What keyframes do and why you need them

A keyframe is a marker you place on your timeline that tells Alight Motion to remember a specific state of your layer — its position, size, rotation, opacity, or any other property — at that exact moment. When you place two keyframes with different values, Alight Motion automatically creates the motion or change between them. Without keyframes, every property stays frozen at whatever value you set it to.

Think of keyframes like snapshots. If you want text to fade in over three seconds, you'd place one keyframe at the start with opacity at 0% and another keyframe three seconds later with opacity at 100%. Alight Motion fills in all the frames in between, gradually increasing the opacity. The same principle works for movement, scaling, rotation, or any other change you want to animate.

Key Takeaways

  • Keyframes mark specific moments in time where you want a layer's properties to have a particular value, and Alight Motion animates the change between them.
  • You add keyframes by tapping the diamond icon next to a property name after you've changed that property's value.
  • The first keyframe you create for a property is usually placed automatically at the current playhead position when you change the property value.
  • You can move, copy, or delete keyframes by tapping and holding them on the timeline, then selecting the action you want from the menu.
  • Keyframes only record changes to properties you've actually modified — properties you leave untouched won't have keyframes and won't animate.

How to add your first keyframe for a property

Start by selecting the layer you want to animate in the timeline. Tap on it once to highlight it. Then open the properties panel — this is usually on the right side of the screen and shows options like Position, Scale, Rotation, and Opacity depending on what kind of layer you selected.

Find the property you want to animate. Let's say you want to move a text layer from left to right. Tap on the Position property to expand it if it's collapsed. Now change the value — drag the layer on the canvas or type a new number into the Position field. The moment you change it, Alight Motion places your first keyframe at the current playhead position on the timeline. You'll see a small diamond icon appear on the timeline next to that property name, marking where the keyframe sits.

Move your playhead forward in time by dragging it along the timeline or tapping a new time value. Change the property again — move the layer to a new position, make it bigger, rotate it, whatever you want. Alight Motion automatically creates a second keyframe at this new time with the new value. Now you have two keyframes, and the animation between them will play when you hit the play button.

Using the keyframe diamond button to add keyframes manually

Sometimes you want to add a keyframe without changing the property value. This is useful when you want a layer to hold still for a moment, then start moving. To do this, position your playhead where you want the keyframe, then look for the small diamond icon next to the property name in the properties panel. Tap that diamond icon, and Alight Motion adds a keyframe at the current time with whatever value that property currently has.

This matters because without that second keyframe, the property would continue changing smoothly past the point where you wanted it to stop. By adding a keyframe with the same value, you tell Alight Motion "keep this value exactly here, then change it after this point."

Editing keyframes on the timeline

Once you've created keyframes, you can see them as small diamond shapes on the timeline. To move a keyframe to a different time, tap and hold the diamond until a menu appears. Select "Move" and drag the keyframe left or right along the timeline. This changes when that property change happens without affecting the value itself.

To delete a keyframe, tap and hold it and select "Delete" from the menu. To copy a keyframe's timing to another property, tap and hold it and select "Copy" — this is useful when you want multiple properties to change at exactly the same moment. You can also tap a keyframe once to select it, which highlights it in a different color and shows you its exact time value at the bottom of the screen.

Controlling animation speed with keyframe spacing

The distance between two keyframes on the timeline controls how fast the animation happens. If you place two keyframes one second apart, the change happens over one second. If you place them five seconds apart, the same change takes five seconds. This is why moving keyframes left and right on the timeline is one of the fastest ways to speed up or slow down an animation without re-doing it.

You can also change how the animation moves between keyframes by tapping a keyframe and looking for the curve or easing option. Alight Motion usually defaults to linear motion, which means the change happens at a constant speed. Other options like "ease in" or "ease out" make the motion start slow and speed up, or speed up and then slow down, which often looks more natural.

Common mistakes when working with keyframes

The most common mistake is forgetting that you need two keyframes to create motion. If you only change a property once and create one keyframe, nothing will animate — the layer will just jump to that new value when the playhead reaches it. Always move forward in time and make a second change to create the animation.

Another frequent issue is adding keyframes to the wrong layer. Make sure the layer you want to animate is selected before you start changing properties. If you accidentally add keyframes to a different layer, you can delete them and start over on the correct one. Also remember that keyframes only exist for properties you've actually changed — if you never touch the Rotation property, it won't have any keyframes and won't animate, even if other properties on the same layer are animating.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I add keyframes to multiple properties at the same time?

Yes. Select your layer, then change multiple properties one after another — Position, then Scale, then Opacity. Each change creates a keyframe for that property at the current playhead position. All those keyframes will sit at the same time on the timeline, so all those animations start together.

What happens if I move a keyframe past another keyframe for the same property?

The animation reverses direction. If you had Position keyframe A at 2 seconds and Position keyframe B at 5 seconds, moving B to 1 second means the layer will move backward from the 5-second position to the 2-second position. This is sometimes useful, but usually a mistake — just drag it back to the right order.

Do I have to use keyframes for every change I make?

No. If you change a property and never move your playhead or change it again, that property just stays at the new value for the entire video. Keyframes only matter when you want something to change over time. Static properties don't need them.

Can I copy keyframes from one layer to another?

Alight Motion doesn't have a direct copy-paste for keyframes between layers, but you can recreate the same animation by selecting the second layer and repeating the same keyframe steps. Some users export the animation data and re-import it, but that's more advanced.