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# Animation Data Structures

The FBX SDK uses these data structures for animation: animation stacks (FbxAnimStack), animation layers (FbxAnimLayer), animation curve nodes (FbxAnimCurveNode), animation curves (FbxAnimCurve), and animation curve keys (FbxAnimCurveKey). The data structures are connected to each other through object-to-object (OO) connections and object-to-property (OP) connections in a FBX scene (FbxScene). See Animation Classes and their Interrelationships for more information about these data structures.

FBX SDK supports blended animation, which is a feature of Autodesk MotionBuilder, Autodesk Maya, and other applications. Blending creates a smooth transition from one animation to another. For example, if you have a set of animation curves that enable a character to walk, and another set that allows the character to run, then you can create a smooth transition from walking to running by blending the walking animation with the running animation. When blending animation, you will get the best results if you blend animation with a similar motion. See Blending Animation for a description about using the animation data structures for blending.

See Animating a Node for an example on creating animation (unblended) by using these data structures.

Before FBX SDK 2011, the data structures used for animation were the take node, take node container, take info, and others. See Migrating to the New Data Structures for Animation to know the difference between the current data structures and the data structures used for animation in the FBX SDK 2010.

#### Topics in this section

- Animation Classes and their Interrelationships
- Migrating to the New Data Structures for Animation
- Writing and Using your Own Evaluator
- Storing Animation in a Vertex Cache