Animation will not loop

Symptoms

If one or more of these match what you are seeing, you are on the right page.

• •The preview loops but the exported file plays once
• •The loop has a visible stutter at the seam
• •Looping stops at the work area boundary
• •The loop plays forward then backward unexpectedly

Causes and fixes

Ordered from most to least likely. Work down the list — each cause is paired with what to do about it.

1. 1

   The transport Loop toggle is being relied on for export.

   It is preview-only. Use loopOut("cycle") on the property to cycle infinitely after the last keyframe, or build the loop into the keyframes.

2. 2

   The loop seam has a duplicate frame.

   With a manual loop, the last frame must not be identical to the first in the output or the loop point stutters. Set the export to end one frame before the repeated keyframe.

3. 3

   The loop should bounce rather than restart.

   Use loopOut("pingpong") to play forward then backward and repeat. loopIn("cycle") extends the cycle before the first keyframe as well.

4. 4

   The work area is shorter than the loop.

   Loop playback runs within the In–Out range. Set the In and Out points with I and O to span the full cycle.

5. 5

   The first and last keyframe values do not match.

   For a manual loop, create keyframes at frame N with the same values as frame 0. Without matching values the animation jumps at the seam.

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