Function curves are editable splines that represent animation values in a line-graph format. They provide a valuable way of both visualizing and editing your animation tracks.

Function curves appear in the Track View, and provide the best method of viewing and editing animation tracks. With the function curve display, you can actually see the characteristics of the animation as they change over time. The steepness of the curve indicates the velocity of an object in the scene. If the curve steepens, the object is accelerating. If the curve flattens out, the object is slowing.

You can display key dots in function curves, as well as in the key editing displays. In function curves, the key dots appear as small, black squares. The two ways to turn on their display are to click the green icon beside the track label, or to click the function curve itself.

There are two basic ways to edit function curves. You can either change the position of the key dots, thereby altering the curve, or you can edit the tangents and the values of the keys themselves.