User Manual

Spline Editor Overview
The Spline Editor is the main area where animation is manipulated and refined. You primarily
use the Spline Editor to show the changing values of parameters over time in the form of
splines. Whereas Keyframes explicitly set the value of a parameter on a given frame, Splines are
lines or curves that interpolate the values between keyframes. Once you set a keyframe on a
parameter, a spline is created and can be displayed in the Spline Editor so you can make further
refinements to the animation. However, the Spline Editor is more advanced than a standard
curve editor since it can also display functions, which may not be splines, like changing
characters within a text string or mathematical expressions that drive your animations.
The Spline Editor with three animated parameters.
What Are Splines?
All animation uses splines that describe the value of a parameter at any given point in time. The
Spline Editor graph shows the time of the comp along the horizontal axis and the value of the
parameter along the vertical axis.
The advantage of using splines to represent animation instead of keyframes as in the
Keyframes Editor is that splines allow you to manipulate the interpolation between keyframes.
For example, if a keyframe is set at a value of 1.0 on a parameter for frame 1, followed by a
keyframe value of 10.0 for frame 10, the values between keyframes are smoothly interpolated or
calculated based on the shape of the spline. Using the functions and controls in the Spline
Editor, you have a fantastic amount of control over that interpolation.
Spline Editor Interface
The Spline Editor is not visible by default, but you can show it at any time by clicking the Spline
button in the user interface toolbar. You can also display the Spline Editor by right-clicking on a
node in the Node Editor or a segment in the Keyframes Editor and choosing Edit Splines from
the pop-up menu.
The Spline Editor can be open alongside the Node Editor or Keyframes Editor, or displayed
separately in order to take up the entire work area.
Chapter – 61 Animating in Fusion’s Spline Editor 1214