2009

Keys are not created at time 0 until you create at least one key at another time.
After that, you can move, delete, and re-create keys at time 0.
Turning Auto Key on has the following effects:
■ The Auto Key button, the time slider, and the border of the active viewport
turn red to indicate you are in animation mode.
■ Whenever you transform an object or change an animatable parameter,
the software creates keys at the current frame, as indicated by the time
slider position.
To begin animating an object:
1
Click Auto Key to turn it on.
2 Drag the time slider to a time other than 0.
3 Do one of the following:
■ Transform an object.
■ Change an animatable parameter.
For example, if you have a cylinder that has not been animated yet, it has no
keys. If you turn on Auto Key, and at frame 20 you rotate the cylinder 90
degrees about its Y axis, rotation keys are created at frames 0 and 20. The key
at frame 0 stores the original orientation of the cylinder, while the key at
frame 20 stores the animated orientation of 90 degrees. When you play the
animation, the cylinder rotates 90 degrees about its Y axis over 20 frames.
TIP To change the default start frame to 1, or to disable automatic start-frame
recording, use the Animation Preferences >
Auto Key Default Frame controls on
page 7776.
Modeling Without Animating
Just as you can animate at any time by turning Auto Key on, you can also
model at any time in your animation without creating animation keys.
3084 | Chapter 15 Animation