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

In the Tools toolbar, select the Transform tool or press Shift + T.

In the Tools toolbar, ifAnimate Off or Animate Onion Skin Range mode is selected, click on it to open the Animate pop-up menu and select Animate Current Frame.

If your layer has a parent peg:
- If you want to animate on the peg instead of the layer, make sure that Peg Selection Mode is enabled in the Tool Properties view.
- If you want to animate directly on the layer, make sure that Peg Selection Mode is disabled in the Tool Properties view.

In the Timeline view, go to the first frame.

Set first Keyframe

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.

Select the cell where you want to create your first keyframe

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.

In the Camera view, select the element to animate and move, rotate, scale or skew it so that it is in its proper starting position.

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

Select Last Frame

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.

In the Camera view, move, rotate, scale or skew the element to that it is in its proper second position.
NOTES
- For information on how to use the Transform tool to move, rotate, scale or skew an element, see About the Transform Tool .
- You can also use the Advanced Animation tools to move, rotate, scale and skew elements—see About Advanced Animation Tools.

In the Timeline view, select the first frame to rewind to the beginning of your animation.

In the Playback toolbar, click on the Play button to preview your animation.

NOTE If your scene has 3D objects, or 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.