Confusion with moving Keyframes

[t_smith5]

Hi

Okay, so, from what I've read, you have to hold Shift and either left or right click and drag to move your keyframe in the timeline. A red bar comes up and you can drag it left or right. The problem is, no matter what I do, the keyframe isn't moving. Even if I drag to the next or previous frame, the red line/keyframe remains where it is. 😕

I'm still using Maya 2023.3 by the way. Any ideas what I could be doing wrong?

Thanks

[stephaniebellgardt]

Are you working on a referenced file?

[t_smith5]

Referenced...? I don't believe so. I don't recall adding it to a layer or anything, if that's what you mean.

[Kahylan]

A referenced file is a file that you import by using "File -> Create Reference". Its a way of importing that still leaves a connection to the original file so when there are changes to that file it gets updated. Animation in a Referenced file can will not allow you to change it or add animation on the same layer, thats why @stephaniebellgardt asked about it.
But since you didn't know what referencing is, that is probably not the case^^

Now I can think of two reasons why this could occur for you. Either you locked your Attributes, or you locked the layer you are animating on. To have a locked layer, you would need to have atleast two layers, in that case if the layer you are working on would have a red do not pass sign next to it in the Anim tab of the Layer Editor (Beneath the Channelbox), simply clicking that sign so it turns grey should do the trick.

If you locked your attributes, you would need to select the Attributes in the channelbox and then in the Right-Mousebutton-Menu select "unlock selected"

If non of those are the case, you should probably give us some more information to work with, because it is hard to guess what is wrong from just a view sentences. Information like, what you are working on exactly, what you did before the problem started. If there are any errormessages or warnings would be really helpful. Also picutres of your Maya Scene of a video of the problem often help the members here spot what is wrong.

I hope it helps!

[t_smith5]

Sorry for the delay in replying; I genuinely forgot about this post what with getting caught up with other stuff. 😅

Yeah, I'm familiar with referencing. 🙂 I've not used it much though. Just for getting a file to remember the texture files needed. But no, referencing hasn't been used.

I'll quickly check the file, but I don't think any Layers or Attributes have been locked.

...

Nope. Although, I don't have any Layers at all. Could that be why?

...

Well, I've added one, but I'm still unable to move a keyframe. I'll attach my scene. The keyframes only need to be on the head piece of my mech so it opens up. I've only been trying to move the third keyframe at 12 so far.

[Kahylan]

Hmm, I can move the keyframes in your scene without a problem. What I can see, is that your keys are on inbetween frames, namels 8.3333333 and 12.5, which probably stems from scaling your animation down at some point. I would probably snap them to a whole frame in the Grapheditor or the Attribute Editor on the Anim Curves. Maybe your problem comes from there and has something to do with your preferences on selecting keys.

But I can't really think of a setting that wouldn't allow you to select these keys so I just made a screenshot of my settings, maybe if you also use these settings you won't have that problem anymore?

I hope it helps!

 

[t_smith5]

Cool. Thanks. I'll give your settings a try and see what happens. 🙂

[t_smith5]

Question: how would you change the frame the keyframe is on in the Attribute Editor? I can see Rotate is keyed in red, but I'm not seeing how you would move it to a whole numbered frame from there. Or is it within the shape tab?

Also, my Timeline settings are basically identical to yours. I did set the Playback speed to 25 fps x 1 though because this happens otherwise:

It doesn't really show it well with a GIF, but essentially, it animates very rapidly.

EDIT: And yeah... Not sure how I managed to set these frames at 12.5 etc. I thought they could only be added to whole frames. But even after deleting one and moving the other with the Graph Editor, I can't for the life of me get the keyframes moved by holding down Shift and dragging. 😕

Thanks