Keyframes

Set a key

Every knob in the Inspector that can be animated has a small diamond next to it: Scale, Position X and Y, Rotation, Opacity, Volume, Strength on a filter layer, every effect parameter, even the colour wheels.

1. Select the clip and put the playhead where the motion starts.
2. Set the knob to its starting value and click its diamond. It fills: that is a key.
3. Move the playhead to where the motion ends, change the value. A second key is set for you.

The clip now animates between the two. Keys of the selected clip are drawn on the ruler as diamonds, and you can drag them there to retime the motion.

The Keyframes pane

The dopesheet and the curve editor live in a pane of their own. Open it with Add a panel on the title strip (the plus with a chevron), or click any pane’s chip and switch it to Keyframes.

• Dopesheet shows a row per keyed property with its keys in time. Drag a key to retime it.
• Curves shows the value over time. Each key’s ease is a picker: Linear, Ease in, Ease out, Ease in and out, or Custom, which gives you Bezier handles to drag.

The toolbar has Previous key, Add or remove a key at the playhead, Next key, and Clear all keys for the property. With nothing selected it reads “Select a clip to edit its keyframes”.

Common moves

• Ken Burns on a photo: key Scale at 100 and Position at the start, Scale at 115 and a nudged Position at the end, Ease in and out.
• Fade a title in: key Opacity at 0 on the first frame and 100 half a second later. (Fades on sound have their own Fade in and Fade out knobs in the Audio tab, no keys needed.)
• A caption that pops: key Scale at 80 then 100 over four frames, Ease out.
• Duck the music under a voice: on the music clip, key Volume at 0 dB, then at minus 12 dB a half second later, and back up after the line.

Double-click a knob’s label to put it back to its default, keys and all.