Keyframes

Keyframes let you animate an element over time. You set a value at one moment and a different value at another, and the editor smoothly transitions between them frame by frame. This is how you create movement, fades, zooms, spins and other dynamic effects on any element in your project.

What You Can Animate

Each property has its own keyframe track, so you can animate several properties on the same element independently.

Position

Move an element across the canvas. Position also supports a motion path for curved movement.

Scale

Grow or shrink an element to create zoom in and zoom out effects.

Rotation

Spin an element clockwise or counterclockwise over time.

Opacity

Fade an element in or out by animating its transparency.

Filters

Animate blur, brightness, contrast and saturation for gradual visual changes.

Volume

Ramp audio up or down over time for smooth fades on audio and video.

Color

Animate the color of text and captions between two values (phased feature).

Every property is independent

You can animate position and opacity at the same time, with different timing and different easing on each. The tracks do not interfere with one another.

Each animated property has its own keyframe track on the element.

The Keyframe Flow

Animating a property follows four simple steps: add keyframes, move them in time, adjust the easing, then reuse them with copy and paste.

Animate a property

In the properties panel, click the diamond icon next to the property you want to animate. This adds the first keyframe at the playhead. Move the playhead to another time, change the value, and a second keyframe (shown as a diamond) is added automatically.

Move keyframes on the strip

Each animated element shows a keyframe strip directly on the clip in the timeline. Drag a keyframe left or right to change when it happens. Dragging keyframes closer together makes the animation faster, while spreading them apart makes it slower.

Adjust the easing

By default the editor moves linearly between keyframes. Open the easing card to shape the motion with separate ease in and ease out controls, just like After Effects. Pick a preset (such as Ease, Ease In, Ease Out) and preview the curve.

Copy and paste

Reuse a sequence of keyframes on another element or another point in time. Select the keyframes, copy them, move the playhead, and paste. This keeps your animations consistent across multiple elements.

Add the first keyframe with the diamond

The diamond icon next to each animatable property is the switch that turns animation on. When it is off, the property holds a single static value. When you click it, the property starts recording keyframes: the current value is captured at the playhead as a diamond on the track.

Keyframe diamond button in the Transform panel

Move keyframes on the on-clip strip

Once a property is animated, the editor draws a keyframe strip on the element in the timeline. Each diamond is one keyframe. You can drag them along the strip to retime the animation without leaving the timeline.

On-clip keyframe strip with diamond markers on the timeline

Shape the motion with easing

Easing controls how the value accelerates and decelerates between two keyframes. VDClip uses an After Effects style model with independent ease in and ease out, a set of presets, and a curve graph that previews the result. The AE style icons next to each keyframe show the current easing direction at a glance.

Easing card with After Effects style presets

Bezier curve graph editor with draggable handles

Linear

Constant speed from start to finish. The default when no easing is applied.

Ease In

Starts slow and speeds up. Good for elements leaving the screen.

Ease Out

Starts fast and slows down. Good for elements settling into place.

Ease

Slow at both ends with speed in the middle, for a natural feel.

Copy and paste keyframes

You can copy keyframes from one point in time and paste them elsewhere, which is the fastest way to repeat an animation. Select the keyframes you want, copy, move the playhead to the target position, and paste.

Ctrl / Cmd + CCopy the selected keyframes at the current time

Ctrl / Cmd + VPaste the copied keyframes at the playhead

Tips & Best Practices

Start with two keyframes

Every animation needs at least a start and an end. Set the first value, move the playhead, then change the value to create the second keyframe automatically.

Use easing for natural motion

Linear movement can feel robotic. Add an ease in or ease out so elements accelerate and settle the way real objects do.

Copy and paste to stay consistent

When several elements should animate the same way, build the animation once and paste the keyframes onto the others so the timing matches exactly.

Preview before exporting

Play your project back from start to finish to check the timing and easing of every animation before you render the final video.