Animation Fundamentals

In motion graphics, an image sitting perfectly still is rarely the goal. You want things to slide in, fade out, rotate, and bounce. In Oraphim, you create motion by Animating node parameters over time.

The Concept of Keyframing

Oraphim does not know how you want a title to move unless you tell it explicitly. You do this by setting Keyframes.

A keyframe is a marker that says: "At exactly Frame 0, the position should be X. At exactly Frame 30, the position should be Y." Oraphim's engine takes those two data points and automatically calculates the mathematical interpolation (movement) for every single frame in between them.

Creating Your First Animation

Let's animate a shape sliding across the screen from left to right.

  1. Add an sRectangle and pipe it into an sRender and then into MediaOut.
  2. Select the sRectangle node so its parameters appear in the Inspector.
  3. Move your playhead (the red line on the timeline below the viewer) to Frame 0 (the very beginning of the clip).
  4. In the Inspector, locate the Offset X/Y parameter.
  5. Drag the X value to the left until the rectangle is completely off-screen.
  6. Look to the far right of the Offset X/Y parameter row. You will see a small, gray diamond icon. Click it.
  7. The diamond will turn Red. You have just set a Keyframe!

Now, let's create the destination point.

  1. Move your playhead to Frame 30 (one second later, assuming a 30fps project).
  2. In the Inspector, drag the Offset X value to the right, placing the rectangle in the center of the screen.
  3. Note: You do not need to click the diamond again! Because the parameter is already armed for animation (the diamond is red), Oraphim automatically sets a new keyframe whenever you change the value on a new frame.

Play your sequence. The rectangle will smoothly slide from off-screen into the center.

Animating Other Properties

You can keyframe almost any parameter in Oraphim.

  • Want the box to fade in? Keyframe the Blend slider on a Merge node from 0.0 to 1.0.
  • Want it to spin? Keyframe the Angle parameter.
  • Want a blur to slowly come into focus? Keyframe the Size parameter of a Blur node from 10.0 to 0.0.

To refine the speed and curve of these animations, you must master the Spline Editor.