What can be animated

Nearly everything you can set in the inspector can be keyed, but not everything, and a few settings only accept keys on objects that have the part in question. This page answers two questions: can this setting be animated, and what has to be true before a keyed value changes the picture.

Applies to BASIC, STUDIO, CINEMA · Needs the Animation Tool add-on (included in the CINEMA trial). A few of the settings below are limited to one edition; the tables say which.

The five kinds of track

Track	Created for	What it can do
Curve	Numbers, colours, switches and drop-down values	One curve per channel: a plain number has one, a Rotation has one per axis, a colour has three. Numbers travel smoothly and can be eased; switches and drop-downs are held and then jump at the next key.
Path	The Position of an object	A Bezier route drawn in the studio view, shaped by gizmos there. In the Curve Editor it shows one channel, Distance, for retiming and easing the travel.
Pose	A model’s pose and facial expression	The whole pose is stored per key and blended evenly between keys. It has no interpolation mode of its own, so place more keys where the movement should accelerate.
Reference	Settings that point at a library item or at another object — Light Shaper, the HDRI, Active Camera	Holds the value of the last key and switches at the next one. There is nothing in between to calculate, and no curve to edit.
Clip lane	Ready-made clips on a model or an imported object	The one track you create yourself, with the plus on the object’s Animation row. Clips are placed, stretched and faded on the lane.

What has to be true before a keyed value does anything

Condition	Effect
Manual Focus is off	Focus Distance keys are ignored — the camera focuses automatically. Key the switch on first.
A dolly rail is attached to the camera	The rail decides where the camera stands, so Rail Position moves it and free Position keys do nothing. Its range is 0 to the length of the rail.
Target Locked is on for a camera or light stand	The aim is recalculated after the animation has been applied, so keyed head rotation is overwritten. Animate Target Point instead, or switch the lock off.
The Environment’s Baked Settings section has been shut	Its Brightness, Color Temperature, Rotation and the sun settings live in it. The section is open by default, and shutting it takes the sun with it: the tracks work either way, the sliders are out of sight. See Animate sun, sky and atmosphere.
A setting marked sometimes	The object has to have the part: barndoor settings need a light shaper with barndoors, the projector settings need a projector, Zoom needs a light that zooms, a stand’s axes depend on the type of stand fitted.

How to read the tables below

Every table names the settings of one kind of object, with the values you can set, the default, the unit, and whether the setting accepts keyframes. Three notes:

• sometimes means the setting exists only on some objects of that kind, as described above.
• One label can appear more than once in a table, because different fields share it. Compare the Range column with the field in your inspector: Brightness on a light is 0 to 100 and animatable, while the two fields for typing a measured brightness carry the same label and are not.
• The camera table lists Shutter Angle twice: the row whose default is on is the switch between shutter angle and exposure time, the other row is the angle itself.

Three settings called Framerate

Where	What it is
Bottom row of the ANIMATION tab	The animation’s framerate: 2 to 120 whole frames per second, default 30, saved with the shot. With Duration it decides how many frames the video holds.
Camera inspector, Film camera	The camera’s exposure framerate, a list of fixed values from 16 to 2000 fps, default 30. It belongs to the shutter calculation and has nothing to do with the timeline.
Light-meter inspector (STUDIO+)	The meter’s exposure framerate, the same fixed list as the camera’s, default 30. It is shown while the meter measures in shutter angle, it belongs to the measurement, and it is animatable like the camera’s.

What is saved where

	Where it lives
Keyframes, tracks, clips	in the shot
The preview frame, Duration, Framerate	in the shot
Playback range, playhead, zoom, pan, folded rows	in the session only
Automatic Keyframe Recording	in the session only, and switched off on every load
The framerate a new animation starts with	in the program settings

Every object

Every object

Setting	Range	Default	Unit	Animatable	Notes
Attachment Point	Right Hand, Left Hand, Head, Flash, Lens	Right Hand		no	The drop-down offers the three points of a model or the two points of a camera, never both sets; it appears only once the object is attached
Enable Light		on		no
Position	-10000 – 10000	0	m	yes
Rotation		0	°	yes

