/01+#234S5#67+#1+()+1#>1+@.+9#G'(+&3 ?.(%E(%"&(18.#-S(1M ('&./&'N F6)22#fUX:#KB*8#/2)62#()$*6)#@@#fUX#,2#0%2"#1,+)13#8.*,&)5#"%#%&)#%7#G;#Q'2#2&*\\3#aH<%2n#%6# S*2.(%*65#7)*"/6)2:#i%#"%#".)#;8)&)#(/""%&2>#fUN>#*&5#81,8+#".)#(,-#"*&#Oa]SaO#(/""%&:#?.)&#-%# 8.*&-)#3%/6#aH<%2n#2.%6"8/"#,&#".)#B*8'2#8%&"6%1#<*&)1>#()8*/2)#3%/'11#()#/2,&-#fUX#*11#".)#",0)#,&# 41)&5)6:P /01+#234W5#L#1+()+1#%H#;7+#)+H'0&;#,?+(+3 ?.)#5)7*/1"#8/()#6)&5)62#76%0#".)#<)62<)8",9)#%7#".)#8*0)6*>#1,"#(3#".)#2,&-1)#1*0<:#R%%#.%%k#G&8)# 3%/'6)#5%&)#0*69)1,&-#*"#".,2#VS#0*2")6<,)8)>#<6)22#".)#a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hapter 3: Object Animation Basics By Roland Hess Animation is a change over time in some aspect of your Scene. That change can be something simple, like a change in the color or intensity of a light, or it could be something complicated, like the changes in position and shape of an entire group of characters dancing in time to music, while the camera whirls around the dance floor. Regardless of what happens in your Scene, there must be a way to track and record those changes. In Blender, as in most animation software, these changes are recorded as "keyframes" or "keys" for short. A key is just a marker in time of some state, value or setting. Tip: Animation information is stored in "keys". Time Before we review the keying tools, you should learn how to navigate in time. The most visual method for doing this is to use the Timeline Window, found in the center of the default Animation Screen, but easily accessible in any window from the Window Type pop-up menu. (Remember: to access the default Animation Screen, use the Screens menu from the header at the very top of the Blender window.) Figure OAD.1: The View menu on the Timeline window header. The timeline can be viewed in either seconds or in frames. Blender's default is to break each second into 25 frames, the PAL video standard. (Most film/movie work uses 24 frames per second, while the North American video standard, called NTSC, uses roughly 30 frames per second). To change the display method of the timeline, you go through the Timeline Window header's View menu, or simply press the T-key with the mouse over the timeline. Frames per second can be set either with the "Set Frames/sec" entry in the Playback menu, or on the "Frs/sec" spinner in the Render buttons (F10). The vertical green marker in the Timeline indicates the current frame. Using LMB in the timeline sets the marker and the current frame. The current frame is also displayed in the lower left hand corner of the 3D view, and in the header of the buttons window. Figure OAD.1.1: The current frame number can be found in many places on the default animation screen. Tip: The current frame can be set by LMB clicking within the timeline. In addition to using the timeline to navigate through time, you can also use (surprise!) keyboard shortcuts. Image:Dummy.png Figure OAD.2: The arrow keys can be used to change the current frame. The Right and Left arrow keys step forward and backward one frame. Up and down arrows step forward and backward by ten frames. Shift-Left arrow moves to the Start frame, while Shift- Right arrow moves to the End frame. Tip: Right and Left arrow keys change the frame by one. Up and Down arrow keys change the frame number by ten. The Start and End frames, which can be set in either the timeline's header or in the Render buttons, indicate the range of frames that will be shown when you give a "play back" command. You can tell Blender to play the animation between the Start and End frames in a couple of ways: the "play" button on the timeline header or with Alt-A in a 3D Window. Tip: Alt-A with the mouse over a 3D view plays the animation in that view. Creating Animation Keys Keys can be set throughout Blender with the I-key. Pressing the I-key will almost always pop up an "Insert Key" menu, with entries appropriate to the mouse's location. If the mouse is over the 3D window when the I-key is pressed, a key will be set for the active object. Figure OAD.3: The Insert Key menu for the active object. Blender's basic animation workflow is simple: 1. Use the time tools to find the frame where you would like to record a setting for animation; 2. Adjust your object how you want it to be at