Making Subnodes Animatable

A typical 3D model is comprised of many parts (subnodes). Not all of these parts need to be animated; most are just used for display. However, if you would like to animate a specific part, such as the door of a spaceship sliding open, you need to create properties for that subnode—in this case the door.

Properties, also known as function columns, allow an object to be moved, rotated, scaled, etc. Subnodes with properties will appear in the Timeline view as a layer. You can then keyframe movements of any of the subnode's properties in the Timeline view.

There are two ways to make properties available to a subnode: