WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.010 --> 00:00:05.000 The Graph Editor is the most advanced keyframe manipulator in Blender. 2 00:00:05.000 --> 00:00:08.500 To access the Graph Editor, you have a few options. 3 00:00:08.500 --> 00:00:16.000 In any workspace, you could go to the top left-hand corner of any panel and select Graph Editor from the drop-down. 4 00:00:16.000 --> 00:00:22.000 Alternatively, you can go to the Animation workspace and go to the Dope Sheet area. 5 00:00:22.000 --> 00:00:26.000 From there, you can hover over it and press Ctrl-Tab. 6 00:00:26.000 --> 00:00:29.500 This will toggle between the Dope Sheet and the Graph Editor. 7 00:00:29.500 --> 00:00:38.500 For non-hotkey users, you can go to View, Toggle Graph Editor, or Toggle Graph Dope Sheet to achieve the same thing. 8 00:00:38.500 --> 00:00:47.500 Compared to the Dope Sheet, the Graph Editor can do many of the same things, but also allows the user to view and edit the motion curves directly. 9 00:00:47.500 --> 00:00:49.500 Let me show you what I mean. 10 00:00:49.500 --> 00:00:54.500 Let's go ahead and make some keyframes for our object so we can see what this looks like. 11 00:00:54.500 --> 00:00:59.500 Just like our timeline video, let's once again animate a simple bouncing ball. 12 00:00:59.500 --> 00:01:05.500 To do this, simply subdivide your default cube by holding Ctrl and pressing 2 on the number row. 13 00:01:05.500 --> 00:01:07.500 Then turn on Auto Keyframe. 14 00:01:07.500 --> 00:01:13.500 We'll set a keyframe for a high pose on the first frame, go to frame 10, set a low pose where it's touching the grid, 15 00:01:13.500 --> 00:01:21.500 set a much lower high pose on frame 15, and do the same thing as frame 10 for frame 20 for our final low pose. 16 00:01:21.500 --> 00:01:28.500 You may have noticed by now that our keyframes in the Graph Editor are represented by orange handles along the curves we see displayed. 17 00:01:28.500 --> 00:01:34.500 Now, we also want to change the handle type for our extreme low poses on frame 20 and 10. 18 00:01:34.500 --> 00:01:37.500 This will once again give us that bouncing ball look. 19 00:01:37.500 --> 00:01:41.500 However, let's figure out how to do that in the Graph Editor real quick. 20 00:01:41.500 --> 00:01:49.500 Unlike the Dope Sheet and timeline, there is no summary of keyframes where we can easily select all of the keyframes on a certain frame. 21 00:01:49.500 --> 00:01:57.500 So, to achieve this same effect, let's simply find frame 10 and Alt-Left-Click any of the keyframes on frame 10. 22 00:01:57.500 --> 00:02:02.500 This will select all keyframes vertically on the same frame as the keyframe you selected. 23 00:02:02.500 --> 00:02:09.500 Now, we can simply change the handle type by going to Key, Handle Type, and selecting Vector. 24 00:02:09.500 --> 00:02:12.500 Hotkey users can still press V. 25 00:02:12.500 --> 00:02:16.500 Now, as you can see, the handles have visually changed this time. 26 00:02:16.500 --> 00:02:25.500 Unlike the Dope Sheet and timeline, the Graph Editor directly shows you what changing the handle type looks like in terms of the interpolation curves. 27 00:02:25.500 --> 00:02:32.500 Let's repeat this process for frame 20. Alt-Left-Click, press V, select Vector. 28 00:02:32.500 --> 00:02:37.500 We can then play our animation with spacebar again to confirm that we did it right. 29 00:02:37.500 --> 00:02:45.500 Now, let's observe our Graph Editor a little more closely to see how similar and how different it is from the Dope Sheet. 30 00:02:45.500 --> 00:02:54.500 Before we move on, I want to say that in case your Graph Editor is too zoomed in or you can't see all of your frames, simply hover over the Graph Editor and press Home. 31 00:02:54.500 --> 00:02:58.500 You can also go to View, View All. 32 00:02:58.500 --> 00:03:02.500 The first thing we'll notice that's the same is the left-hand column. 33 00:03:02.500 --> 00:03:07.500 Just like the Dope Sheet, the keyframes have all been assigned to specific channels. 34 00:03:07.500 --> 00:03:15.500 You can expand and collapse channels by clicking the arrow or using the plus or minus keys on the number pad while hovering over the channels. 35 00:03:15.500 --> 00:03:23.500 However, you might notice that while the channels are listed, there are no distinct rows of keyframes to see which keyframes belong to which channels. 