Zooming, Panning, and Framing in the Fcurve Graph

 
 
 

You can use the Navigate, Zoom, Pan & Zoom, and Frame tools (available from the View Navigate menu, toolbar icons, and supra keys) to view a specific area of the graph.

To deactivate any viewing tool, press Esc or choose another tool.

TipBy default, the navigation icons are not displayed in the toolbar in Classic mode. To display them, right-click in an empty area of the toolbar and select Navigate (see Panels on the Toolbar).

Zooming

Interactively increase or decrease the magnification of the graph by choosing View Navigate Interactive Zoom Tool, pressing the C key, or clicking the Zoom icon in the toolbar. The cursor turns into a small magnifying glass:

  • To zoom in (increase magnification), drag in the graph to define a region to enlarge, or hold down the left mouse button.

  • The region you draw defines the center of the region you want to see.

  • To zoom out (decrease magnification), Shift+click and drag. Drawing a larger region zooms out less while drawing a smaller region zooms out more.

  • To pan, middle-click and drag.

  • To interactively increase and decrease the height of the view, right-click and drag up and down.

    To increase and decrease the width of the view, right-click and drag right and left.

  • To reset the zoom factor, click once in the graph.

You can also zoom in and zoom out by choosing View Navigate Pan and Zoom Tool, pressing the Z key, or clicking the Pan icon in the toolbar.

  • To zoom in, hold down the middle mouse button. The zoom-in continues until you release the mouse button.

  • To zoom out, hold down the right mouse button. The zoom-out continues until you release the mouse button.

  • To pan, drag with the left mouse button. The pan continues until you release the mouse button or the Z key.

Zooming with the Mouse Wheel

By default, you can zoom using the mouse wheel:

  • Scroll forward to zoom in and backward to zoom out.

  • Press Ctrl to zoom quickly, Shift to zoom slowly, and Ctrl+Shift to zoom more slowly.

If desired, you can disable the mouse wheel zoom or restrict it to the Navigation tool so that you can use the mouse wheel with other tools. See Mouse Wheel in Camera Preferences.

Panning

You can pan to scroll the area shown in the graph by choosing View Navigate Pan and Zoom Tool, pressing the Z key, or clicking the Pan icon in the toolbar.

  • To pan, click+drag in the graph.

  • To pan along the X axis, drag to the left or right.

  • To pan along the Y axis, drag up or down.

  • To pan across the graph during playback, select the View Navigate Automatic Pan option.

TipYou can set the Pan icon to be the default "pan and zoom" tool by selecting it as the Pan & Zoom Mode on the View page in the Fcurve Editor Preferences property editor.

Panning and Zooming

You can pan and zoom in the graph in any direction, including in constrained directions. You can use a number of different tools to pan and zoom in different ways.

To interactively pan or zoom

  • Choose View Navigate Navigate Tool, press the S key, or click the Navigate icon in the toolbar.

    Then:

    • To interactively pan the view, left-click and drag the mouse pointer in the graph.

    • To pan in a constrained direction, press Shift and left-click and drag in that direction.

    • To interactively zoom in, middle-click and drag to the left; to zoom out, middle-click and drag to the right.

    • To interactively zoom only horizontally, press Shift and middle-click and drag to the left to zoom in, and drag to the right to zoom out.

    • To interactively zoom only vertically, press Shift and middle-click and drag down to zoom in, and drag up to zoom out.

TipIf you press Ctrl while this tool is active, you can switch to the rectangular zoom tool.

To pan and zoom horizontally

  • Choose View Navigate Pan and Zoom in X Tool, press the X key, or click the Horizontal pan & zoom icon in the toolbar.

To pan and zoom vertically

  • Choose View Navigate Pan and Zoom in Y Tool or click the Vertical pan & zoom icon in the toolbar.

Framing

Framing sets the zoom and pan so that the curves or keys fit in the graph within a specified range.

To frame selected keys

  • Select the keys and choose View Frame Frame Selected Keys or Frame Selection, press the F key, or click the Frame icon. If no keys are selected, the selected curves or regions are framed.

To automatically frame all fcurves in the graph

  • Choose View Auto Frame. This applies when you open the animation editor with a selected object and when you update the selection.

    If you have the View Selected Parameters filter active and you select one or more parameters in the animation explorer, their fcurves are automatically framed in the graph.

    You can set a default preference for whether Auto Frame is on or off in the Fcurve Editor Preferences property editor.

To frame a region

  • Highlight the region to be framed, then choose View Frame Frame Region or Frame Selection, press the F key, or click the Frame icon. If no region is selected, the selected curves are framed.

To frame selected fcurves

  • Choose View Frame Frame Selected Curves or Frame Selection, press the F key, or click the Frame icon. If nothing is selected, then all curves are framed.

To frame all displayed fcurves

  • Choose View Frame Frame All, press the A key, or click the Frame icon with nothing selected.

To frame all the fcurves within the time span specified by the timeline

  • Choose View Frame Frame Playback Range or press the R key.

  • If you're in Suite mode, you can also click the Frame Playback Range icon.

To center the fcurve graph around the timeline cursor's position

  • Make sure that the timeline cursor is visible in the fcurve editor. Then move the timeline cursor where you want it (in either the scene's timeline or the fcurve editor's timeline) and choose View Frame Center Current Time.

  • If you're in Suite mode, you can also click the Center Current Time icon.

If there are frames displayed that go out of the range of those defined by the scene's timeline, that part of the graph is displayed with a darker gray.