i was confused until i found that i should hit record on the animation but i didn´t catch that click. I observed it when you turn it off though
I don't know if Unity changed that feature, but before it would automatically be enabled if you were first starting with an animation clip. I believe in this case when I was clicking through the different animation clips it automatically enabled it.
ahh, i see, they added a new "preview mode" which is the default whenever you click anywhere on the timeline. I need to click on the record button to start/stop recording.
when i did a search i found people complaining about the auto record on the forums so may be they changed it...
BTW, thanks for answering my questions, you are awesome