Animation is available for both maps and scenes. To build an animation, you
must add one to the active map. On the View tab in the Animation group, click Add 
. The Animation tab appears, containing settings and tools to author and edit animations. The Animation Timeline pane appears, displaying the animation keyframes you create.
Keyframes are the mechanism for storing properties about the map and its layers. An animation transitions the view between the captured states in the keyframes. For example, an animation can move the camera between two locations along a street or fade layers out of view by changing their transparency. You can create keyframes for a new animation by manually inserting them one by one or you can use an import method to automatically create many keyframes based on a specific workflow.
Manually create keyframes
Build an animation manually by creating keyframes one by one. To start, click Create first keyframe in the Animation Timeline pane. The first keyframe is always at zero seconds (00:00.000). Once the first keyframe exists, the Keyframe Gallery in the Animation Timeline shows a thumbnail representation of that extent.
The view extent in your map or scene updates to show clipped edges. These gray areas that appear on either the sides or top and bottom of your view represent the aspect ratio of the animation export resolution settings. The gray areas provide feedback of what will and will not be included in the exported video.
Continue to append more keyframes by clicking the Append button 
after navigating or updating your map or scene. You can also use Append 
from the Animation tab in the Create group. Both append methods allow you to specify the transition type as you go. When you customize the curvature type of the transition path between keyframes, you can create different styles of animation experiences such as a fly-through, tour, fly-around, or
stepped animation.
Automatically create keyframes
Another way to create an animation is to automatically generate multiple keyframes using a preconfigured playback style. Click the Import drop-down list in the Create group and choose an option. You can automatically create keyframes in the following ways:
| Import option | Description |
|---|---|
Bookmarks to Fly-Through | Create keyframes from the bookmarks in the current map. A fixed transition path is used to move between keyframes. |
Bookmarks to Tour | Create keyframes from the bookmarks in the current map. A hop transition path is used to move between keyframes and includes a two-second hold at each location. |
Time Slider Steps | Create keyframes by importing data from the time-enabled layer in your current map. A stepped transition is used between keyframes. |
Range Slider Steps | Create keyframes by importing data from the range-enabled layer in your current map. A stepped transition is used between keyframes. |
Fly Along Path | Create keyframes at each vertex of a single, selected line feature. A linear transition is used between keyframes. |
Circle Left Around Center | Creates keyframes to produce a smooth clockwise path around the center of the view. The view must be a 3D scene and the camera angle must be adjusted so it is not looking straight up or straight down. Use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+click to set the center of the view. |
Circle Right Around Center | Creates keyframes to produce a smooth counterclockwise path around the center of the view. The view must be a 3D scene and the camera angle must be adjusted so it is not looking straight up or straight down. Use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+click to set the center of the view. |
Circle Left Around Selection | Creates keyframes to produce a smooth clockwise path around the selected feature or features. The view must be a 3D scene and the camera angle must be adjusted so it is not looking straight up or straight down. |
Circle Right Around Selection | Creates keyframes to produce a smooth counterclockwise path around the selected feature or features. The view must be a 3D scene and the camera angle must be adjusted so it is not looking straight up or straight down. |
Keyframes that participate in a loop and that were created using the circle-around options are easier to edit as a selected group of keyframes rather than individually. For example, to adjust the height of the loop path, select all of the keyframes and adjust the z-value in the Animation Properties pane. Use the circle-around options to also create a partial fly-around experience by deleting the part of the path you don't need.
Insert additional animations
You can insert additional animations into a map or scene by creating a blank animation. Click Create Animation in the Manage group and a new, empty animation is added and becomes the active animation. Optionally, you can select an existing animation from the Current Animation drop-down list and click Duplicate to create a copy of the currently selected animation.
Learn more about managing multiple animations
Legacy:
When you import an ArcGIS Desktop map, globe, or scene document that contains an animation file, the animation is not imported into your project.
Play an animation
The playback controls for animation are available in the Playback group on the Animation tab, as well as in the Animation Timeline pane. These buttons are similar to standard video player controls. Click the Play button 
to automatically play an animation that starts from the current keyframe and stops at the last keyframe. To only play a selected set of keyframes, use the context menu for those selected keyframes in the Animation Timeline pane and choose Play Selection. You can step through individual keyframes using Next Keyframe 
and Previous Keyframe 
. To return to the start of your animation, click Reset 
. To play an animation in a continuous loop so that it starts over again after reaching the last keyframe, click Repeat 
. Playback controls also have keyboard shortcuts.
Playback frame rate
The interactive playback frame rate of an animation in ArcGIS Pro may be lower than in an exported movie. While an exported movie always plays at the correct speed, playback in ArcGIS Pro varies depending on several factors, including your computer's hardware.
Other factors that may impact the interactive playback frame rate in the view include the following:
- Transparency applied to 3D symbols, basemaps, and labels
- Complex 3D symbology
- Filtering the map content through time and range
- The camera's proximity to areas on the ground with varying relief in the landscape, for example, canyons, mountains, and valleys
- Using camera cuts (the stepped transition type) or quick, sudden camera movements
You can improve the speed of interactive playback by clicking the Camera Only Playback button 
in the Playback group on the Animation tab. This mode only displays the camera position. All other keyframe properties, such as the map's time and range settings, layer visibility, and transparency, are not displayed until playback stops.
To learn more about requirements for running ArcGIS Pro, see ArcGIS Pro system requirements.
Configurable keyframe properties
In the Animation Properties pane, there are additional settings to customize animation creation and the behavior of newly created keyframes. These settings are saved for the duration of the session until you change them. Configurable animation properties for keyframes include the following:
- Append Time—The time spacing used between keyframes. The default is 3 seconds.
- Maintain Speed—Create keyframes that maintain the travel speed between them.
- Append Front—Append keyframes to the start of your animation instead of at the end.
- Hold Time—The duration of a hold keyframe. The default is 2 seconds.