36 00:03:23.500 --> 00:03:29.500 Now, we already know that the keyframes are indicated by the orange handles you see spread out along the curves. 37 00:03:29.500 --> 00:03:32.500 And each curve belongs to a channel. 38 00:03:32.500 --> 00:03:37.500 Simply left-click any of the channels on the left to highlight the corresponding curve in the graph. 39 00:03:37.500 --> 00:03:45.500 To isolate a curve, you can left-click to select it, go to the Channel menu, and click Hide Unselected Curves. 40 00:03:45.500 --> 00:03:49.500 For hockey users, you can press Shift H, as in Hide. 41 00:03:49.500 --> 00:03:52.500 This will hide all other curves for you. 42 00:03:52.500 --> 00:03:59.500 To unhide all other curves, simply go back into the same channel menu and select Reveal Curves. 43 00:03:59.500 --> 00:04:02.500 For hockey users, you can press Alt H. 44 00:04:02.500 --> 00:04:10.500 Now, let's go ahead and isolate only the location curves, and try to manipulate our keyframes and curves using the Graph Editor. 45 00:04:10.500 --> 00:04:16.500 As you can see, each of the keyframes in each channel exists on their respective curves as these orange handles, 46 00:04:16.500 --> 00:04:23.500 which we can select and transform using the same selection and transformation options we typically have in Blender. 47 00:04:23.500 --> 00:04:30.500 I'm going to simply shift left-click a few of these keyframes and start using G, S, and R to transform them. 48 00:04:30.500 --> 00:04:36.500 As you can see, moving, rotating, and scaling keyframes are all possible in the Graph Editor, 49 00:04:36.500 --> 00:04:40.500 allowing for very versatile and intuitive transformation of the curves. 50 00:04:40.500 --> 00:04:44.500 But what if we select a single handle? 51 00:04:44.500 --> 00:04:51.500 Each handle by itself is technically made up of three selectable parts, the main body and the two handlebars. 52 00:04:51.500 --> 00:04:57.500 By default, the endpoints of each handlebar can be transformed as a way to rotate the entire handle 53 00:04:57.500 --> 00:05:02.500 and manipulate the length of the handles, which affect how the curve interpolates between keyframes. 54 00:05:02.500 --> 00:05:09.500 You can also select the body and use R or S to rotate or scale both handlebars simultaneously. 55 00:05:09.500 --> 00:05:14.500 However, handle transformation differs depending on what handle type we use. 56 00:05:14.500 --> 00:05:22.500 For example, the vector handle types we have at the extreme low poses of our ball can be edited individually on each side. 57 00:05:22.500 --> 00:05:27.500 It also cannot be rotated as vector handle types must point to the previous keyframe. 58 00:05:27.500 --> 00:05:36.500 Quick note, when you break an individual handlebar off of its default orientation, it will convert the keyframe handle type to free. 59 00:05:36.500 --> 00:05:42.500 Free is when both handles move independently from each other, and you can set it to free yourself manually. 60 00:05:42.500 --> 00:05:45.500 Feel free to experiment with other handle types. 61 00:05:45.500 --> 00:05:49.500 Another thing we talked about is the interpolation modes. 62 00:05:49.500 --> 00:05:57.500 Interpolation modes can also be very easily changed in the dope sheet and timeline, but we never talked about what they look like in the graph editor. 63 00:05:57.500 --> 00:06:06.500 Since the graph editor is comprised specifically of interpolated curves, the interpolation mode greatly affects how the interpolated curves look. 64 00:06:07.500 --> 00:06:13.500 Let's try a few by isolating the Z location curve and selecting all the keyframes by pressing A. 65 00:06:13.500 --> 00:06:19.500 We can then go into the key menu, go to interpolation mode, and select constant. 66 00:06:19.500 --> 00:06:29.500 As you can see, the constant interpolation mode removes all curve interpolation and simply repeats the previous keyframe's value until it encounters another keyframe. 67 00:06:29.500 --> 00:06:36.500 If this looks like a familiar pattern to you, it might be because you saw it in the interpolation mode menu for constant. 