Animation Basics

Keyframes

Hover over a property and press I to insert a keyframe. Move to another frame, change the property and key it again; Blender interpolates between them.

The timeline and graph editor

• Set frame rate (24, 30 or 60 fps) and range in Output Properties.
• The Graph Editor shows animation curves. Bezier curves ease in and out by default; switch to linear for constant motion (turntables).
• The Dope Sheet retimes keyframes quickly.

A product turntable

1. Add an Empty at the product's centre; parent the camera to it.
2. Keyframe the Empty's Z rotation from 0° at frame 1 to 360° at the last frame.
3. Set interpolation to linear (and make the cycle seamless by ending one frame early or using cyclic extrapolation).

Turntables are perfect for portfolios and product pages.

Simple rigs

• Parenting moves children with parents (a lid on a box).
• Constraints: Track To (aim a camera at a target), Follow Path, Limit Rotation.
• Armatures (bones) deform meshes for characters; automatic weights give a quick start, then refine weight painting.

Physics and simulations

Rigid bodies, cloth, fluids and particles add realism; bake simulations before rendering so they play back consistently.

Exercise

Animate a 6-second product reveal: the box lid opens (parented hinge rotation with eased keyframes), the camera pushes in, and a 360° turntable follows. Render a 1080p MP4 from a PNG sequence.

Check yourself

• How do you insert a keyframe?
• Why use linear interpolation for a turntable?
• Why bake simulations before rendering?