Copy link to clipboard
Copied
Hi. I'm really, really new to Animate, so I need a bit of help. Basically my problem is that if I try to do in between animation (you know, drawing one character in one position, another in another, then filling in the gaps) I can't insert blank frames in between. This probably has a simple answer, but it's been dealing me a lot of frustration. Also, F5 seems to convert all of the already drawn frames into blank ones, and F6 does the same. I have tried to move the frames manually, but it seems that it just creates a duplicate of said frame to move.
HELP.
I understand now. Basically, long story short, hitting F5 wouldn't work because it turned my backlights on so I usually hit shift and f5 and it works but apparently in animate it doesnt so I simply changes the keyboard shortcut to insert a frame. Thank you so much for helping me out.
Copy link to clipboard
Copied
Hi.
Select the inbetween frame and press F7. Is that what you want?
Copy link to clipboard
Copied
Sorry. What I meant is that I can't select the in-between frame because it doesn't exist.
Copy link to clipboard
Copied
Say you have only two keyframes in the timeline.
You select the first one, press F5 to extend it by one frame.
Now you have three frames.
The first one and the last one are keyframes.
Now you select the frame 2 and press F7.
Does this help?
Copy link to clipboard
Copied
One thing that could confuse things is the Span Based Selection option in the timeline's menu. If that is on you then have to use a modifier key to select a single frame:

Copy link to clipboard
Copied
It was off when I checked. I appreciate your help though.
Copy link to clipboard
Copied
here. This may help. At 0:15, I hit f5
Copy link to clipboard
Copied
You are fully zoomed in on two frames. You can't fit a tween between two consecutive frames. If you clicked and dragged the frame 2 keyframe, along the timeline to say frame 10, then you can get at the gap between the two in order to add the tween.
Clicking on frame 1 and doing F5 should have worked too. Your video suggests that your shift key is stuck on. Shift-F5 would delete a frame. It would have the effect you see, of making frame 2 move to where frame 1 used to be.
Copy link to clipboard
Copied
Ahh. I understand. I thought there was a different way to do it.
For the second part of the answer, though, im confused.
i have to hit shift+f5 or nothing will happen except turn on the backlit keys on my PC.
Am I missing something?
Copy link to clipboard
Copied
Please ignore the "ghosts". I hope it helps.

Copy link to clipboard
Copied
I think I'm doing something wrong. I do what you do, but when i hit shift-f5, it deletes the frame ive selected.
Copy link to clipboard
Copied
Yes, Shift-F5 deletes frames.
Copy link to clipboard
Copied
Thank YOU! Basically, I hit shift and f5 because normal f5 turn on the keyboard backlights, so it usually worked if I hit shift aswell. But in animate it didnt work. So I changed the keyboard shortcut. Thank you for your time.
Copy link to clipboard
Copied
I understand now. Basically, long story short, hitting F5 wouldn't work because it turned my backlights on so I usually hit shift and f5 and it works but apparently in animate it doesnt so I simply changes the keyboard shortcut to insert a frame. Thank you so much for helping me out.
Copy link to clipboard
Copied
I think I understand what happened. I'm sorry for wasting your time. Basically, my F7 (and 6 and 5) button is my mute button decrease volume, and backlight keys button, so whenever I hit it it mutes, decreases volume, and turns on key backlights instead of doing the action. I fixed this by changing the keyboard shortcut. I'm so sorry.
Copy link to clipboard
Copied
No need to be sorry!
The important thing is that everything is working now!
Copy link to clipboard
Copied
sorry, one final question:
now it's jumping to the next frame whenever I hit "f5" instead of inserting a new one. sorry to bother you.
Copy link to clipboard
Copied
sorry, I can't delete the comment. i figured out how
Copy link to clipboard
Copied
Sorry, my other question was incorrect. What I meant to ask was, why does, whenever I hit F5, it, instead of inserting a new frame inbetween old ones, insert a duplicate of the frame I was selecting.
Please help me.
Copy link to clipboard
Copied
That's how the insert frame works, it takes whatever is there on the frame you're on, and adds a frame after that with the same contents., as a difference frame even if you happened to be on a keyframe at the time.
Copy link to clipboard
Copied
Handy shortcuts I use a lot myself (test these out to see how they work, as testing makes more sense than trying to explain)...
F5- inserts a frame (as Colin explained)
F6 - inserts keyframe using previous keyframe
F7 - inserts blank keyframe
F8 - converts to symbol
F9 - toggles Actions panel
You may know these already but thought I'd share.
Copy link to clipboard
Copied
What you said about F6 isn't quite right. If you have selected a layer in the middle of a tween, the new keyframe will have the object that is tweeting at the position it should be by that point. It's unlikely to be like the previous keyframe. But it does have the contents of the previous keyframe, which may be what you meant!
Also, if you happen to have a keyframe selected at the time, nothing happens. You would think that it should insert a duplicate keyframe after the one you have selected, but it doesn't do that.
Copy link to clipboard
Copied
Cheers! Though that's what I meant when saying the person needed to test- as I didn't have time in work to type exceptions (plus I couldnt remember them off hand). But you did, so thanks, Colin! ![]()
Get ready! An upgraded Adobe Community experience is coming in January.
Learn more