Keyframing

You can animate a layer by setting at least two keyframes for the layer's categories at different times. A keyframe is a point in time that records any change to a layer in your workspace.

Before you can create keyframes, you have to enable the Animate button. For more information on animating, see Keyframing.

To animate a layer using keyframes:

1. Enable the Animate button (A).



2. Select a layer (for instance, we select the Vanes layer from the illustration above to rotate the windmill's vanes).
3. Press the Home key to move to the first frame of the animation.
4. Use the Transform controls to set a rotation category at the first frame of the animation. For instance, set the Z Rotation to 130°.
5. Click the Timeline tab, expand the layer that you want to animate, and then expand the Transformation category.

You can see a keyframe has been set for the Z Position channel.



6. Press the End key to move to the last frame.
7. Change the value for the Z Rotation channel. To do so, click and drag your cursor over the Z Rotation value in the Timeline list, or click the Composite Controls tab and use the Transform controls.

A keyframe is set at the last frame. The values between the keyframes are determined automatically using interpolation.



8. Click the Graph button to see the shape of the interpolated animation curve.



9. Move back to the first frame, and then press the Play button on the playback controls to watch the animation.

Note: You can adjust the shape of the animation curve between keyframes to create customized animations.



For information on adjusting animation curves, see Editing Keyframes and Animation Curves.