Markers

Markers are used to denote frames with key points or significant events within an animation. E.g. it could be that a character’s animation starts, the camera changes position, or a door opens. Markers can be given names to make them more meaningful at a quick glance. They are available in many of Blender’s editors.

Note

Unlike keyframes, markers are always placed at a whole frame number, you cannot set a marker at frame 2.5.

Markers can be created and edited in the following editors:

• Graph Editor

• Dope Sheet

• NLA Editor

• Video Sequence Editor

• Timeline

Note

A marker created in one of these editors will also appear in all others that support them.

Types

Besides standard markers, pose markers are another type of markers, which are specific to armatures and shape keys. They are used to denote poses in the Action Editor mode and Shape Keys Editor of Dope Sheet.

Visualization

In the supported editors, if at least one is created, markers are visualized in a separate row at their bottom. This area can be disabled per editor via the View ‣ Show Markers menu option.

Note

While the markers area is disabled, markers operators are not available in that editor, and in the header the Marker menu is hidden.

Standard

Regular markers are shown as small white triangles, empty if unselected or filled if selected, and with a dashed line that covers the editor height at the corresponding frame. If they have a name, this is shown to their right in white.

3D Viewport

The 3D Viewport does not allow you to create, edit or remove markers, but it shows their name in the Object Info in the upper left corner, when on their frame.

Pose Markers

Pose markers show a diamond-shaped icon in the Dope Sheet. In the NLA editor pose markers are shown as a red dashed line inside the relative action strip.

Add Marker

Reference

Mode

All modes

Menu

Marker ‣ Add Marker

Shortcut

M

The simplest way to add a marker is to move to the frame where you would like it to appear, and press M.

Hint

Markers can also be added during playback.

Pose Markers

If Show Pose Markers is checked, a pose marker and a new pose in the Pose Library are added.

Selecting

Reference

Mode

All modes

Shortcut

LMB

Click LMB on the marker’s triangle to select it. Use Shift-LMB to select multiple markers.

In the Graph Editor, Dope Sheet, NLA Editor, Timeline, and Video Sequence Editor, you can also select all markers with A while hovering the mouse over the marker row, and apply selection tools on them like Box Select, etc. (as usual, LMB to select, RMB to deselect). The corresponding options are found in the Select menu of these editors.

Editing

Duplicate Marker

Reference

Mode

All modes

Menu

Marker ‣ Duplicate Marker

Shortcut

Shift-D

You can duplicate the selected markers by pressing Shift-D. Once duplicated, the new ones are automatically placed in select mode, so you can move them to the desired location.

Note

Note that unlike most other duplications in Blender, the names of the duplicated markers are not altered at all (no .001 numeric counter append).

Duplicate Marker to Scene

Reference

Mode

All modes

Menu

Marker ‣ Duplicate Marker to Scene…

Duplicates the selected markers into another scene.

Delete Marker

Reference

Mode

All modes

Menu

Marker ‣ Delete Marker

Shortcut

X

To delete the selected markers simply press X, and confirm the pop-up message with LMB.

Rename Marker

Reference

Mode

All modes

Menu

Marker ‣ Rename Marker

Shortcut

Ctrl-M

Having dozens of markers scattered throughout your scene’s time will not help you much unless you know what they stand for. You can name a marker by selecting it, pressing Ctrl-M, typing the name, and pressing the OK button.

Move Marker

Reference

Mode

All modes

Menu

Marker ‣ Move Marker

Shortcut

G

Once you have one or more markers selected, press G, while hovering with the mouse over the marker bar, to move them, and confirm the move with LMB or Return (as usual, cancel the move with RMB, or Esc). Or drag them with the LMB.

By default, you move the markers in one-frame steps, but if you hold Ctrl, the markers will move in steps corresponding to 1 second (according to the scene’s FPS).

Show Pose Markers

Reference

Editor

Dope Sheet

Mode

Action Editor or Shape Keys Editor mode

Menu

Marker ‣ Show Pose Markers

Shows markers belonging to the active action instead of scene markers.

Make Markers Local

Reference

Mode

All modes

Menu

Marker ‣ Make Markers Local

It is possible to convert standard markers into pose markers with Marker ‣ Make Markers Local. Note that the original marker will be gone. If you want to keep it, make a duplicate before you convert.

Jump to Next/Previous Marker

Reference

Mode

All modes

Menu

Marker ‣ Jump to Next/Previous Marker

Moves the playhead to the next/previous marker relative to the current playhead position.

Bind Camera to Markers

Reference

Editor

Timeline

Menu

Marker ‣ Bind Camera to Markers

Shortcut

Ctrl-B

Bind Camera to Markers is a special operator only available in the Timeline. The operator allows markers to be used to set the active object as the active camera.

To use this operator, select the object to become the active camera and select a marker to bind the active camera to. If no marker is selected when the operator is applied, a marker will be added. When an object is bound to a marker, the marker will be renamed to the name of the active object. These markers also have a camera icon next to the left of the name to easily distinguish them from other informative markers.

These markers can be moved to change the frame at which the active camera is changed to the object the marker is bound to.