"Why is keyframing a necessity?" "So basically, what does actually establishing the frame as a "key frame" do in poser?" If you're working with stills, they are set on the first frame by default (and you can't erase those) but they are unneccesary. Just make sure you do all your posing and changes etc. on the first frame. If you accidently move to a frame other than the first, Poser will assume that you want things to change between whatever they are on the first frame and whatever they are at the keyframe you accidently set. Thus it will make whatever changes you made over time, sometimes with unpredictable, amusing or even horrific results. When you're animating, keyframes define what a characteristic is supposed to be at a specific point in time. The characteristic can be anything from position to size to components of a material to light setting - anything the programmers have made animatable. Keyframing is necessary because, by definition, in animation something changes over time. Keyframes are the only way any animation software can identify what's changing, at what rate it's changing, and when it's not changing anymore. If you're creating a still, there is only 1 point in time. With animation, there's as many as you want. "In Poser, when I move to a frame and change anything at all, it seems to re-key the animation. In max it doesn't work like this." If you mean Poser automatically creates a keyframe at that point in time for whatever you've changed, that's what it's set to do by default. In Lightwave I can have it either do this automatically (like Poser) or I can set Lightwave to require me to manually create a keyframe. Max should be similar (check your preferences). With Poser you can manually set keyframes. I just haven't found a way to make it not set them automatically when I move something - except through the use of "undo" or the delete keyframe button. If you don't actually want the keyframe Poser sets, it can be deleted. Did I answer your questions? I may have misinterpreted what you are asking; specific details are almost always a help. Bobasaur (I was 7 of 12) [grin]

Before they made me they broke the mold!
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