Introduction¶

Animation is a very broad topic and we will only cover a very small part of what is possible in Blender. We'll begin with an introduction into animation and then focus on basic keyframe animation.

Key used for inserting keyframes

In the video below the I key is still used to insert keyframes from the Insert Keyframe Menu. However, starting with Blender 4.1 this has changed and should use the K key. The key I now inserts a set of values directly, configured in under Preferences > Animation > Keyframes > Default Key Channels.

Summary of basic UI interaction and shortcut keys¶

All (3D View, Timeline, Graph Editor)¶

Shift-Left for moving time to the first frame in the animation, Shift-Right for the last frame
Left key for 1 frame back, Right for 1 forward
Up key for 1 keyframe forward, Down for 1 back
Spacebar for toggling animation playback

3D view¶

I or K in the 3D view for inserting/updating a keyframe for the current frame. When using K the Insert Keyframe Menu is shown, where you can pick the type of keyframe you want to insert. When using K the channels configured in the preferences are inserted (see Preferences > Animation > Keyframes > Default Key Channels).
Alt-I in the 3D view for deleting the keyframe data for the current frame

Timeline¶

Changing current frame (either click or drag):
- LMB on the row of frame numbers at the top
- OR Shift-RMB within the full area
Change zoom with mouse Wheel, zoom extent with Home
LMB click or LMB + drag for selecting keyframes (the yellow diamonds)
The usual shortcuts for editing keyframes, e.g. A for selecting all keyframes, X for deleting all selected keyframes, G for grabbing and moving, etc

Graph editor¶

Change current frame with Shift-RMB
Change zoom with Ctrl-MMB drag, or mouse Wheel
Translate with Shift-MMB (same as in 3D view)
Zoom graph extent with Home (same as in 3D view)
The usual shortcuts for editing curve control points, e.g. A for selecting all, X for deleting all selected points, G for grabbing and moving, etc

Tip

If one or more curves in the graph editor don't seem to be editable (and they show as dotted lines) then you might have accidentally disabled editing. To fix: with the mouse over the graph editor select all curves with A and press TAB to toggle editability.