Animation

Improvements to Animation, including new keyframe indicators, better keyframe selection and filtering options, and quick expressions.

Flame Learning Channel: 7 Animation Improvements in 2023.1

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Start End Indicators

The Curves and Dope Sheet canvases now display range indicators to show when a segment or setup starts and ends.

Tip: In Timeline FX, the range indicators always show the length of the segment, not that of the Timeline range in the Time Bar.

In the Animation menu, use Gear menu Show Range Indicators to hide or show the range indicators.

Keyframe Indicator

The keyframe indicators found at the bottom of numeric fields are now displayed below the channels in Animation. Use these to quickly identify channels with a keyframe at the current frame (yellow bar), channels with keyframes but not at the current frame (blue bar), and channels without keyframes (no bar).

In the Animation menu, use Gear menu Show Keyframe Indicators to hide or show the keyframe indicators.

You can now easily reset a numeric field's keyframe or channel:

Context menu Reset Keyframe (Default Value) : Resets the value to the field's default value, without deleting the keyframe. Available to channels with a keyframe at the current time.
Context menu Reset Channel (Default Value) : Resets the channel to its default value. Available to channels that have a modified value but no keyframe.

You can also delete a channel's keyframes before or after the current keyframe.

Context menu Delete: Delete All Keyframes Before and Delete All Keyframes After delete all keyframe of the selected field before of after the current keyframe. Available only for channels with keyframes when the positioner is at a frame with a keyframe.

Tip: Shift + click a field to select it and display only its keyframes in the Time Bar.

Selection Improvements

There are two methods to select keyframes in the Animation canvas:

Ctrl + drag: Drags a box across the canvas. Selects all keyframes, even from channels that are not selected.
Ctrl + F + drag: Selects keyframes over a range of time in the canvas. Only selects the keyframes from the channels that are currently selected.

Ctrl + F + drag changes visually. This change makes it easier to use:

The selection box is now yellow instead of the red used by Ctrl + drag.
The height of the selection box now always matches the height of the Animation editor to show you are selecting keyframes over a range of time.

Improved Filters

The Name filtering criteria now also considers folder names. If a folder's name matches the filter, all its channels are selected in the channels list.

For example, a Name filter *tion matches the following folder names in a 2D Transform node:

Under AxisTranform:

Position
Rotation
MatteOffsetPosition
MatteOffsetRotation

Under Stabilization:

Position
Scale
Rotation

Scale is selected even if doesn't match the *tion pattern. It is selected because the parent folder, Stabilization, does match the pattern.

Expressions Improvements

You can now open the Expression field with a double-click on the icon.
The current expression no longer overwrites the frame count at the bottom of the canvas.

Link Channel Options

You now have access to new link options anywhere the Link Channel option is available.

Context menu Link Special:

Link and Negate Channel: Links to the channel, and add a minus sign at the start of the expression.
Link and Add Channel: Links to the channel, asks for a number in the Calculator and then creates the expression: channel+<number>.
Link and Subtract Channel: Links to the channel, asks for a number in the Calculator and then creates the expression: channel-<number>.
Link and Multiply Channel: Links to the channel, asks for a number in the Calculator and then creates the expression: channel*<number>.
Link and Divide Channel: Links to the channel, asks for a number in the Calculator and then creates the expression: channel/<number>.

Frame a Single Keyframe

The channel framing rules have been adjusted for channels with a single keyframe.

The X axis is now framed using the Setup Range section.
The Y axis is now centred on the keyframe.

More Improvements

If Automatic Framing is enabled, the top folder of an Action, GMask Tracer, or Image node is now automatically expanded.

If you select the default Animated filter, Audio and channels with Expressions are no longer hidden.