Camera and stand

Camera

Setting	Range	Default	Unit	Animatable	Notes
Anamorphic		None		yes
Aperture				yes
Color				no
Color Space		sRGB		no
Effects Active		off		no
Exposure Time				yes
Focal Length	depends on the camera	50	mm	yes
Focus Area		0.5		yes
Focus Distance	0.001 – 10000	1	m	yes	The field refuses anything below 0.01 m; the top figure is a declared limit, not one the camera enforces
Format		depends on the camera		no
Framerate				yes
ISO				yes
Manual Focus		off		yes
ND Filter		None		yes
Rail Position	from 0	0.5	m	yes
Sensor		depends on the camera		no
Shutter Angle				yes	Film camera only: the angle itself, shown once the exposure is set to Shutter Angle
Shutter Angle		on		yes	Film camera only: the pair of buttons that switches the exposure between Exposure Time and Shutter Angle
White Balance	1700 – 20000	5600		yes

Stand / tripod

Setting	Range	Default	Unit	Animatable
Base Rotation	depends on the object	0	°	sometimes
Head Rotation	depends on the object	0	°	sometimes
Height	depends on the object	0	m	sometimes
Length	depends on the object	0	m	sometimes
Offset	depends on the object	0	m	sometimes
Target Locked		on		yes
Target Point		0	m	yes

The set itself carries one animatable setting that belongs to no object: Active Camera, which is how one shot cuts from one camera to another. It is a reference track, so it switches at the key.

Lights, reflectors and diffusers

Light

Setting	Range	Default	Unit	Animatable	Notes
Barndoor Active		off		sometimes
Barndoor Angle	-90 – 90	25		sometimes
Brightness	1 – 10000000	4000		no	Area Light only: how much light the head gives, in lux
Brightness	0.1 – 100	3		no	Area Light only: the distance that lux figure is measured at
Brightness	0 – 100	100		yes	The power slider of the light itself
Color Gels		white		yes
Color Temperature	1700 – 20000	depends on the light		yes
Filter	None, Custom, Lee	None		yes
Flash Active		on		sometimes
Gobo Blur	0 – 0.04	0		sometimes
Gobo Field of View	10 – 170	90		sometimes
Lens Luminosity				no
Manual Focus		off		no
Modeling Light Active		depends on your edition		sometimes
Modeling Light Color Temperature	1700 – 20000	3200		sometimes
Modeling Light Power	1 – 2000	300	W	sometimes
Powered On		on		yes
Projector Focal Length	12 – 130	50		sometimes
Projector Focus Distance	0 – 20	3		sometimes
Speedlight Pitch	0 – 90	0		sometimes
Width / Height	depends on the light	1	m	no	Area Light only: the size of the light surface
Zoom	depends on the light	35		sometimes

Architectural light

Setting	Range	Default	Unit	Animatable
Brightness	1 – 100	100		yes
Color Temperature	1700 – 20000	depends on the light		yes
Frame Color		depends on the light		yes
Lightshade Color		depends on the light		yes
Powered On		on		yes
Show Cables		on		no

Reflector

Setting	Range	Default	Unit	Animatable
Diameter	0.05 – 1.05	depends on the light	m	sometimes
Fold V-Flat	-180 – 180	90		sometimes
Scattering	0 – 0.4	0.1		sometimes
Size	0.1 – 10	depends on the light	m	sometimes

Diffuser

Setting	Range	Default	Unit	Animatable
Color		white		no
Width / Length	0.1 – 10	depends on the light	m	no

Flash Active, Modeling Light Active, Modeling Light Power and its colour temperature exist on flash heads and ring flashes only — not on speedlights, which carry their own Speedlight Pitch instead, and not on continuous lights. Architectural and practical lights (STUDIO+) run their Brightness from 1 to 100 rather than from 0, so they cannot be switched off with power alone; key Powered On for that. A diffuser brings no animatable setting of its own — only its position and rotation move — while a reflector adds Size, Diameter, Scattering and Fold V-Flat on the models that have them.

Light meter

The light meter (STUDIO+) measures instead of lighting, but two of its settings still take keys.

Light meter

Setting	Range	Default	Unit	Animatable
Color				no
Exposure Time				no
Framerate				yes
Halfdome Incidence		on		no
ISO				no
Shutter Angle				yes

Both animatable rows belong to the exposure the meter calculates, and the inspector shows them only while the meter measures in shutter angle rather than in exposure time.

Models

Model

Setting	Range	Default	Unit	Animatable
Abdomen	up to 1.5	1		no
Animation				yes
Arms	up to 1.5	1		no
Breasts	up to 1.5	1		no
Chest	up to 1.5	1		no
Height		depends on the model	m	yes
Legs	up to 1.5	1		no
Locomotion	0 – 1	0		no
Muscular	0 – 1	0		no
Pelvis	up to 1.5	1		no
Pose				yes
Pregnant	0 – 1	0		no
Weight	-1 – 1	0		no

Two rows of that table are not ordinary settings: Pose is the pose track, keyed with For Model Pose and holding every bone plus the facial expression, and Animation is the clip lane you create yourself. Height is separate from the pose, so a model can change height during a shot.

