Cutting, Copying, and Pasting Keys in the Timeline

Cutting Keys

1. Make sure that Ripple is on or off, depending on what you want to do when pasting (see Pasting Keys).

2. Activate the Merge Keys or Replace Keys option (see Merging or Replacing Existing Keys When Pasting), depending on what you want to do when pasting the cut keys.

3. Press Shift and drag in the timeline to create a region of frames.

   or

   Press Shift and click once on a single keyframe.

4. Right-click in the timeline and choose Cut.

Copying Keys

1. Make sure that Ripple is on or off, depending on what you want to do when pasting (see Pasting Keys).

2. Activate the Merge Keys or Replace Keys option (see Merging or Replacing Existing Keys When Pasting), depending on what you want to do when pasting the copied keys.

3. Press Shift and drag in the timeline to create a region of frames.

   or

   Press Shift and click once on a single keyframe.

4. Do one of the following to copy the keys:

   • Press Ctrl and drag the key or region to the frames where you want to copy the keys. Release the mouse button to paste the key or region there.

     or

   • Right-click in the timeline and choose Copy.

Pasting Keys

1. Press Shift and draw a region into which you will paste the cut or copied keys, or move the playback cursor to the frame where you want to paste.

2. Right-click on the target region or frame and choose Paste.

   • If the region into which you are pasting is smaller than the region of cut or copied keys, the keys are squeezed into the new region, resulting in the animation being faster.

   • If the region into which you are pasting is larger than the region of cut or copied keys, the keys are spread out in the new region, resulting in the animation being slower.

     

     On the top, region containing 3 keys is copied.

     On the bottom, the keys are pasted into a larger region resulting in the animation being slower because there are more frames between each of the keys.

3. If you have copied keys, you can continue pasting the clipboard contents to other regions on the timeline.

Merging or Replacing Existing Keys When Pasting

When you paste keys, you can choose to either merge the cut or copied keys with the existing keys in the target (destination) region, or you can replace the existing keys with the cut or copied keys.

• Right-click in the timeline and activate either of these commands:

  • Merge Keys When Pasting: Cut or copied keys are merged with any existing keys in the target region. If there are overlapping keys, the existing keys are overwritten with the cut or copied keys.

    

    A	Region of keys that are copied.
    B	Target region into which the copied keys will be pasted.
    C	Target region after keys are pasted and merged. The copied keys are spread to fit into the larger region. The copied keys overwrite any existing keys that are on the same frame.

    or

  • Replace Keys When Pasting. Any existing keys in the target region are first removed, then the cut or copied keys are pasted in.

Keying the Current Values at a Different Frame

As you're setting keys, you can middle-click the playback cursor on the timeline and drag it to a different frame without updating the scene. The cursor and frame number beside it (and in the current frame box) turn green. To refresh the scene, click the cursor.

By middle-clicking+dragging a frame to another frame, you can copy the current values at this frame to any number of other frames and then set keys. This technique can also be used if you've made the mistake of changing the animated values before moving the playback cursor to a new key position.

1. With the animatable values set at the current frame, do either of the following:

   • Middle-click+drag the playback cursor to its new position on the timeline.

     or

   • Right-click in the timeline and choose Set Key Time.

     The scene does not refresh, so your object's values do not change. The playback cursor and current frame number beside it turn green, indicating that it is waiting for the key to be set. The key time is also shown in green in the current frame box.

     

     A	Cursor in red.
     B	Middle-click and drag cursor to copy to new frame (in green).
     C	Key frame number is displayed in green.

2. Set the key using any method as described in Overview of Setting Keys, such as pressing K.

   Once the key is set, the red playback cursor jumps to the same position as the green playback cursor and a key is created at this frame. The frame number in the current frame box is displayed in white again.