Manipulating objects overview

You manipulate objects both to pose them and to create animations for them. When you manipulate objects, what you're really manipulating is their controls. Every place a control is represented in the UI—in the viewport, in the Animation Set Editor, in the Controls panel, in the Motion Editor or Graph Editor—updates automatically when you change that control in any other place.

Note:In the Motion Editor, all control manipulations are stored temporarily in the floating modification layer until you choose to either keep them or discard them.

You can rotate and translate controls by using the 3D manipulators: the rotation manipulator, the translation manipulator, and the screen manipulator (which can modify both rotation and translation). You can also manipulate controls by keyframing in the Graph Editor.

Tip:You can center selected objects by pressing V, and you can move a selected object's 3D manipulator to the center of the viewport by pressing Alt+V.

Tip:As a best practice, make sure the playhead is somewhere in the shot you're editing. That way, you can see the scene elements from that shot in the viewport.

To animate zooming the camera:

1. In the Animation Set Editor, select the scene camera's animation set.
2. Expand the animation set, and expand the all subgroup underneath it.
3. Select the fieldOfView control. Any modifications you make now will be applied only to this control.
4. On the timeline, go into the Motion Editor. Press Ctrl+A to select all of time if it isn't already selected.
5. Drag the fieldOfView slider to set the starting zoom. The time selection turns orange, indicating that there's a manipulation on the floating modification layer.
6. Press ↵ Enter to apply the floating modification layer. The time selection turns green again.
7. Now that you have set the starting zoom, drag the fieldOfView slider to create the camera zoom animation you want.
8. While the floating modification layer is active, trim the region of time you want to modify. You can do this by dragging the infinite time selection handles (the zig-zag lines on the far left and right of the Motion Editor window). Note that the starting zoom is still there underneath the floating modification layer. You can also drag out a falloff to create a smooth transition between the previous animation and the floating modification layer.
9. To review, press Ctrl+Spacebar to play back your animation. Make further adjustments as necessary.
10. When you are satisfied with the results, press ↵ Enter to apply the floating modification layer.

Tip:You can also quickly select a partial time selection by pressing ⇧ Shift and dragging.

See also

• Puppeteering
• Facial animation
• The translation manipulator
• The rotation manipulator
• The screen manipulator
• The viewport as manipulator
• The Presets panel and the Controls panel
• The floating modification layer