight line. If the out-tangent type is linear, the curve segment after the key is a straight line. When animating the color of a heating element on a stove, you would use linear to achieve that gradual change in color from charcoal gray to burning hot red.

Clamped

Specifying a clamped tangent creates an animation curve that has the characteristics of linear and spline curves.

The keys’ tangents will be splines unless the value of two adjacent keys are very close. In this case, the out tangent of the first key and the in tangent of the second key will be interpolated as linear.

When animating a skeleton in a walk-cycle, you may notice a slipping of the pelvic and foot joint position. This occurs because the value of the keys on the curve are either the same or close to (within tolerance of) the value of the other. Maya assigns a default spline tangent to describe what occurs between these keys. This is why you get the joint positions slipping.

By setting the tangent type to clamped for these keys, the slipping is corrected and the tangents becomes a combination of linear and spline.

In the Maya environment preferences, Clamped is the default tangent type.

Stepped

Specifying a stepped tangent creates an animation curve whose out tangent is a flat curve.

The curve segment is flat (horizontal), so the value changes at the key without gradation.

The light from a strobe light turns on and off. To create a strobe-like effect, you would use a step tangent.

Tip: To get a quick preview of your animation as if all keys have Stepped tangents, right-click the Time Slider and toggle the Enable Stepped Preview option. When Enable Stepped Preview is on, playing back your animation lets you quickly view the position of objects as they hit each keyframe. Curves return to their original tangent types when you turn off Enable Stepped Preview.

Stepped Next

FBIK animation keys use the stepped next tangent type by default. This tangent type differs from regular Stepped tangents in that its interpolation values jump immediately to that of the next key, rather than holding the value of the current key until the next key is reached.

Flat

Sets the in and out tangents of the key to be horizontal (with a slope of 0 degrees). When a ball reaches its ascent, it hangs in the air for a brief time before starting its descent. You can create this effect by using a flat tangent.

Fixed

Specifying a fixed tangent allows a key’s tangents to remain unchanged as the key is edited.

When animating a ball, you may find the ball isn’t falling from a desired height, yet its impact with the floor and everything else is perfect. Using a fixed tangent lets you change the height of the ball while retaining the tangent’s angle. This is somewhat different from Key > Bake Animation.

This process is useful when you want to:

Edit a single animation curve instead of all the contributing attributes that affect the behavior of a single attribute, for example, an object affected by a driven key or an Expression.
Add keys to an existing curve

Plateau

Plateau tangents ease animation curves in and out of their keyframes like spline tangents, but also flatten curve segments that occur between equal-valued keyframes like clamped tangents. The plateau tangent normally behaves like a spline tangent, but ensures that the minimum and maximum values along a curve are all at keyframes.

Plateau tangents are useful when you want the positions of your keyframes to be exact, because they ensure the maximum and minimum values (‘hills and valleys’) of the curve do not extend past their keyframes. For example, picture an animation of a ball rolling off a table, falling to the floor, and then rolling on the floor. With spline tangents, the ball falls through the floor, then comes back up to the floor. With plateau tangents, the ball will not fall through the floor. The tangents guarantee that your animation will not wander beyond the values you keyframed.

To do this, if a spline tangent would produce a minimum or maximum between two keyframes, the plateau tangent flattens the keyframes in question. Keyframes at local minimum and maximum points along the curve are also flattened. Finally, the first and last keyframe along a curve are always flattened if they have plateau tangents.

Auto

Auto tangents clamp curve values between frames to a maximum or minimum point based on the adjacent keyframe values. Auto tangents are the default type for new keys (set as the Default in tangent and Default out tangent in your Animation (Settings) preferences).

Specifying Auto tangents creates an animation curve where the first and last keyframes have flat tangents, and keyframes in between do not overshoot the neighboring keyframe value. This type of curve prevents issues with interpenetration of closely animated objects that can occur with other tangent types, such as Spline.

In Tangent menu

Lets you specify a type of tangent for the In Tangent only. The In Tangent defines the type of curve segment that comes before a key.

Note: You can also set the Default In Tangent for new keys in the Preferences window. See Default In Tangent in Animation (Settings) preferences.

Out Tangent menu

Lets you specify a type of tangent for the Out Tangent only. The Out Tangent defines the type of curve segment that comes after a key.

Note: You can also set the Default Out Tangent for new keys in the Preferences window. See Default Out Tangent in Animation (Settings) preferences.

List menu

Hierarchy Below

Use Hierarchy Below to toggle the display of objects acting as summary objects for objects beneath them.

For example, in the following diagram, a cone with a Translate X channel is under a group with no animation on it. With Hierarchy Below on, the group1 node acts as a summary group and displays the animation information of its child node (the cone). With Hierarchy Below off, only the summary objects (Dopesheet Summary, Scene Summary) display summary information.

Auto Load Selected Objects

When List > Auto Load Selected Objects is on, the objects that appear in the Dope Sheet outliner will change every time you make a selection to show the currently selected objects. If List > Auto Load Selected Objects is off, it locks the objects currently in the Dope Sheet outliner so you can continue to edit their animation curves even if you make a new selection in a scene view.

Load Selected Objects

You can use this item only when List > Auto Load Selected Objects is off. When Auto Load Selected Objects is off, the objects appearing in the Dope Sheet outliner may be out of sync with what is currently selected in a scene view. To load the currently selected objects, select List > Load Selected Objects.

Add Selected Objects

To work on the animation of one object in the Dope Sheet and another object not loaded in the Dope Sheet outliner, select that object and choose Options > Add Selected to List. This will add the selected object to the Dope Sheet outliner without disrupting the layout in the Dope Sheet.

Bookmarks

To work with the animation of an object or a collection of objects in the Dope Sheet and save that current editing environment, create a bookmark.

Bookmark Current Objects

See Bookmark Current Objects in Graph Editor List menu.

Note:

When bookmarks are loaded into the Dope Sheet, List > Auto Load Selected Objects is automatically turned off.

Bookmark Selected Curves

See Bookmark Selected Curves in Graph Editor List menu.

Remove All Bookmarks

Removes all bookmarks from the current objects and keys displayed in the Dope Sheet.

Show menu

This menu is the same as its counterpart in the Outliner.