Easing & Interpolation
Easing is the difference between animation that feels mechanical and animation that feels alive. Without easing, objects move at a perfectly constant speed — which looks unnatural because nothing in the real world actually moves that way. Easing adds acceleration and deceleration, making motion feel physical and polished.
CloudMonet has two separate easing systems, opened the same way but offering different options depending on what you click:
- Preset easing — governs an entire preset animation (Fade, Slide, Pop, and so on) applied from the Animate tab.
- Keyframe interpolation — governs the curve between two keyframes you placed manually on the timeline.
Opening the easing editor
Click the line between two keyframes on a track (or the small Fn marker at its midpoint). What opens depends on whether that segment belongs to a preset:
- Preset-driven segment → opens the preset's easing picker.
- Manually keyframed segment → opens the interpolation curve editor in the Properties panel.
Preset easing options
| Name | Feel |
|---|---|
| Smooth land | Ease out — the default. Starts fast, decelerates to a stop. |
| Slow start | Ease in. Starts slow, accelerates toward the end. |
| Smooth | Ease in and out. Slow at both ends, fast through the middle. |
| Snap | A sharper ease-out — a quicker, more abrupt landing than Smooth land. |
| Back | Overshoots the target slightly, then settles back. |
| Bounce | A piecewise bounce, like a ball settling after a drop. |
| Spring | A damped wobble — one perceptible overshoot before it settles. |
| Linear | Constant speed, no easing. |
| Custom | Fully custom cubic-bezier curve. |
Smooth land is your default best friend. When something arrives and stops, it makes the motion feel like it's decelerating naturally rather than stopping dead.
Keyframe interpolation options
For the curve between two manually-placed keyframes, the options are different — a smaller, more direct set:
| Name | Feel |
|---|---|
| Linear | Constant speed |
| Sine | A gentle S-curve, smooth in and out |
| Quadratic | A single gentle curve, adjustable via one handle |
| Custom | Drag the two handles freely to shape any curve |
Dragging either handle automatically switches the mode to Custom.
Choosing the right easing
Think about what the object is doing physically:
- Arriving (flying in, fading in, scaling up) → Smooth land (Ease out) — it starts fast and slows as it reaches its final position
- Leaving (flying out, fading out) → Slow start (Ease in) — it starts slow and accelerates as it exits
- Passing through (moving across the canvas) → Smooth (Ease in & out) — slow at both ends for smooth entry and exit
Using the curve editor
Whichever editor opens, it works the same way: a curve with two draggable handles appears in the Properties panel.
- The horizontal axis represents time
- The vertical axis represents the property value
- Drag the handles to shape the curve — a steep section means fast movement, a flat section means slow movement
If you want a bounce effect, pull one handle above the top of the curve area. This causes the value to temporarily overshoot before settling, simulating a spring or elastic snap. Or just pick the Back, Bounce, or Spring preset, which do this for you.