Dope Sheet Editor

The Dope Sheet Editor gives you an easy way to work with dense keyframes, letting you make large scale timing edits.

The Dope Sheet Editor (or Dope Sheet) complements the Graph Editor by letting you make large scale timing adjustments to your scene. Unlike the Graph Editor, where you can tweak individual keys on curves, the Dope Sheet Editor lets you easily edit larger sections of animation. For example, pushing animation to start later or slowing down a rotation channel

Use the Dope Sheet to manipulate key times, shown as colored rectangles in the View area. These rectangles represent time units along the horizontal axis. The vertical axis represents the items currently loaded into the Dope Sheet outliner.

To open the Dope Sheet Editor

From the main menu bar, choose Windows > Animation Editors > Dope Sheet.
From the Panel menu toolbar, choose Panels > Panel > Dope Sheet.
Click the Open the Dope Sheet icon in the Graph Editor toolbar.

The Dope Sheet Editor

The following table provides an overview of basic tasks using the Dope Sheet. Many navigation shortcuts are the same as in the Graph Editor. For more information about editing with the Dope Sheet, see Edit keys using the Dope Sheet.

To...

Do this

Zoom in the Dope Sheet View area

Alt and right-drag left or right.

Pan in the Dope Sheet View area

Alt + middle-drag.

Select a key

Use the Select Tool (Hotkey: Q) on the Dope Sheet Toolbar to select a key in the View area.

Drag to select a group of keys and Shift-click to add non-consecutive keys to the selection.

Note: Select the Move Tool

(Hotkey: W) before moving one or more selected keys. See Move keys, below.

Move keys

Select keys and use the Move Tool (Hotkey: W) on the Dope Sheet Toolbar to drag the selection to a new location in the View area using the double arrow cursor.

Double-click the Move Tool icon to open the Move Keys Options to specify how keys are moved: Move Only, Move Over, or Ripple.

Scale keys

Use the Scale Tool (Hotkey: R) on the Dope Sheet Toolbar to drag-select keys in the View area. Use the double arrow cursor to stretch or shrink the selection.

Double-click the Scale Tool icon to open the Scale Keys Tool settings to specify how to scale the keys: Manipulator or Gestural.

Insert a key

Select the Insert Keys Tool on the Dope Sheet Toolbar (or Edit > Transformation tools > Insert Keys Tool) and click where you want the key to appear.

Double-click the Insert Keys Tool icon to open the Insert Keys Tool settings, where you can turn off the option to insert Breakdown keys by default. See Breakdowns for an explanation of Breakdown keys.

Edit key values

Double-click a key to enter a new value. Show or hide key values using Show key value in the Dope Sheet View menu.

To set the same value for multiple keys at once, Shift-select multiple keys, then Shift-double-click one of the selected keys and enter a value.

View subframes

Hover over a subframe (starred) key to view the subframe Time and Value.

Copy and paste keys

Select one or more keys with the Select Tool (Hotkey: Q) in the Dope Sheet Toolbar and press Ctrl + C to copy the keys. Then, position the Current Time Marker where you want the keys to appear, and press Ctrl + V to paste.

Cut and Paste keys

Select one or more keys with the Select Tool (Hotkey: Q) in the Dope Sheet Toolbar and press Ctrl + X to cut the keys. Then, position the Current Time Marker where you want the keys to appear, and press Ctrl + V to paste.

Lock or Mute a channel

Click the Lock icon in the Dope Sheet outliner so that values can no longer be manipulated until the attribute is unlocked. Hotkey: H to lock and J to unlock the channel.

Click the Mute icon in the Dope Sheet outliner to turn off any effect that the key has on the scene.

Show or hide attributes

Right-click in the Dope Sheet Outliner and select Collapse/Expand All Attributes.

Create a Channel Set

Right-click the + next to the Channel Set header in the outliner to create an empty Channel Set, or right-click the name of a channel in the Dope Sheet Outliner and select Channel Sets > Create Channel Set.

See Create Channel Sets in the Dope Sheet for more.

Add to a Channel Set

Select one, or Shift-select multiple attributes in the Dope Sheet Outliner and middle-drag them into the Channel Set.

Expand key structure

Click the plus in the square

to expand the level under a node and click the plus in the circle

to expand the corresponding attributes.

Show child keys with the parent

Click Hierarchy Below

on the Dope Sheet Toolbar.

Dope Sheet Key types

Key	Type
Square key	Shows keys that contain non-default values.
Leaf key	Shows keys that contain default values.
Connected keys	Shows keys that have the same value.
(White) Highlighted key	Shows a selected key.
Starred key	Shows a subframe key.
Key with a dot	Shows a Breakdown key. See Breakdowns for an explanation of Breakdown keys.
Darkened key	Shows a locked key.
Striped key	Shows a muted key.
Outlined key	Show a key on mouse hovered.