Dope Sheet view area

The view area of the Dope Sheet Editor displays animated keys and their values

The view area of the Dope Sheet displays keys hierarchically along the vertical axis. It displays time along the horizontal axis as cells or blocks. For information on modifying ranges of time and keys, see Edit keys in the Dope Sheet.

Note:

The time blocks represented in the view area of the Dope Sheet are integer value divisions of time; for example, the block at time 2 includes the range of animation information from 2 to 3, excluding information at time 3.

Animated attributes are bounded by solid lines to indicate their extents. The colors of the blocks define the placement of an attribute or group of attributes within the hierarchy of the Dope Sheet.

Dope Sheet Time ruler

The Time ruler is the ruler that runs along the top of the Dope Sheet view area showing the frame intervals. It is where you can drag the Time Marker to set a key at a specific location.

Note: You can change the color of the Time ruler background, Time Label (the numbers), as well as Time Ruler ticks in the Color settings.

Dope Sheet Play Range Shade

The Dope Sheet Editor Play Range Shade is linked with the Maya Range Slider, except that it controls the playback range in the Dope Sheet Editor view area. If you drag the Play Range Shade in the Dope Sheet Editor to resize the play range, the Range Slider at the bottom of the Viewport resizes simultaneously.

To resize the Play Range, drag the Play Range Shade (the darkened areas) along the Time Ruler.

Tip: You can change the color and opacity of the Dope Sheet Play Range Shade in the Color Settings .

The Dope Sheet Editor Play Range shade are similar to the Graph Editor Play Range shades See also Graph Editor Play Range shades in the Graph Editor Colors topic.

Navigating the Dope Sheet view area

• To zoom in or out of the view area, press Alt (or Option MacOS) and right-drag left or right.
  
  Note: Zooming in the Dope Sheet Editor is centered on the cursor position by default. You can change the zoom default to be based on the entire animation in the Dope Sheet section of the Animation Preferences.
• To pan in the view area, press Alt (or Option for MacOS) + middle-drag.
  
• Show or hide attributes, right-click in the Dope Sheet outliner and select Collapse/Expand All Attributes.
  

Dope Sheet Key types

The shapes and notations on the keys in the View area have different meanings:

Key	Appearance	Type
Square key		Shows values that have been changed.
Leaf key		Shows the default values that have not changed.
Connected keys		Shows keys that have the same value.
(White) Highlighted key		Shows a selected key.
Starred key		Shows a subframe key. Subframe keys are keys that are not snapped to a whole frame. Hover over the star to view the subframe time and values.
Dotted key		Shows a Breakdown key. See Breakdowns for an explanation of Breakdown keys.
Darkened key		Shows a locked key.
Striped key		Shows a muted key. See Mute Keys.
Outlined key		Show the key that the mouse is currently hovered over.

Note: You can show or hide the key values in the keys using the Show Key Values setting in the Dope Sheet View menu.

Dope Sheet view area contextual menu

Right-click anywhere in the view area to open the Dope Sheet contextual menu, where you can find quick links to access all the Dope Sheet Edit menu, Dope Sheet Channels menu, Dope Sheet View menu, and Dope Sheet Keys menu options.

Note: If you click in the Dope Sheet outliner, a different contextual menu appears. See Dope Sheet outliner contextual menu for descriptions of those options.

Sound in the Dope Sheet

Three audio tracks in the Dope Sheet view area

Add audio tracks to the Dope Sheet by choosing Audio > Import audio in the Time slider Animation Controls menu.

The Dope Sheet plays back whichever sounds are chosen in the Animation Controls menu. For example, if you choose Off, audio files appear in the Dope Sheet but are silent.