- [Instructor] The Curve Editor is where we go
to edit animation curves.
We can edit the keyframes
as well as set the type of animation curve we want to use.
So let's check it out.
I'll start by opening up the Transform property panel
with a double-click on the Transform node
and you can see it has three animated parameters.
If I then go to the Curve Editor,
which is this guy right here, and open him up,
all of the curves in that property panel
will be displayed in the Curve Editor.
If I were to go back to the Node Graph and add
another animated node, double-click on Color Correct,
which has one more animation curve to it,
the Curve Editor now shows the Color Correct
and the Transform node, and all the curves that they own.
This is very much like the Dope Sheet.
Also like the Dope Sheet,
if I come up to a property panel and fold it up,
its curve will disappear out of the Curve Editor
and also, like the Dope Sheet,
I can fold up all of my parameters here.
By the way, you can deselect the curve
by clicking down here in this panel area.
So I can fold up Translate, fold up Scale,
and then fold up Transform to clean up my flow graphs,
my Curve Editors.
There we go.
Now, if you pick a parameter,
all of the sub-curves below it are selected.
Now, we have our X and Y for Translate.
If I select Scale, it only has one curve.
But if I select the entire Transform node,
then of course, all the curves are lit up.
Click here to deselect.
I can also make a picket list holding down the Command
or Ctrl key and clicking.
For example, Command or Ctrl-click on just Translate Y
and Scale W,
so just those two are now put in the Curve Editor.
We'll deselect.
Navigation.
We'll select all the curves.
To navigate the Curve Editor, hold down the Alt
and with the left mouse button, you can pan.
To zoom,
Alt-middle mouse, drag left and right
to zoom horizontally, or drag vertically to zoom vertically.
You could also try to drag diagonally
to get a uniform scale.
But the best way to do that is with a thumb wheel.
You get a universal scale with your thumb wheel
or a uniform scale.
Now, to home the viewer, type F on the keyboard,
which is exactly like homing the viewer
or even the Node Graph.
Now, if you select one curve like the Scale W,
who has very small values compared to the Translates,
now, if I hit the F key, he will fill the frame.
You can also...
Let me select a curve here and type F to get him framed.
If I pick just a couple of points and hit the F key,
they will fill the entire frame.
Deselect.
Transform everybody, F to re-home the viewer.
While you're in the Curve Editor, you may drag the playhead
either in the Curve Editor or up here on the timeline.
Either way, you can move your playhead while you play.
Okay, so let's go back to the Node Graph.
And this is a nifty feature.
Sometimes you want to come at the Curve Editor
from the property panel like this.
In my Transform tab, I would like to curve edit
my two Translates.
So on the Animation pop-up, I can select that and say,
Curve Editor and it'll throw just those two,
Translate X and Y, into the Curve Editor,
and select them for me.
Isn't that nice?
We'll click here to deselect.
Okay, so let's talk about editing some control points.
I'm going to set my Translate curves, X and Y,
into the Curve Editor.
And we can click on a point to select it
or we can drag a rectangle to select it
or we can drag a rectangle and select several points.
Whenever you have more than one point selected,
you're going to get this transform box.
And with that box, you may translate,
you may scale in one dimension,
you may scale in both dimensions.
Tragically, there's no constrain scale
with the transform box.
Now, I'll click to deselect and let's revert that node.
If I'd like to insert a point,
first, I have to select the curve.
Okay, so I can just come up here
and select one point on a curve.
You see how the curve lights up?
So that's my current active curve.
So with that curve selected, holding down Alt
and Command or Ctrl, and you can click on the curve,
and insert all the control points you want.
One nifty feature about the Curve Editor
is if you have the playhead on a control point,
let me hit the control point button there,
and I can grab a control point.
Let me see, I've got, this is Y.
If I can grab this control point,
as I move it in the Curve Editor,
I'll see it move on the screen.
So let's undo, undo.
Let's revert the node to its origins
and I want to show you a very interesting feature
of the Curve Editor.
If I click on this control point and drag it down,
if I drag it vertically, I can no longer move it
left or right.
See that?
I'll let go.
Now, if I drag it horizontally,
I can no longer move it vertically.
So you have a constrained movement
depending on which direction you start.
And that's a brilliant idea because very often,
you just want to slide it horizontally and oops,
I moved it vertically too, oops.
So this helps you to protect yourself
from accidentally moving it in the other axis.
If you really do want to move it in both axis,
then hold down the Command or Ctrl key
and then you'll have complete freedom of motion there.
And let's revert that.
Deselect.
Now, sometimes you want to get in here
and actually edit the data yourself.
So if you select a point, you see the X value 50.
That means what frame it's on.
And the Y value, 117.656.
That is the value at that frame.
Notice my cursor has changed shape when I get on there.
So if I double-click on that, I get this little dialog box.
And I can go in here and actually
type in my own numbers, 150.
But you must remember to hit the Return key.
If you don't hit the Return key, it don't happen.
So there you go, I get my exact data value that I wanted.
Deselect by clicking off to the side here.
Okay, so let's edit our curve types after we revert.
So I'm going to insert a couple of more control points here
just to have some fun with our curve types here
and we'll just move these guys around a little bit
just to mix it up.
So okay.
So let's talk about curve types.
You can change the type of curve,
whether it's smooth, Catmull-Rom, linear, or whatever.
But you have to first select a control point.
All right, so what I'm going to do is select
all the control points with a Ctrl-A.
You see, they're all lit up.
Okay, now, I can go right-mouse pop-up, Interpolation,
and I could choose, for example, Constant.
And there you go.
Every control point is held as a constant
until it fields the next control point, okay.
Command or Ctrl-A to select all points, right-mouse pop-up.
Let's look at some Linear.
Okay, so I now have straight linear lines
between each control point.
Okay, select all, right-mouse pop-up,
and back to Smooth.
There's a few other types of curves in there,
but you can play with those on your own time.
But one of the brilliant features about Nuke,
and you can tell I'm a fan,
is I can mix the type of curves in one curve.
So let me select these guys here
and say, I want you to be constant.
All right, then I'll select these guys here and say,
I want you to be linear.
Look at that.
So you can mix the type of curve in one curve.
We'll select them all, set everybody back to smooth
'cause that's really psychotic.
Let's revert this guy
and take a look at this issue.
You can change the slope of any point, of course,
by moving the slope line.
But many times, you'll want to do a break on that.
You want to break the continuity, so right-mouse pop-up,
Break.
By the way, notice all these quick keys,
so you can quickly snap these
once you learn all them quick keys.
So we're going to break this guy.
And now, I can set the slope
on each side of that control point, okay.
All right, I'm going to set him back to smooth
by typing the keyboard shortcut Z.
There you go.
One more very important feature.
Here's my last control point.
You see what it's doing is it's holding the last value
as a constant off to infinity, but I can change that rule.
With the last point selected, right-mouse pop-up, After.
Okay.
The default, of course, is Constant,
which means hold the data constant.
The other option is tragically called Linear.
Okay, but you can see I'll select that
and what that really means is slope.
You're holding the slope of the point constant
versus the value of the point constant.
You also have the same option for the first point here
at the beginning of the curve,
but you better go look at Before for that one, okay.
Mastering Nuke's very powerful Curve Editor
will allow you to adjust your animation curves
to get exactly the animation effects you want.
This video gave you a great start on the Curve Editor,
but there's more to discover in the user guide
that you will find important.