Unlike the fcurve editor, where time is displayed as a continuous curve (graph), the dopesheet shows time in discrete chunks (frame by frame). Even though the keys do not really have a duration, they are displayed in the dopesheet as if they do.
Keys are represented in the dopesheet as colored frames on the tracks. Keys can be in these colors:
• Red, green, and blue for XYZ transformation parameters and RGB color parameters.
• Black for keys other than XYZ or RGB parameters.
• Brown for weight parameters.
• Purple for overlapping keys displayed on the summary tracks or when tracks are collapsed.
You can also change the default colors for the keys as you like with the options on the Colors page in the Dopesheet Preferences—see Setting Preferences for the Dopesheet.
You can quickly and easily edit single or multiple keys on tracks.
To select a key
• Activate the Select tool by pressing the
space bar or clicking the
icon in the command bar, then click a key (they turn white).
To select all keys
• Choose Edit > Select All Keys from the command bar.
To deselect keys
• Click the Deselect All button on the command bar.
or
• Choose Edit > Deselect All Keys from the command bar.
Once the keys are selected, you can do any of these options:
• Move them (see Moving Keys).
• Copy, cut, and paste them (see Cutting, Copying, and Pasting Keys).
• Delete them (see Deleting Keys).
Editing Multiple Keys Using Regions
To edit multiple keys, it’s best to create regions that contain them. Once you have drawn a region with the keys in it, you can do any of the following:
• Move them (see Moving Keys).
• Scale them (see Scaling Regions of Keys).
• Copy, cut, and paste them (see Cutting, Copying, and Pasting Keys).
• Delete them (see Deleting Keys).
Press the Q key, click the region icon
in the command bar, or choose Tools > Region
Tool, then do one of the following:
• Drag the mouse pointer in either direction over the frames and tracks you want to edit.
• To draw multiple regions (on the same or different tracks), press Shift and draw the regions, one at a time.
• To draw a region that spans multiple tracks (collapsed or not), drag over the whole area over any number of tracks.
These regions can also overlap other regions: the region creation order is the order in which they are processed. If you have keys in multiple regions, they could be offset one or more times depending on how many regions they are in.
The region is displayed as a white rectangle on the track with a position handle (in the center) and four scale handles (left, right, top, and bottom). The region also shows the start and end frame numbers.
Resizing Regions
Resizing a region changes the size of the region itself, but does not affect the keys within it. If you want to change the keys within a region, you can move the keys or scale the keys in a region.
To resize a region
• Drag any of the region’s four scale handles.
• If you have multiple regions selected:
- Pressing Alt while dragging a handle resizes only that region.
- Resizing vertically (dragging the top or bottom handle) resizes only the region that you are manipulating.
Deselecting Regions
To deselect regions
• Do one of the following:
- Draw another region or click anywhere in the dopesheet.
or
- Right-click on a region and choose Deselect Region.
or
- Click the Deselect All button on the command bar to deselect all regions, tracks, and keys.
or
- Choose the Edit > Deselect All command to deselect all regions, tracks, and keys.
Use the Ripple icon on the command bar to control whether keys on the track are pushed along the track or not when you move, scale, cut, or paste regions.
When Ripple is on and you perform any of these operations, the keys are pushed “down” the track, to the right. For example, if a region of 10 frames is scaled to 15 frames to the right, the keys on the right are pushed in that direction by 5 frames. Any offset between the region and the other keys is preserved.
To activate Ripple
• Click the Ripple icon
(turns light blue) in the command bar before you move, scale, cut,
or paste a region.
|
You can set a default for the Ripple mode state in the dopesheet preferences property editor (see Setting Preferences for the Dopesheet). |
Deleting keys removes that key from the animation or deletes the animation from the frames that are contained in the region. Deleting does not put the keys in the clipboard buffer, as does cutting, but you can undo this action like anything else in XSI by pressing Ctrl+Z.
To delete a single key
• Click the key to select it, then do one of the following:
- Press the Delete key.
or
- Click Delete icon
on the command bar.
or
- Choose Edit > Delete Keys.
To delete a region of keys
1. Select one or more regions.
2. Do one of the following:
- Press the Delete key.
or
- Click the Delete icon
on the command bar.
or
- Right-click on a region and choose Delete Keys.
or
- Choose Edit > Delete Keys.
SOFTIMAGE|XSI v.6.01