68 00:06:36.500 --> 00:06:43.500 As you can see, each of the interpolation modes has an icon that represents what the curves look like when in that mode. 69 00:06:43.500 --> 00:06:46.500 Feel free to test out these modes to better understand them. 70 00:06:46.500 --> 00:06:52.500 Bezier, however, is the default, and we'll be changing ours back to Bezier for now. 71 00:06:53.500 --> 00:06:59.500 Now that we've gotten basic curve manipulation out of the way, let's talk about more advanced curve manipulation options. 72 00:06:59.500 --> 00:07:02.500 Specifically, curve modifiers. 73 00:07:02.500 --> 00:07:11.500 Curve modifiers are similar to mesh modifiers in that they are extremely powerful, non-destructive functions that can help you alter and adjust your curves. 74 00:07:11.500 --> 00:07:18.500 There are a few curve modifiers, but to demonstrate this, I'm going to show you how to use the noise curve modifier. 75 00:07:18.500 --> 00:07:22.500 To add curve modifiers, simply open the right-hand side menu in the graph editor. 76 00:07:22.500 --> 00:07:27.500 You can do this by clicking the arrow icon on the right or pressing the N key. 77 00:07:27.500 --> 00:07:31.500 From this right-hand side menu, go to the Modifiers tab. 78 00:07:31.500 --> 00:07:34.500 Make sure you have the curve you want to modify selected. 79 00:07:34.500 --> 00:07:41.500 We'll go ahead and select our Z-location curve by clicking on the Z-location channel on the left-hand side. 80 00:07:41.500 --> 00:07:46.500 Then we can go into the Add Modifier drop-down menu and select Noise. 81 00:07:47.500 --> 00:07:55.500 For hockey users, you can simply hover over the graph editor and press Ctrl-Shift-M and select Noise from that menu. 82 00:07:55.500 --> 00:08:03.500 Immediately, you can see how the noise modifier affects our curve, as the curve now has a noise pattern added all throughout it. 83 00:08:03.500 --> 00:08:10.500 If we play our animation back, we can see that a slight shaking effect has now been added on top of our original animation. 84 00:08:11.500 --> 00:08:17.500 Even if we set new keyframes or move them around, the shaking effect adjusts to the curve dynamically. 85 00:08:17.500 --> 00:08:24.500 Just like mesh modifiers, we can also adjust the modifier settings to change how the modifier affects our curve. 86 00:08:24.500 --> 00:08:29.500 Each modifier has different settings to play around with, so feel free to experiment. 87 00:08:29.500 --> 00:08:34.500 But these two options at the bottom are available for every single curve modifier. 88 00:08:34.500 --> 00:08:38.500 This is because they affect the on and off state of the modifier. 89 00:08:38.500 --> 00:08:44.500 If we expand the Restrict Frame Range option, we can see a start and end range that we can set. 90 00:08:44.500 --> 00:08:49.500 This will allow us to restrict the effect of the modifier to specific frames along our curve. 91 00:08:49.500 --> 00:08:57.500 Additionally, the In and Out frames will allow us to fade the modifier influence in and out a certain number of frames. 92 00:08:57.500 --> 00:09:06.500 For example, if I set the Fade In value to 10, the curve modifier will slowly fade in the influence of the effect over the course of 10 frames. 93 00:09:07.500 --> 00:09:13.500 Furthermore, you can also manually adjust or keyframe the influence slider just below that under Use Influence. 94 00:09:13.500 --> 00:09:17.500 Collapsing either of these options will also disable them. 95 00:09:17.500 --> 00:09:24.500 Now, some of you may remember that the icon for modifiers for meshes is a wrench icon in the Properties tab. 96 00:09:24.500 --> 00:09:34.500 Similarly, in the Graph Editor, wrench icons also represent curve modifiers, but the only time you see this icon is next to the channel names. 97 00:09:34.500 --> 00:09:44.500 That's because this wrench icon next to the channels in the Graph Editor is for toggling on and off curve modifiers for that specific curve for your convenience. 98 00:09:44.500 --> 00:09:54.500 Likewise, the checkbox disables the curve's values from affecting the object at all, and the lock icon prevents changes to be made on that curve. 99 00:09:54.500 --> 00:09:59.500 As a final note, several of the Dope Sheet and Timeline features exist here as well. 100 00:09:59.500 --> 00:10:07.500 For example, you can still add markers in the Graph Editor and edit them, and you can also set your preview range in the same way. 101 00:10:07.500 --> 00:10:12.500 I hope this video gives you a fundamental understanding of the Graph Editor in Blender.