Basic animation

Create the start and end keys

Complete the following process for both the wolf and fox:

1. Select the object.

2. Move the playhead to the 0:00 position. You can select the jump to start button ().
3. Select the create key icon ().
4. Move the playhead to the 0:30 position.

5. Translate the object so that it passes the finish line.

6. Select the create key icon ().

The position of the fox and the wolf at 0:30 (select to expand)

Test the animation

To test your animation, select jump to start (), and then select play ().

You should see a fairly lacklustre race.

Retime the race

To make the animals run faster, we can retime the keys.

1. On the timeline, select the wolf object.

2. Select the dope sheet view icon ().
3. Drag the top, purple key to the 0:10 position.

Retiming the end key

You can test your animation from within the dope sheet view. Check that the speed seems realistic. The walk animation of the wolf may look unrealistic, but we will correct that.

• Repeat the process to retime the fox. You must switch to the timeline view () before you can select the fox object.

Configure a winner

You may already have realized, but the easiest way to determine a winner, is to retime one of the animations to arrive at the finish line before the other object. In this tutorial, we’ll allow the fox to win the face.

• Access the dope sheet for the fox and move the end key to approximately 0:09.