Motion Path Advice needed!

I'm a newbie to Motion but absolutely love it. I'm using version 3.0.2 and want to learn how to move objects (or the camera) along a 3D sphere (or globe) shaped path. static example: http://twitpic.com/3wnm6
Any advice? Thanks in advance for anyone willing to share tips or tricks on how to do this.

For starters, maybe get a sense of Motion's 3D playing field:
Create a new project.
Create a Rectangle Shape.
Add a Motion Path to it.
Click on Add Camera. This switches your project to 3D.
Make sure 3D overlays are on in View.
Change your view to Top (top left of Canvas).
Ctrl click one or both of the Control Points of the Motion Path, choose Smooth, and adjust the Bezier Handles to give the path a pronounced curve for the Rectangle Shape to move along.
Change your view to Perspective (ctrl p). Orbit the Camera to get the right view.
Press play and see how the Rectangle moves in 3D space.
You can see how you could also apply to this Motion path to the Camera instead of the Shape.

Similar Messages

Flash CS4 - motion paths

Hi,
Im confounded to why this is happening and when it looks so much like a program error, it is sold on the shelves as a final product.
My frustration at CS4 is that the new motion paths are already on the object, identified by a dotted line which you can edit to change the direction of the motion. When I want an object to go from A to B and then on to C, trying to select the object and position it to B is impossible. I always seem to select a bezier point. After attempting to mvoe it to B and then C, zooming in to take a close look at the path its a mess, overlapping in many points and jsut a MESS.
Am i doing something wrong?
To get round the problem I've copied the object in it's location and made another layer and continued the object motion on to B or C.
I'm animating a mouse curser over my visuals and I've now got multiple layers of the cursor object because of this pathing issue.
Any advice would be gratefully received.
thanking you

The above advice is good. It sounds like you have created some kind of motion path, and you are wanting to further edit it. There are many ways to edit, and some will work out better than others. Editing a motion path differs greatly depending on what kind of path you have.
1) If you started with a path where you have pasted, say, a stroke as your path (you drew something with the pencil or pen, and pasted it onto your tween), you will be dealing with a lot of auto-generated keyframes -- especially if you used a pencil line instead of a pen line. If you drag your object around, where those keyframes are will affect the resulting path. What to do: Try to modify the path using the Pen tools, or start with a pen drawn path. This way you have fewer keyframes to accomodate for. If you have a pencil-drawn path, try removing keyframes and then adjust the path using beziers. Alternatively, paste the motion path as a raw path on a new layer, adjust it by bending, and then repaste it onto the tween.
When you ask Flash to auto-keyframe a pasted path, there's really no way around this. Flash has to create keyframes for you, and isn't able to know how you may want to further edit it. So the above ways are necessary, and unfortunately it's a bit of work whatever way you go.
2) You may have a path that you have curved, but you want a linear path "down the road" (later on the tween). In this case, the motion tween is inserting curve property keyframes, because you have curved the path. To make the line straight, you need to convert the points to linear points. You can do this on the path or in the motion editor using the Convert Anchor point tool. Or, you can go in the motion editor, right-click the keyframes and choose "Corner point" or Linear Left/right as needed.
3) You applied an ease and you're dragging the instance on the Stage. This can be tricky. What you've asked Flash to do when applying an ease is for motion math to take over an animate the position of the instance in relation to values (the original path). The instance is controlled by the ease, and Flash accomodates each time you move it. Oftentimes you can't really tell what's going to happen, especially on the Stage (Flash is doing what's mathematically correct and necessary, but it might not be what you actually want!). In this case you probably want to turn off the ease, create your motion path, and then re-enable the ease and see how that affects the path. Adjusting your work in the motion editor might be easier, as you can see the dotted eased values in the graph, which tell you what's actually going to happen to the motion (the "real" value post-ease).
4) You used the transform panel or Free transform tool on the motion path, which gave wacky results and then you're moving the instance and things are getting worse. This is one area where motion paths can have less desirable results, as it's using a traditional tool not really designed for the new feature on a new feature. My recommendation is to avoid the transform panel, and use the Free Transform tool instead. In a nutshell, the Transform panel traditionally deals with shapes, and the motion path is not a traditional shape - so there are a lot of calculations swapping back and forth behind the scenes to try and give you what you want. Things can get wacky here, so if you already have something very complex (such as a pasted path with tons of keyframes), your transformations may not be what you actually wanted. Free Transform is better, or even better, manually adjust the beziers. Another alternative is to, again, copy the motion path as a static raw path, transform it and make your adjustments, and repaste it onto your tween.
Let me know if you need additional help, or are running into something else entirely.
Thanks,
Jen.

How can I mass move symbols with their motion paths without creating new keyframes?

I want to move a lot of symbols all at once if they are off centered or just need to be moved around to see differenr styles across the document, but I can't seem to move a lot of the symbols at once, only one at a time slexting their motion paths. It's rather annoying when I have items coming in at different times and have to re line everything up one by one if I want to move things even over by 1 px. Every time I slecect all my symbols and try to move them it just creates a new keyframe that they follow. Is there any tool or certian way to select the symbols and/or thier motion paths and move them without creating new key frames?

