Editing

By default, when new channels are added, the Graph Editor sets them to Edit Mode. Selected channels can be locked by pressing Tab.

Many of the hotkeys are the same as the viewport ones, for example:

  • G to grab
  • R to rotate
  • S to scale
  • B for border select/deselect

And of course you can lock the transformation along the X (time frame) or Y (value) axises by pressing X or Y during transformation.

For precise control of the keyframe position and value, you can set values in the Active Keyframe of the Properties Region.

Insert Keyframe

Reference

Hotkey: Ctrl-LMB, Ctrl-Shift-LMB

Ctrl-LMB inserts a keyframe to the active F-Curve at the mouse position. The newly added keyframes will be selected, making it easier to quickly tweak the newly added keyframes. All previously selected keyframes are kept selected by using Ctrl-Shift-LMB.

Transform Snapping

When transforming keyframes with G, R, S, the transformation can be snapped to increments.

Snap Transformation to 1.0 Ctrl.

Divide Transformation by 10.0 Shift.

Snap

Reference

Menu: Key ‣ Snap
Hotkey: Shift-S

Keyframes can be snapped to different properties by using the Snap Keys tool.

Current Frame
Snap the selected keyframes to the Time Cursor.
Cursor Value
Snap the selected keyframes to the Cursor.
Nearest Frame
Snap the selected keyframes to their nearest frame individually.
Nearest Second
Snap the selected keyframes to their nearest second individually, based on the FPS of the scene.
Nearest Marker
Snap the selected keyframes to their nearest marker individually.
Flatten Handles

Flatten the Bézier handles for the selected keyframes.

Flatten Handles snapping example.
../../../_images/editors_graph-editor_fcurves_editing_flatten-handles-1.png

Before Flatten Handles.
../../../_images/editors_graph-editor_fcurves_editing_flatten-handles-2.png

After Flatten Handles.

Mirror

Reference

Menu: Key ‣ Mirror
Hotkey: Shift-M

Selected keyframes can be mirrored over different properties using the Mirror Keys tool.

By Times Over Current Frame
Mirror horizontally over the Time Cursor.
By Values over Cursor Value
Mirror vertically over the Cursor.
By Times over Time 0
Mirror horizontally over frame 0.
By Values over Value 0
Mirror vertically over value 0.
By Times over First Selected Marker
Mirror horizontally the over the first selected Marker.

Clean Keyframes

Reference

Menu: Key ‣ Clean Keyframes
Hotkey: X

Clean Keyframes resets the keyframe tangents on selected keyframes to their auto-clamped shape, if they have been modified.

../../../_images/editors_graph-editor_fcurves_introduction_clean1.png

F-Curve before cleaning.
../../../_images/editors_graph-editor_fcurves_introduction_clean2.png

F-Curve after cleaning.

Clean Channels

Reference

Menu: Key ‣ Channels
Hotkey: X

Acts like the Clean Keyframes tool but will also delete the channel itself if it is only left with a single keyframe containing the default property value and it’s not being used by any generative f-curve modifiers or drivers.

Note

The modified curve left after the clean tool is run is not the same as the original, so this tool is better used before doing custom editing of f-curves and after initial keyframe insertion, to get rid of any unwanted keyframes inserted while doing mass keyframe insertion (by selecting all bones and pressing I for instance).

Smoothing

Reference

Menu: Key ‣ Smooth Keys
Hotkey: Alt-O

There is also an option to smooth the selected curves , but beware: its algorithm seems to be to divide by two the distance between each keyframe and the average linear value of the curve, without any setting, which gives quite a strong smoothing! Note that the first and last keys seem to be never modified by this tool.

../../../_images/editors_graph-editor_fcurves_introduction_clean1.png

F-Curve before smoothing.
../../../_images/editors_graph-editor_fcurves_editing_smooth.png

F-Curve after smoothing.

Sampling and Baking Keyframes

Sample Keyframes Shift-O

Sampling a set a keyframes replaces interpolated values with a new keyframe for each frame.

../../../_images/editors_graph-editor_fcurves_editing_sample.png

F-Curve before sampling.
../../../_images/editors_graph-editor_fcurves_editing_sample2.png

F-Curve after sampling.
Bake Curves Alt-C
Baking a curve replaces it with a set of sampled points, and removes the ability to edit the curve.

Bake Sound to F-Curves

Reference

Menu: Key ‣ Bake Sound to F-Curves

The Bake Sound to F-Curves tool takes and sound file and uses its sound wave to create the animation data.

Lowest frequency
Cutoff frequency of a high-pass filter that is applied to the audio data.
Highest frequency
Cutoff frequency of a low-pass filter that is applied to the audio data.
Attack time
Value for the hull curve calculation that tells how fast the hull curve can rise. The lower the value the steeper it can rise.
Release time
Value for the hull curve calculation that tells how fast the hull curve can fall. The lower the value the steeper it can fall.
Threshold
Minimum amplitude value needed to influence the hull curve.
Accumulate
Only the positive differences of the hull curve amplitudes are summarized to produce the output.
Additive
The amplitudes of the hull curve are summarized. If Accumulate is enabled, both positive and negative differences are accumulated.
Square

Gives the output as a square curve. Negative values always result in -1, and positive ones in 1.

Square Threshold
All values lower than this threshold result in 0.

Show/Hide

Hide H
Hide selected curves.
Hide Unselected Shift-H
Show only the selected curve (and hide everything else).
Show Hidden Alt-H
Show all previous hidden curves.