Props, basic shapes and mirrors

Prop

Setting	Range	Default	Unit	Animatable	Notes
Light Active		off		yes
Scale	depends on the prop	depends on the prop	m	yes	Three fields in metres — Width, Length and Height — which start at the size of the library model

Basic shape

Setting	Range	Default	Unit	Animatable
Arch Height		depends on the prop	m	sometimes
Arch Width		depends on the prop	m	sometimes
Color		white		yes
Cutoff Angle	0 – 360	depends on the prop	°	sometimes
Metallic	0 – 1	0		yes
Resolution X	depends on the prop	depends on the prop		no
Resolution Y	depends on the prop	depends on the prop		no
Shine	0 – 1	0.5		yes
Size		depends on the prop	m	sometimes
Thickness	depends on the prop	depends on the prop	m	sometimes

Mirror

Setting	Range	Default	Unit	Animatable
Diffusion	0 – 1	0.1		no
Frame Color		depends on the prop		yes
Light Loss	0 – 1	0		no
Reflect Lights		on		no
Size		depends on the prop	m	yes

Windows and doors

Window / door

Setting	Range	Default	Unit	Animatable
Bottom			m	no
Depth	-1 – 1	0		no
Door Color		white		sometimes
Frame Color		white		sometimes
Left			m	no
Open	0 – 1	0		sometimes
Right			m	no
Tilt		off		sometimes
Top			m	no
Width / Height		depends on the window or door	m	no

Room, background, picture wall and floor

Room

Setting	Range	Default	Unit	Animatable
Ceiling Color		depends on the room		yes
Floor Color		depends on the room		yes
Shine	0 – 1	0.24		yes
Size	0.01 – 1000	depends on the room	m	yes
Wall Color		depends on the room		yes

Background

Setting	Range	Default	Unit	Animatable
Color		depends on the room		yes
Color Mode	Custom, Manufacturer	Custom		yes
Radius	0.1 – 2	0.5	m	yes
Shine	0 – 1	0.41		yes
Size		depends on the room	m	yes

Picture wall

Setting	Range	Default	Unit	Animatable
Bend	0 – 180	0		yes
Color		white		yes
Luminosity	from 1	128		yes
Offset	0 – 10	0	m	yes
Radius	0 – 1	0		yes
Self-Luminous		off		no
Shine	0 – 1	0.5		yes
Size		4	m	yes
Transparency	0 – 1	0		yes

Floor

Setting	Range	Default	Unit	Animatable
Color		white		yes
Scale	0.4 – 2.5	1		no
Shine	0 – 1	0.24		yes
Thickness	0 – 0.2	0	m	no
Width / Height	0.1 – 1000	depends on the room	m	no

The set environment

Environment

Setting	Range	Default	Unit	Animatable
Brightness	-5 – 15	13	EV	yes
Environmental Light		on		yes
Fog Density	0 – 0.5	0		yes
North Offset		0	°	yes
Rotation	0 – 360	0	°	yes
Sample Multiplier	1 – 8	4		no
Sample Portals	0 – 1	0.5		no
Sun Active		on		yes
Sun Altitude	-90 – 90	70	°	yes
Sun Brightness	-10 – 0.1	0		yes
Sun Diffusion	0 – 0.2	0		yes
Sun Direction	0 – 360	180	°	yes

Brightness, Rotation, North Offset and the sun rows are the ones you key; Animate sun, sky and atmosphere walks through them.

A fog machine

Fog machine

Setting	Range	Default	Unit	Animatable
Cloudiness	0 – 1	0.3		yes
Color		white		yes
Fog Density	0 – 5	3		yes
Gravity	0 – 1	0.5		yes
Horizontal Spread	0 – 1	0.9		yes
Room Fill	0 – 1	0		yes
Time	0 – 100	0		yes
Vertical Spread	0 – 1	0.9		yes

Its Fog Density runs 0 to 5. The Environment’s Fog Density is a different control on a different scale, 0 to 0.5 — do not carry a value from one to the other.

Older projects

A project written by an earlier version can carry a framerate between 1 and 500, although the field only accepts 2 to 120. Such a value is loaded and played as it is; typing into the field brings it back into range.

Related

• How animation works in a shot
• Set and edit keyframes
• Shape the motion (curves and easing)
• Animate the camera
• Animate lights
• Animation problems