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AE to Motion user keyframe question
Why is it, that when I have only one keyframe for something like Position, that when I delete that keyframe it goes to some seemingly random position? In After Effects, if you only have one keyframe, and you delete it, then (logically) the value wouldn’t change since there’s no actual animation going on. By the same means, if you deleted a keyframe when there were two keyframes, the value at that position would of course change to the other keyframe since it’s the only one left.
I get this all the time and would love to know if there is some trick to keeping it from changing the value when I delete a single solitary keyframe. Little things like this seem to eat up decent amounts of time in Motion for me. It’s the little things I wouldn’t think twice about after 19 years of using AE.
And I really wish there weren’t a record button (A). I find no use for it. All I do is accidentally turn it on and make a mess. 🙂 I should switch the hot key for that to something bizarre. I mean, “A”? Really? That’s the button you press in FCP after almost every action to make sure you’re in standard mode and not trim or something. I must just hit it by habit.
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8 Replies
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Ok, just discovered a workaround. But still baffling. If you open the keyframe editor and highlight the keyframe there (in this case x,y, and Z keyframes) and press delete it will keep the value. If you turn off the keyframes in the inspector or in the left column of the keyframe editor they jump to some bizarre random value. If you delete the keyframe in the timeline where it’s just a single keyframe, they jump to the same random value. I don’t get it. But maybe I know the rules now.
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[Bret Williams] “Why is it, that when I have only one keyframe for something like Position, that when I delete that keyframe it goes to some seemingly random position?”
I’ve asked that a few times also. But I use the kf-editor for just about everything keyframe anyway (the name tells me to ;)), which is the trick, yes. I can’t recall when I last used the orange diamond thingy in the inspector (for deleting). But from what I can tell, it would appear that objects can actually somehow remember the position they originated at. Which is where they pop back to when doing as you describe. Also when deleting from the timeline btw, not just the inspector. So the position isn’t in fact random. It’s just stupid that it happens. I’ve reported it, which you should, too.
[Bret Williams] “And I really wish there weren’t a record button (A). I find no use for it. All I do is accidentally turn it on and make a mess.”
Ironically, as of v5.0.2 it could (and should) be removed, yes! Because with v5.0.2 its behavior was rendered completely pointless whilst wanting to make the way KFs are created in Motion the same with FCP X. Because in every other version until then, no keyframes would be created when changes were made without the rec button being active. Now it creates them as soon as a parameter has at least one KF and another change is made. Like I said, just like in FCP X. Again, making the button completely pointless**. With the old way it worked you could e.g. simply move a layer that had position keyframes with the button OFF and all the KFs would move with the layer without creating a new one. Now THAT made sense and was great. Now you have to use a modifier key to do the same and be veeeeeery careful in the process. By far the most bizarre and counter-productive change every made to Motion IMO.
No clue who decided on it, but if you’re going to go the “let’s make them more alike” route, then you would think/hope they’d at least be mildly consistent. Such as changing the keyboard shortcuts to match, just as you pointed out. Because the A-key thing IS a really stupid discrepancy. FCP X muscle memory has caused me an awful lot of pain as well!
– RK
EDIT: **unless you actually want to record keyframes in realtime during playback, which is something I’ve maybe only ever done as a (otherwise useless) gimmick for showing off at demos.
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Sounds like they made keyframing work exactly like AE, FCP legacy, X, and every other app. That would’ve driven me bonkers in a different way if I had been using Motion 4. Seems like the A key just makes no sense in either case. I need to remap that sucker to nothing.
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[Bret Williams] “Seems like the A key just makes no sense in either case.”
The KEY or the record function itself? Because the old way it was in fact brilliant and better than all of the above IMO. Which is why I’m so miffed that they would do away with it for neither a good reason (that I can come up with) nor any sort of gain. Merely for (mindless) feature parity apparently.
– RK
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The function. Seems much more natural that if I’ve added a Keyframe that I want to keep adding Keyframes, not move the whole path. So a modifier to move the whole path makes sense. But after 19 years of AE thats to be expected. Easier to jump between apps if they all function in a similar way. 🙂
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Well, I for one and pretty much everyone I know that dabbles in motion graphics (especially beginners of course) has had that “DOH!” moment over and over, when you just want to adjust something OVERALL and not just at that moment in time (scale probably being one of the best examples). You’d do it, just to find out later that you (obviously, the way others and now Motion works) only changed what happened at that moment. Setting a new unwanted keyframe and messing the rest up in context. Something that simply couldn’t happen to you the old way. And yes, having come from 10+ years of AE, I actually loved it once I figured it out. If I DID want to change it only at that moment in time (i.e. add a keyframe), I simply turned on the rec button… giving it real purpose! (which is now moot)… and didn’t have to figure out the generally less than obvious modification key, which, of course, was different with each app. Yay, huge help, thanks. So this was far more intuitive. YMMV.
– RK
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I’m sure it’s all fine any which way you learn it. I was only light hearted complaining. Could of course make the argument that with the old way one accidental adjustment messes up ALL your keyframes instead of just one errant deleteable keyframe.
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[Bret Williams] “Could of course make the argument that with the old way one accidental adjustment messes up ALL your keyframes instead of just one errant deleteable keyframe.”
Not when it’s as visibly obvious what was going on as it was. 😉
– RK
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