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NewtV
NewtV
Known Participant
July 1, 2019
Question

Repeat frame values in After Effects like MMB in Maya

  • July 1, 2019
  • 2 replies
  • 1793 views

Is there a way to repeat values to another position in timeline in After Effects? I mean, you have a key at frame 1 and one at frame 30; you would like to have the values that you currently have at frame 10 to become the values for the key at frame 20.
In Autodesk Maya, you would go to frame 10, MMB drag the timeline to frame 20 and set a key for the attributes you want keyed, because when you MMB drag in Maya the animation “freezes” and can be keyed in a different frame with the same values. It's very useful if you have many values to transfer/keyframe at the same time.

I know I can create/copy/paste keyframes, but it's tedious if you have many keyframes to deal, like a character with many keyframed setups.

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    2 replies

    dj.summitt
    dj.summitt
    Inspiring
    July 1, 2019

    You can also suggest features to the development team at:
    After Effects: Hot (1727 ideas) – Adobe video & audio apps

    R
    Community Expert
    Rick GerardCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    July 1, 2019

    Hold keyframes? If I'm using Time Remapping to animate a character's mouth for example, I'll just use hold keyframes for each sound drawing. Did that make sense?

    I'm not exactly sure what you are asking but I think using Hold Keyframes may be the answer.

    NewtV
    NewtVAuthor
    Known Participant
    July 1, 2019

    In Autodesk Maya, when you drag the timeline using MMB (middle mouse button), the animation doesn't run, so you can go to another frame and keyframe it with same status of the initial drag. For example: you have a ball in position A (frame 1) that goes to positon B (frame 10) - In Maya, if you want to repeat the position A in frame 20, just MMB from frame 1 to frame 20 and keyframe it. You get A-B-A.

    It's very useful and fast if you have many setups to keyframe (transfer in timeline). And the best is that you don't necessarily need to keyframe the initial value, since an intermediate value not keyframed can be transfered through the timeline.

    R
    Community Expert
    Rick GerardCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    July 1, 2019

    If you want a repeating animation you can use any of the loopOut() expression variations. If you want to go from A to B to A 4 seconds later then set B, move the CTI to the third position, Select A and Ctrl/Cmnd + c then Ctrl/Cmnd + v. The animation will run from A to B then back to A.

    If you want to go from A to B, then hold b for 4 seconds, use the same procedure and then select B, right click and Toggle Hold Keyframe. The animation will then run from A to B, then hold for the next 4 seconds, then jump back to A.

    There is a lot more information in the User Guide. Use Search Help in the top right corner of AE to look for controlling keyframes or even just keyframes.

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