Cutting, Copying, and Pasting Keys and Function Curves

You can cut, copy, and paste keys on fcurves, as well as entire fcurves, to edit an animation.

Cutting removes keys or fcurves and puts them in the paste buffer, while copying makes a copy of the keys or fcurves and puts them into a paste buffer. Because the keys or fcurves that you have cut or copied remain in the paste buffer until they are replaced, you can paste the same keys or fcurves as many times as you like.

TipYou can use the standard keyboard shortcuts for the cut, copy, and paste functions: Ctrl+C (Copy), Ctrl+X (Cut), and Ctrl+V (Paste).

Function Curves

To cut, copy, and paste an fcurve:

Select the fcurve you want to copy. Make sure it has no selected keys.
Copy the fcurve by choosing Edit Copy from the fcurve editor's toolbar or pressing Ctrl+C.

or

Cut it by choosing Edit Cut or pressing Ctrl+X.
Select the parameter (or its fcurve) as the target to which you want to paste.
Paste by choosing Edit Paste or pressing Ctrl+V.

You can continue pasting the clipboard contents to other curves.

Keys

You can copy or cut keys from one or more fcurves and paste them on one or more fcurves.

The slope handles' orientation constraint (Plateau, Automatic Slope, Zero Slope, etc. — see Setting the Slope's Orientation (Angle)) that existed on the first and last keys of the copied or cut range of keys are maintained when you paste them on another fcurve.

To cut, copy, and paste keys:

Before you cut, copy, and paste keys, set the ripple and paste options to control how the keys will be pasted on the fcurves — see Rippling and Setting Options for Pasting for more information.
Select the keys you want to copy or cut.
Copy them to the clipboard by choosing Edit Copy from the fcurve editor toolbar or pressing Ctrl+C.

or

Cut them by choosing Edit Cut or pressing Ctrl+X.

Keys are selected and copied to the clipboard.
Move the timeline cursor to where you want the keys to be pasted.
Select the fcurves as the targets onto which you want to paste the cut or copied keys.

Timeline cursor is moved to frame 20 and the target fcurve is selected. You can select multiple target fcurves.
Paste from the clipboard by choosing Edit Paste or pressing Ctrl+V.

Keys are pasted on the target fcurve at frame 20. In this case, they replace the previous key that was there.

Note that Ripple is off, so the existing keys on the fcurve stay at the same location instead of being pushed to the right.

You can continue pasting the clipboard contents to other selected fcurves.

Regions of Keys

You can cut or copy keys in a region and paste them in another region or on other fcurves.

To cut or copy the keys within a region:

Before you start to cut, copy, and paste regions of keys, set the ripple and paste options to control how the keys will be pasted on the fcurves — see Rippling and Setting Options for Pasting for more information.
Use the Region Keys tool (press the Q key) to select a series of keys on an fcurve.

Keys in a region are selected and copied to the clipboard.
Copy the keys to the clipboard by choosing Edit Copy from the fcurve editor toolbar or pressing Ctrl+C.

or

Cut them by choosing Edit Cut or pressing Ctrl+X.
Select an fcurve or region as the target onto which you want to paste:
- To paste the keys at a specific frame on the fcurve, move the timeline cursor to that frame.
- To paste the keys in a specific region of the fcurve, create a new region using the Region tool.
  
  A region on another fcurve is created. This is the region in which the copied keys will be pasted.
Paste the keys from the clipboard by choosing Edit Paste or pressing Ctrl+V.

If the target for pasting is a region, the new keys are scaled to fit in the number of frames in that region.

The new keys are merged with or replace existing keys that are on the fcurve within the target region, depending on what you have set for the paste options in the Fcurve Editor Preferences property editor.

Keys are pasted in the selected region on the target fcurve. In this case, the pasted keys replace the existing keys that were in the region. The pasted key are also scaled to fit within the larger target region.

Note that Ripple is off, so the existing keys on the fcurve stay at the same location instead of being pushed to the right.

You can continue pasting the clipboard contents to other curves or regions.

NoteIf you want to paste the keys after performing other functions in the fcurve editor, you can use the playback cursor to determine where the keys will be pasted.

Rippling

Rippling controls whether or not existing keys are pushed ahead on the timeline when you paste keys on an fcurve or when you scale a region of keys.

When Ripple is active and you paste keys on an fcurve, any existing keys on that fcurve that are to the right of the insertion point are pushed further to the right to accommodate the new keys. This causes a ripple effect. Any space on the fcurve between the insertion point and the existing keys is preserved.

When rippling is not active, the location of existing keys on the fcurve does not change when you paste the new keys.

To activate ripple, do any of the following: :

Choose Edit Ripple in the fcurve editor toolbar.
Click the Ripple icon in the fcurve editor toolbar.
Select the Ripple option on the Paste Options page in the Fcurve Editor Preferences property editor.

Setting Options for Pasting

Once you have cut or copied keys, you can choose how they want to be pasted on the fcurves by setting different options in the Editor property editor.

To set the options for pasting:

Open the Fcurve Editor Preferences editor and click the Paste Options tab.
Activate or deactivate the Ripple option, depending on what you want to happen when you paste the keys — see the previous section for more information.
Select whether the keys will be merged with or replace existing keys using the Paste Options:
- Merge Keys — The pasted keys are merged with any existing keys on the fcurve that are at the same frames.
- Replace Keys — The pasted keys replace any existing keys on the fcurve that are at the same frames.
Select a Paste Mode to determine the value of the pasted keys:
- Absolute — The pasted keys completely overwrite the equivalent area on the fcurve.
- Relative — The keys are pasted in relation to the first key of the paste region.

Set the Continuity Options to determine how the first and last pasted keys in a region are integrated into the fcurve.

See Paste Options for more information on these options.

A	Curve A
B	Curve B Curve A's keys have been copied and will be pasted on curve B. Note the black bar on curve B, which is where curve A's keys will be pasted.
C	When using Ripple, the new keys push the existing keys to the right.
D	When using Replace with the Absolute option, curve A's keys replace the original keys.
E	The timeline cursor has been moved to a new location (indicated by the dashed line) before pasting. Curve A's keys are pasted using Replace with the Relative option so there is a relative offset from the first key after the insertion point.

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