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What are some best practices for organizing and naming your keyframes and layers?

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If you want to create smooth and engaging animations in motion design, you need to master the use of keyframes and easing. Keyframes are the points in time that define the start and end of an animation, while easing is the way the animation transitions between keyframes. In this article, you will learn how to use keyframes and easing effectively, and what are some best practices for organizing and naming your keyframes and layers.

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Tayo Gomes

PR Manager | Creative Director | Motion Graphics Designer | Video Editor
Josh Watkins

Motion Designer
Yuri Tavares

Creative 3D Artist ? UX Motion Designer

1 Keyframe basics

Keyframes are the building blocks of animation. They allow you to set the position, scale, rotation, opacity, and other properties of your layers at different moments in time. To create a keyframe, you simply select a layer and a property, and click the stopwatch icon next to it. This will record the current value of the property at the current time. To change the value of the property, you can either drag the layer on the canvas, adjust the slider in the effect panel, or type in a number in the timeline. This will create another keyframe at the new time and value.

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Yuri Tavares

Creative 3D Artist ? UX Motion Designer
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When starting an animation project, it is important to do the "Mise en place" of your project. The more organized and clean your keyframes and compositions are, the greater your control over the project and the fewer problems that may arise in the future. In addition to facilitating a possible handoff to another professional with a collect, for example.

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2 Easing essentials

Easing is the way the animation transitions between keyframes. By default, most animation software will use linear easing, which means the animation moves at a constant speed from one keyframe to another. However, this can look unnatural and robotic, as real objects rarely move at a constant speed. To make your animation more realistic and dynamic, you can use different types of easing, such as ease-in, ease-out, or ease-in-out. These easing types will make the animation accelerate or decelerate at the beginning or end of the keyframe, creating a sense of motion and weight.

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Yuri Tavares

Creative 3D Artist ? UX Motion Designer
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The use of Easing is super important to have fluidity in the animation, it is important to know how to use the right type for each situation. Remembering that it is highly recommended to use the principles of animation, such as Squash and Stretch, Anticipation, Follow Through, etc.

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3 Keyframe interpolation

Keyframe interpolation is the process of calculating the values between keyframes. Depending on the type of property and easing you use, the interpolation can be linear, bezier, or spatial. Linear interpolation means the values change in a straight line between keyframes. Bezier interpolation means the values change in a curved line between keyframes, which you can adjust by using handles in the graph editor. Spatial interpolation means the position of the layer changes in a curved path between keyframes, which you can adjust by using handles in the motion path.

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4 Easing curves

Easing curves are graphical representations of how the values of a property change over time. You can access them by opening the graph editor in your animation software. Easing curves can help you fine-tune your animation and create more complex and nuanced movements. For example, you can use easing curves to create bounce, overshoot, or anticipation effects. You can also use presets or custom expressions to apply different easing curves to your keyframes.

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5 Layer organization

Layer organization is crucial for keeping your animation project clean and manageable. You should always name your layers according to their function and content, and group them into folders or compositions if they belong to the same scene or element. You should also use color labels to differentiate your layers by type, such as background, foreground, text, or sound. Layer organization will help you navigate your timeline more easily and avoid confusion and errors.

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Tayo Gomes

PR Manager | Creative Director | Motion Graphics Designer | Video Editor
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One thing I have also found useful in decluttering is to pre-compose when necessary. It helps keep the layers less chunky and helps the designer focus and can minimize mistakes.

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Josh Watkins

Motion Designer
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I find that maintaining a color language with my layers speeds up my process. My important layers are bright colors while non-essential/background layers are darker so they blend into the UI more. Then I use consistent colors for layers such as nulls and mattes so that I always can differentiate at a glance.

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Yuri Tavares

Creative 3D Artist ? UX Motion Designer
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In my animation projects I always use color differentiation in layers to be faster in identifying compositions and objects. Good personal organization makes the process much easier, especially when it's an animation project with different elements.

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Ian Boldon

Motion Graphics Artist | 2D & 3D
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Layer organization is super useful for diving back into a project down the line. Bottom to top, with the in / out pouints of the layer only being there when it's on screen. I like to color code my layers to match what it is on the screen as close as I can. Shoutout Labels 4, for having some dope layer colors to mix it up. Another great plugin is Obsessive Layers, to quickly organize everything.

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6 Keyframe naming

Keyframe naming is another important aspect of animation workflow. You should always name your keyframes according to their purpose and effect, and use consistent and descriptive terms. For example, you can use names like "start", "end", "bounce", "fade", or "rotate" to indicate what your keyframes do. You can also use prefixes or suffixes to indicate the property or layer they affect, such as "pos_start" or "scale_end". Keyframe naming will help you identify and edit your keyframes more quickly and accurately.

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Motion Design

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What are some best practices for organizing and naming your keyframes and layers?

1

2

3

4

5

6

1 Keyframe basics

2 Easing essentials

3 Keyframe interpolation

4 Easing curves

5 Layer organization

6 Keyframe naming

Motion Design

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What are some best practices for organizing and naming your keyframes and layers?

1

2

3

4

5

6

1 Keyframe basics

2 Easing essentials

3 Keyframe interpolation

4 Easing curves

5 Layer organization

6 Keyframe naming

Motion Design

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