Scale animation does not change the object size

Symptoms

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

• •The element drifts as it scales
• •Only one axis scales
• •Scaling the group does not scale the members visually
• •The element flips instead of shrinking

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 anchor point is off-centre.

   Scale expands away from the anchor. Set it to the centre in the 3×3 grid for symmetric growth, or place it deliberately for a scale that pushes in one direction.

2. 2

   Only one of Scale X and Scale Y is keyframed.

   They are independent tracks. Keyframe both for uniform scaling — or keep them separate deliberately for squash-and-stretch.

3. 3

   A negative scale value flipped the element.

   Scale X at -100% mirrors horizontally and Scale Y at -100% mirrors vertically, equivalent to the flip commands. Keep values positive when scaling down.

4. 4

   Record Mode is off.

   Enable it with Ctrl+Alt+R so scale changes create keyframes rather than updating the element across the whole timeline.

5. 5

   A group scale is compounding with a member scale.

   Group and member transforms multiply. A member scaled to 50% inside a group scaled to 200% renders at its original size.

Related pages