Alias provides two types of automatic animation, where you just plug in parameters and Alias creates the animation, as well as manual, freeform animation.

In Alias, manually creating animation involves establishing a timeline, then varying one or more properties of objects (for example, position or color) over time.

The basic workflow for manually creating an animation is:

1. Create the models.
2. Decide how long you want the animation to be and create the necessary number of frames in Alias.
3. Use basic techniques to vary the scene through the length of the animation:
   • Place objects you want to animate, including the camera, where you want them, and with the values you want, at each point in the time line, then mark those frames as keyframes.

     and/or

   • Establish motion paths for objects to move along through time.

   For more advanced animation, Alias is capable of varying almost every property of an object or shader along the timeline, not just position.

4. Decide how the objects should transition from frame to frame.

   More advanced animation can use the Action window, expressions (mathematical formulas describing relationships between time and object properties), and constraints, to create more realistic and automated effects.

5. Preview or render the animation.