Actions

When animating objects and properties in Blender, Actions record and contain the data. As everything else in Blender, Actions are data-blocks.

Actions.

So when you animate an object by changing its location with keyframes, the animation is saved to the Action.

Each property has a channel which it is recorded to, for example, Cube.location.x is recorded to Channel X Location. The X location and Y location properties can be shared across multiple objects, if all objects have X location and Y location properties beneath them.

Graph Editor. Each channel has an F-curve represented by the lines between the keyframes.

Actions

Record and contain animation data.

Groups

Are groups of channels.

Channels

Record properties.

F-Curves

F-Curves are used to interpolate the difference between the keyframes.

Keyframes

Keyframes are used to set the values of properties bound to a point in time.

Working with Actions

The Action data-block menu.

When you first animate an object by adding keyframes, Blender creates an Action to record the data.

Actions can be managed with the Action data-block menu in the Dope Sheet Action Editor header, or the Sidebar region of the NLA Editor.

If you are making multiple actions for the same object, press the shield button for each action. This will give the actions a Fake User and will make Blender save the unlinked actions.

Objects can only use one Action at a time for editing. The NLA Editor is used to blend multiple actions together.

Bake Action

Reference

Editor

3D View

Mode

Object and Pose Modes

Menu

Object/Pose ‣ Animation ‣ Bake Action...

The final motion of objects or bones depends not only on the keyframed animation, but also on any active F-curve modifiers, drivers, and constraints. On each frame of all the scene's frames, the Bake Action tool computes the final animation of the selected objects or bones with all those modifiers, drivers, and constraints applied, and keyframes the result.

This can be useful for adding deviation to a cyclic action like a walk cycle, or to create a keyframe animation created from drivers or constraints.