Animating with Keyframes

T-ANIMCO-001-005

You can animate a layer or a peg by creating keyframes and moving your drawings in the Camera view.

How to animate a layer or a peg
  1. In the Tools toolbar, select the Transform tool or press Shift + T.
  1. If your layer has a parent peg and you want to animate the drawing layer directly, make sure the Peg Selection Mode is disabled in the Tool Properties view.
  1. In the Tools toolbar, enable the Animate mode. This allows the Transform tool to affect the position and size of a layer at the current keyframe only, whereas it would otherwise affect the layer's position and size throughout the whole scene.
  2. In the Timeline view, go to the first frame.

Set first Keyframe

  1. From the top menu, select Animation and make sure the Stop-Motion Keyframe option is unchecked. This will make it so Harmony automatically creates the animation between the animation keyframes you create.
  1. Select the cell where you want to create your first keyframe
  1. To create your first keyframe, do one of the following:
  • In the Timeline toolbar, click the Add Keyframe button.
  • Right-click and select Add Keyframe.
  • Press F6.

A keyframe is created on the first frame of the Timeline view.

  1. In the Camera view, select the element to animate and move it to its first position.

  1. In the Timeline view, go to the frame on which you want to set the second position.

Select Last Frame

  1. Select the cell where you want to create your second keyframe. right-click on the selection and select Insert Keyframe.

The second keyframe appears in the Timeline view, along with a line going from your first keyframe to your second keyframe. This indicates that every frame in-between will be animated by Harmony.

  1. In the Camera view, move the element to its second position.

  1. In the Timeline view, select the first frame to rewind to the beginning of your animation.
  1. In the Playback toolbar, click on the Play button to preview your animation.
NOTE: If you animate layers on the Z axis, you may want to preview your animations from the Top, Side or Perspective views during playback. However, playback is disabled by default in those view. To enable them, from the top menu, select Play > Enable Playback > Top View, Side View or Perspective View.

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Time Estimated 10 mins

Difficulty Level Beginner

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