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How do you reverse an animation in Blender?

Published in Animation Basics 3 mins read

There are several ways to reverse an animation in Blender. The most common and straightforward method involves manipulating the keyframes within the Dope Sheet or Graph Editor.

Here's a breakdown of the general process:

  1. Select the animated object: Ensure the object you want to reverse the animation for is selected in the 3D Viewport.

  2. Open the Dope Sheet or Graph Editor: In Blender, go to the "Animation" workspace or open a new Dope Sheet or Graph Editor window. The Dope Sheet gives an overview of keyframes, while the Graph Editor shows the animation curves.

  3. Select all Keyframes: In the Dope Sheet or Graph Editor, press 'A' to select all keyframes related to the object's animation.

  4. Reverse the Keyframes: There are a few methods to accomplish this:

    • Using the Time Scale function:

      • In the Dope Sheet, press Shift + O to open the Time Scale dialog.
      • Set the Time Scale value to -1.
      • Choose a pivot point to scale around. The default is often the start of your animation, so scaling around that would reverse the animation starting at its beginning. You can also scale around the cursor position for different effects.

    • Manually dragging Keyframes:

      • In the Dope Sheet or Graph Editor select all keyframes by pressing 'A'.
      • Press 'G' to grab the keyframes.
      • Press 'X' to constrain the movement to the X-axis (timeline).
      • Type the negative of the number of frames in your animation sequence. For example, if your animation is 100 frames long, type -100 and press Enter. This essentially mirrors the keyframes around the beginning of the timeline.
      • You might need to adjust the keyframes afterward to fit within your desired start and end frame range.

  5. Adjust as Necessary: Review the reversed animation and make any necessary adjustments to timing or keyframe positions.

Why Reverse Animation?

Reversing animations can be useful for various effects:

  • Creating looping animations where an action plays forward and then backward seamlessly.
  • Correcting mistakes in animation without having to redo the entire sequence.
  • Achieving stylistic or surreal effects.

Reversing animation in Blender provides a flexible way to reuse and modify existing animations for different creative purposes.

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