Animation basics - Houdini online help

How to set keyframes

At the object level, select and transform objects and characters to position them for keyframing.

Selecting an object automatically scopes (makes key-able) commonly animated parameters in the channel list and/or channel editor. To scope other parameters, or change which parameters are automatically scoped, see how to scope parameters.

To...	Do this
Set keyframes on all scoped parameters	Press K or choose Edit > Set Keyframe.
Set keyframes on all parameters of the current operator’s active handle	Ctrl + K Press on the handle and choose Channels and Keyframes > Set Keyframe.
Set keyframes on the selected object’s position	⇧ Shift + T
Set keyframes on the selected object’s rotation	⇧ Shift + R
Set keyframes on the selected object’s scale	⇧ Shift + E
Key everything	Press Ctrl + A to select all, then press K .
Protect certain parameters from being keyframed	In the parameter editor pane, press on the parameter and choose Lock Parameter.
Automatically create keyframes whenever you change parameters (auto-key)	Turn on the Auto key button on the playbar. See auto-key for more information.

Tip

You can set the default curve function for new keyframes in the animation preferences (Edit > Preferences > Animation).

How to set and manage keyframes in the parameter editor

To...	Do this
Set a keyframe on a parameter	Press on a parameter and choose Channels and Keyframes > Set Keyframe. As a shortcut, you can click the parameter with Alt + to set a keyframe.
Remove a keyframe	Move the playbar to the keyframe for the parameter. Press on a parameter and choose Channels and Keyframes > Remove Keyframe. As a shortcut, you can click the parameter with Ctrl + to remove a keyframe.
Move the playbar to the next/previous keyframe for a parameter	Press on a parameter and choose Channels and Keyframes > Step to Previous Key or Channels and Keyframes > Step to Next Key.

Tip

For parameters with multiple components (for example, a position parameter with X, Y, and Z values) you can click individual component text boxes, or click the parameter label to affect all components at once.

Color coding for keyframes and parameters

Houdini color-codes the background of parameter edit fields in the parameter editor, and the keyframe ticks on the playbar timeline, according to the current keyframe status.

“Pending changes” means you've changed one or more parameters so the value is different from the previous keyframe, but you haven’t set a keyframe to save those changes yet.

The timeline only shows key markers for the currently scoped parameters.

State	Parameter background	Timeline mark color
Keyed This component is animated and you're on a keyframe.	Green	Green
Partial key One or more of the scoped channels are keyed at this frame, but not all.	-	Bright green
Pending changes You've changed this component on a keyframe, but not committed the change. You can set Houdini to automatically commit changes on keyframes.	Orange	Orange
'Tween This component is animated (either with keyframes or an expression), but you're not on a keyframe. (Click the name of a parameter to switch between showing the current value and the expression.)	Light blue	-
Disabled key This component is animated (either with keyframes or an expression), but the channel is disabled in the dopesheet.	Steel blue	-

How to animate an object moving along a path curve

Use the Follow Path tool on the Modify shelf tab.

View the animation curves for keyframed parameters

See scoping and the channel editor.