What is keyframing in animation?

Keyframing is a way to define key moments in an animation sequence. Each keyframe is a single frame or moment in time that is considered important in the context of the animation. For example, if we are animating a character's movement from one location to another, keyframes define the character's position at specific moments in time. It can show the beginning of the movement, the middle part and the last frame. Since each project is different, it’s not crucial to show three keyframes for each scene, and it mostly depends on the project. For example, if you are keyframing short movie you’ll have keyframe for each scene, but if you are keyframing one sequence, you’ll have more detailed keyframes.

Keyframes are placed on the timeline. If we animate a character's movement for 2 seconds, we will have multiple keyframes on the timeline that precisely define the character's position at different moments of those 2 seconds. The animator defines these keyframes and the computer interpolates, i.e. calculates the movement between them, resulting in a smooth and dynamic animation.

Collaboration: when creating animation in studio, or between studios, the keyframing is a link between artdirector and producer and team of artists that are puting the idea into reality. A well done keyframes help to sell the concept and communicate with teams. 

Precision: keyframing gives animators control over every aspect of the animation. They can determine not only the look of the each frame, the overall feel of the scene, or position of the character, but also parameters such as size, shape, colour and much more.

Creativity: keyframing gives animators the freedom in the animation creation process. Focusing on one frame at a time gives the ability to experiment and create extraordinary visual effects. Good keyframe artist understands that it is important to tell a story through each frame, but also to keep an eye overall the whole sequence. 

Control over timing: Animators can determine precisely when and what effects are to appear in an animation, which is key to building narrative and tension in animation. This is why keyframes are usually the most important parts of each scene, or movie. 

Client collaboration: Keyframing facilitates collaboration with the client by allowing key moments in the animation to be presented in advance. This allows adjustments to be identified and made quickly, helping to ensure that both parties have the same vision for the project.

Divisions of task during team work: In more advanced animation projects, different specialists may be working on different aspects of the animation, such as characters, backgrounds, special effects, etc. Keyframing helps to coordinate teamwork and distribute tasks effectively.

In order to create the best animations, we included keyframing into our workflow. There are two ways we use it:

• At the beginning of work, just after we get the brief from the client. If they have a clear idea about the animation - it’s quite easy to start. But surely you had clients that give you freedom. And it can be overwhelming. We quickly understood, that this is the crucial part, when we need to accept animation scenario with the client in order to keep process within limits. And the best way to communicate with the client are keyframes, but at this point we call them sketches. They are created at a point when we start looking for the references. Getting inspired by these we sketch (in 3D of course) frames that we want to show in the animation. They usually have just basic materials, and the main aim is to establish groudrules for the look and feel of the whole animation.
• During preview stage of the animation. Once the camera movements are accepted, we work on preparing final materials, adding vegetation, lighting scenarios, 3D people. Since rendering animation takes much time, we try to accept all these wit the client on one keyframe per scene. This means, that we don’t need to re-render animation everytime we get new comment, but we can only send over the updated keyframe. In order to keep client posted with the process, it’s important to communicate with them on every step. Alongside kefyrames we send the low-resolution animation to the client, so they still have in mind how the camera is going to move. Once this is accepted we render full animation in final resolution.

Keyframing is an extremely important part in the animation creation process. It allows precise control over every aspect of the animation, while allowing animators and clients to work together on the project. This tool opens the door to unlimited creativity and helps to create animations that delight the audience and convey the intended message. Without a doubt, keyframing is a key element of success in animation.