Roblox animation editor: keyframes, easing styles, and publishing your first clip
Posted: Sat Oct 17, 2026 9:30 pm
Roblox animation editor: keyframes, easing styles, and publishing your first clip
The Animation Editor lives in Studio's Avatar tab, under Window > Avatar. You open it with a rig selected, move bones into poses on the timeline, and the editor interpolates between them. Here is how the pieces fit together.
Poses and keyframes
An animation is a series of poses. A pose is a specific position of the bones or meshes in your rig. You scrub to a frame, move or rotate a bone, and the editor drops a keyframe for that bone at that time. The timeline runs at 30 frames per second by default, so 0:15 means half a second. Press R to toggle between Move and Rotate modes. Spacebar previews the animation.
Easing styles
Linear easing, the default, moves at a constant speed between keyframes. It looks stiff for anything organic. Per-keyframe easing options in the editor:
Easing direction picks which end is affected: In, Out, or InOut. The PoseEasingStyle enum reference notes that Cubic is a legacy alias with a known direction-reversal bug between the editor and runtime, and recommends CubicV2 for all new work.
Looping and cleanup
A looping animation does not interpolate between the last and first keyframes. To loop smoothly, duplicate the first keyframes and use them as the final ones. The editor also removes redundant keyframes automatically when 3 or more consecutive keyframes share the same value, and the Optimize Keyframes tool in the playback controls lets you cut keyframe count on demand with a slider.
Saving and exporting
You save animations to the Toolbox or export them as files you can load with an AnimationController at runtime. The documentation covers both paths on the same page.
Sources: Roblox Creator Documentation: Animation Editor and PoseEasingStyle enum reference
The Animation Editor lives in Studio's Avatar tab, under Window > Avatar. You open it with a rig selected, move bones into poses on the timeline, and the editor interpolates between them. Here is how the pieces fit together.
Poses and keyframes
An animation is a series of poses. A pose is a specific position of the bones or meshes in your rig. You scrub to a frame, move or rotate a bone, and the editor drops a keyframe for that bone at that time. The timeline runs at 30 frames per second by default, so 0:15 means half a second. Press R to toggle between Move and Rotate modes. Spacebar previews the animation.
Easing styles
Linear easing, the default, moves at a constant speed between keyframes. It looks stiff for anything organic. Per-keyframe easing options in the editor:
Code: Select all
Linear - constant speed
Constant - snaps, no interpolation
CubicV2 - eases in or out with cubic interpolation
Elastic - overshoots like a rubber band
Bounce - bounces at the start or endLooping and cleanup
A looping animation does not interpolate between the last and first keyframes. To loop smoothly, duplicate the first keyframes and use them as the final ones. The editor also removes redundant keyframes automatically when 3 or more consecutive keyframes share the same value, and the Optimize Keyframes tool in the playback controls lets you cut keyframe count on demand with a slider.
Saving and exporting
You save animations to the Toolbox or export them as files you can load with an AnimationController at runtime. The documentation covers both paths on the same page.
Sources: Roblox Creator Documentation: Animation Editor and PoseEasingStyle enum reference