Keyframe-based editing is available in the Video module for the settings in the Position and Transformation, Image Adjustments, and Audio Adjustments sections. Use keyframes to make a setting gradually change over time within a clip.
The controls for adjusting keyframes are located in multiple places within the Video module:
- In the right panel, to the right of each setting that can be edited using keyframes, there is a large dot icon that is only visible when you run the mouse cursor over it. Clicking this icon makes the dot permanently visible and changes its color to blue. Clicking the dot sets the current frame in the clip as a keyframe and assigns the current value for the given setting to it.
- The
Show Keyframes icon appears in the menu on the left in each image track. Click this icon to make it possible for other keyframe controls to appear on the timeline. - If keyframe display has been enabled and the dot icon has been clicked for a setting in the right panel, a keyframe editor is then shown in the timeline under the given clip.
The Keyframe Editor in the Timeline
The keyframe editor always fills up a clip’s entire length. It can appear in a collapsed or expanded form. In the editor’s collapsed form, it shows these pieces of information, from left to right:
or 
– one of these two arrows is shown to indicate that the editor is collapsed or expanded. Click the arrow to expand or collapse the editor.
name of the given setting, e.g. Rotation. A separate editor is created for every edited setting.
, 
, 
, 
, a small menu, and 
– in the editor’s collapsed form, these icons are only shown if you hover the mouse over the editor. In its expanded form, they are always visible. These options are grayed out and inactive if no keyframes have been selected in a clip. The way these icons work is described below, in the Curve Editing section.
– if some keyframes have already been set on the curve, clicking this arrow activates the first keyframe to the left of the current playhead position.
• – clicking this icon either adds a new keyframe under the current playhead position or removes the existing keyframe under the current playhead position.
– if some keyframes have already been set on the curve, clicking this arrow activates the first keyframe to the right of the current playhead position.
– clicking the cross icon closes the keyframe editor for the given setting. It also removes all keyframes for the given setting.
In the expanded form, all the icons described above are shown, as well as a curve. By default, the curve is a horizontally oriented white line that splits the editor into a top half and a bottom half. Any key point set on the curve is displayed as a large dot.
Curve Adjustments
If a setting’s whole curve is horizontal and is in the middle of the keyframe editor, this means that the given setting has a value of 0 throughout the whole clip, i.e. that the given setting produces no effect in the video. Double-clicking the curve in the given place adds a dot icon, indicating an added keyframe. Click that dot icon and drag it right or left to change the given keyframe’s position in time. Drag up or down to change the setting’s value. Double-click the dot icon to remove the keyframe.
Adding keyframes divides the curve into different parts, and each part can have a different shape. The curve’s shape affects how the final effect will appear in the video.
If the curve is horizontal, the setting’s value is the same throughout the section, i.e. the setting does not change over time. If the curve is rising or falling, the setting is changing over time, and the strength and speed of this change correspond to the shape of the curve.
By default, this curve is linear, and so a settings change is also linear. However, the curve’s shape can be altered using several icons: , , , and .
– the default curve shape; settings changes are linear.
, – the curve is bent to one side, softening the course of the settings change.
– the curve has a sinusoid shape, softening both the course of the settings change and the transition into the next keyframe.
For sinusoid curve segments, a small menu appears to the right of the curve-shape icons. Use the options in this menu to adjust the sinusoid’s curvature.
If you have selected a curve shape, clicking the icon assigns this curve shape to all the segments of the curve for this setting.
Hold down the Ctrl key and click points in the keyframe editor to select multiple points and move them at the same time.