Dopesheet vs graph editor
A dopesheet shows when keyframes happen: every key is a marker on a row against time, and it is where you edit timing. A graph editor — also called a curve editor or F-curve editor — shows how a value changes between keys, as a curve of value over time, and it is where you edit spacing and easing. Animators use both: the dopesheet to block and retime, the graph editor to polish.
The short answer
Use the dopesheet for timing — when things happen, how long holds last, and offsetting one part against another. Use the graph editor for spacing — how a value accelerates, decelerates, overshoots and settles between keys. They are two views of the same keyframes, so a change in one shows up in the other.
The dopesheet: timing
The name comes from traditional animation's exposure sheet, the chart that listed every drawing frame by frame against the dialogue and camera instructions. A 3D dopesheet keeps the idea: time runs left to right, each object or property gets a row, and each key is a marker you can select and drag.
It is the fastest place to change when things happen. Drag a key to make a move arrive sooner, stretch a group of keys to slow a whole action down, or slide one limb's keys a few frames later than the body's to get overlapping action — the drag that keeps motion from looking like everything was switched on at once. Syncing to sound and blocking a shot happen here.
What the dopesheet cannot show is what happens between keys. Two diamonds on a row look identical whether the motion between them is a robotic slide or a smooth ease.
The graph editor: spacing
The graph editor draws each track as a curve: time across, value up. The slope of the curve is the speed of the change, so the curve tells you what the dopesheet cannot. A flat stretch is a hold. A steep stretch is fast motion. A curve that flattens as it reaches a key is easing into it; a curve that shoots past the key's value and comes back is an overshoot.
Each key carries tangent handles that set the curve's slope on either side of it. Flatten both handles and the motion slows to a stop at the key and eases away from it; break them apart and the motion changes direction sharply, as a ball does when it hits the ground. This is where animation gets its weight and polish.
It is also where problems show up. A rotation that pops, a foot that slides, or a camera that drifts after it should have stopped is usually visible at a glance as a kink, a slope or an overshoot in the curve.
A workflow that uses both
A common approach is to block in the dopesheet with held (stepped) keys, so each pose snaps into place and the timing can be judged on its own. When the timing works, switch the keys to smooth interpolation and move to the graph editor to shape the spacing. Then go back to the dopesheet for the final offsets.
The names differ between applications, but the pair is always there. Blender and Maya have a Dope Sheet and a Graph Editor. Cinema 4D's Timeline switches between Key Mode and F-Curve Mode. Unity's Animation window toggles between Dopesheet and Curves, and After Effects has its timeline and a Graph Editor.
In Mixos Studio
Studio puts both views in one dock with a Keys / Curves switch — Keys for when things happen, Curves for what shape they happen in — following Cinema 4D's Key Mode and F-Curve Mode. The Animation section opens in Keys; Window ▸ Graph editor puts the same dock into Curves.
In Keys you drag keys to retime them, drag a box across several to move them together, and pick an easing preset for a selected key. In Curves you drag the bezier handles themselves. Because it is one panel rather than two windows, the switch costs no screen space, and it is there on tablets and phones too.
Frequently asked questions
What is a dopesheet used for?
Editing the timing of an animation. It shows each keyframe as a marker on a row against time, so you can move, stretch and offset keys to change when things happen and how long holds last.
What is a graph editor in animation?
A view that draws each animated value as a curve over time. The curve's slope is the speed of the change, and tangent handles on each key control how the motion accelerates and decelerates — which is how easing and overshoot are shaped.
Is a curve editor the same as a graph editor?
Yes. Graph editor, curve editor and F-curve editor are different applications' names for the same view: animated values drawn as curves of value over time.
Should beginners use the dopesheet or the graph editor?
Start in the dopesheet, because timing is the first thing to get right and it is easier to read. Move to the graph editor once the timing works and the motion needs easing, overshoot or cleanup.
What is the difference between timing and spacing?
Timing is when things happen — which frame each key sits on. Spacing is how the motion is distributed between those keys — even for constant speed, bunched near a key for an ease. The dopesheet edits timing; the graph editor edits spacing.
Key a move, then flip the dock from Keys to Curves and watch the same keys become a curve you can bend.