I am having some trouble adding keyframes in blender. I have a mesh of a head in 3 forms. The first is with the eyes open, the second is with them half closed, and the third is with them completely closed.

I want to add a keyframe to the original mesh ( with the eyes open) and then change the mesh to the half closed and add another keyframe. When remove the first mesh and add the second, it deletes the keyframe I have added.

I have read in the forums that you can key the vertex points, but I actually want to switch the entire mesh between frames. Is there a way to do this?

Thanks in advance to anyone who has some insight.

Layer keys let you move objects between layers. Just keep one layer invisible in your renders.

If you have three separate objects, each object has its own set of keyframes. Have you tried using shapekeys on the original (eyes open) mesh?