this point in time (location, colors, shapes, etc.); 3. Use the I-key to bring up the "Insert Key" menu, then select the appropriate key. All objects can have Rotation, Location or Scale keys. The Insert Key menu shows several different combinations of those choices. In the menu, Loc stands for Location and Rot for Rotation. Thus, the LocRot entry in the menu creates a key for both Location and Rotation. LocRotScale creates keys for Location, Rotation and Scale. If you are only changing the location of an object in your animation, just use the Loc type key. Likewise, if you are only rotating an object, you would choose LocRot. The Layer entry on the I-key menu sets an animation key for the layer settings of an object. You can make objects appear and disappear from a scene by keying them to move to a hidden layer at a certain frame. Explanations for the rest of the entries in the object I-key menu wouldn't make much sense to you at this point, so we'll leave them for a more advanced text. Tip: I-key brings up the "Insert Key" menu that lets you save states and settings for animation. Once you have inserted a key for an object, you continue throughout the timeline to create your animation: pick a frame, adjust your object, set a key. Pick, adjust, set. Many settings in Blender are keyable beyond simple object transformations. You can consult the documentation to find a comprehensive list of which settings and values can be keyed, but a better way to find out is to hover the mouse over the window of the item you would like to key and press the I-key. Figure OAD.4: The I-key brings up a keying menu appropriate to the window you are working in. Ipos and Ipo Curves The upper right portion of the default Animation screen is used as an Ipo Window. Many new and migrating users are confused by the term Ipo, but it's simple, really. In order to create the animation between different keys, Blender (like any other 3D program) must "interpolate" between the keys. "Ipo" is just an abbreviation of InterPOlation. So the Ipo Window is just a window in which you can view the actual interpolation between animation keys. Figure OAD.5: The Ipo window. Once you have created keys for an object, they will show up, along with some curves, in the Ipo window. Each different setting gets its own curve, and in the illustration you can see that there are curves for LocX, LocY and LocZ - the x, y and z locations of the object. The Ipo window will show the curves for the active object in the 3D window, so if you want to see the Ipo curves of a different object, select that object in the 3D view. You can drag with the LMB in the Ipo window to scrub through the animation, just like you could in the Timeline window. In fact, the horizontal axis in the Ipo window is the timeline, in frames, with current time marked by the vertical green line. The vertical axis shows the actual values of the keys. Rotation Key Values The exception to the rule about the vertical axis in the Ipo window is rotation keys. Rotation keys are represented in the Ipo window as one tenth of their actual value. In other words, a cube with a Y rotation of 125.25 degrees will show in the Ipo window as 12.52. This is done simply to keep the scales of the different curves in the Ipo window relatively similar. Although confusing at first, you'll soon not think twice about it. Working with Ipo Curves The Ipo window shares controls with other areas of Blender. The scroll wheel and MMB function as zoom and view changing controls like they do in the 3D view (MMB only pans the view here). Also, the Home key automatically zooms and translates to show all the available objects, which in this case are keys. Curves can be selected with the RMB, and the G-key and S-key will move and scale the entire curve. With a curve selected, the Tab key can be used to enter Edit mode, allowing you direct access to the key points which you may move as you choose. Tip: The Ipo window shares hotkeys and functions with the 3D window. RMB, and G-key and S-key for selecting and transforming curves. Tab key for Edit mode on curves. Like the 3D window, the N-key brings up a Transform Properties panel that shows the exact values of selected curves and key points, and lets you edit them directly by typing in new values.