Hi,
There's no direct way of moving all the symbols/ motion tweens begining at different frames altogether, but the following steps should help you do it -
1. Select a motion path on stage, goto Properties panel > Options menu (top left corner) and enable - Always show Motion Paths.
2. Enable - Edit Multiple Frames option in the Timeline.
3. Adjust the frame-markers in Timeline to show all your symbols, motion paths etc.
4. Now that you see all your symbols and motion paths together, Select-all and Move them together. Or, use Shift + click to selectively select the Motion paths/objects and move them.
Let me know if you have any doubts..
Regards,
Nipun

Tween or Motion path for blank keynote with animated stars?

I create star particle effect from this tutorial: http://www.schoolofflash.com/2008/03/flash-cs3-particle-effect/ and got help from this discussion: http://forums.adobe.com/message/5518425 in order to get what I wanted. My code is:
var starsArray:Array = new Array();
var myTimer:Timer = new Timer(50);
myTimer.addEventListener(TimerEvent.TIMER, addStars);
myTimer.start();
addEventListener(Event.ENTER_FRAME, moveStars);
function addStars(e:TimerEvent):void
          var star:Stars = new Stars();
          star.x = stage.stageWidth / 2;
          star.y = stage.stageHeight / 2;
          star.alpha = Math.random() * .8 + .2;
          star.scaleX = star.scaleY = Math.random() * .8 + .2;
          star.xMovement = Math.random() * 10 - 5;
          star.yMovement = Math.random() * 10 - 5;
          starsArray.push(star);
          addChild(star);
          star.cacheAsBitmap = true;
function moveStars(e:Event):void
          for each (var star:MovieClip in starsArray)
                    star.x += star.xMovement;
                    star.y += star.yMovement;
                    star.alpha -= .01;
                    star.scaleX = star.scaleY -= .01;
                    if (star.scaleX <= 0)
                              kill(star);
function kill(star:MovieClip):void
          starsArray.splice(starsArray.indexOf(star), 1);
          removeChild(star);
However, I wanted to move the star particles around. The problem is that the star isn't on the screen, but is called in the actions in the blank keynote. I don't know what I should do next to get the result. I looked up online for tweens and motion paths but all i see is that they required the star to be right on the screen, I think? I also heard something about the compiled clip but I don't know how I should go about creating one and using it to move around the stars while it's animated with all the actionscript. All I wanted is for the star particles to float around the screen (on a path that I can draw out if possible).....

Each star is created in the addStars function. Its position is set in the first two lines:
     star.x = stage.stageWidth / 2;
     star.y = stage.stageHeight / 2;
So, to move each star to a new location when it appears on the stage, you'll need to change the x and y property values for each star. One simple way to do that is to use that same Math.random() function.
Try changing those first two line to:
          star.x = Math.random() * stage.stageWidth;
          star.y = Math.random() * stage.stageHeight;

Using Light as Motion Path for Trapcode Particular

Hi,
I am trying to make an animation for a project, but I cannot figure out some things. I am trying to create the effect that a person is throwing money out the back of a car. I have the live shot of the person in the car, but I cannot get the money to behave how I want it to. I am trying to use the Trapcode Particular, but I can't get the particles to follow any motion path. When I set the settings to motion path, it prompts me to create a light. I create a light, but can't figure out how to make that light have an actual path rather than simply being a spot light. Please help! I'm sorry if I don't make any sense, please ask me to clarify if you need it.
Nicole

KWNWY wrote:
I am trying to use the Trapcode Particular, but I can't get the particles to follow any motion path. ...
Because you are doing it all wrong! If you wanted to use the Motion Path option in the Air physics model, your light would have to be exactly named like that - Motion Path 01. It's not what you want, though. I'm 100% certain of that. You are looking to create a conventional light emitter, which is a whole different thing. For that, your light should be named Emitter (or whatever other prefix you define in the plug-ins Options/ Settings panel). Then you must set the emitter type to Light. If you use spot lights and want your money to emit directionally, you need to set the emitter to Directional as well. Apart from that, Particular will use the light's color, cone angle and intensity to colorize and eject the particles. After that, you can animate the light in 3D space to whatever you need it to do.
Mylenium

Sometimes Circles -- Sometimes Bowen Knots: Motion paths made in Illustrator

I am doing a very meticulous animation in after effects CS6. To execute this project I made all paths in illustrator CS6. Think of the shape as being the Earth, and the motion path as being Earth’s orbit around the sun. I parented the shape (the shape that will follow the motion path; Earth) with a null object, the shape parented by a null object will then be parented by another null object (the path I created in illustrator CS6, at this point I paste the shape (motion path; Earth’s orbit) into Transform: Position.
The problem:
Some motion paths go around the originally made circle, in a perfect cyclical motion. This is what I want. Some motion paths go around the four paths in a square direction, resembling the command symbol on a mac keyboard, also know as the Bowen knot. I do not want this.
My questions:
How do I make every motion path (the perfect circle I made in Illustrator) to function cohesively and dissimilar to the original circle, and not like the command symbol? Why is the conversion doing this to some, but not all shapes?
Best,
Chris

Everyone – thank you to all who responded.
A personal thank you to Rick for spending time and executing a visual explanation.
It turns out my video wasn't published originally, if you need more information click: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1dba60_a-letter-1_creation
To answer your questions: the Earth's orbit refrence is a simile.
I understand the process seems irrational; I being with illustrator because I’m trying to find the exact angle to the center point, in addition to the size of the circle. In other words, a circle has four points, turn the circle the correct amount of degrees and one point starts on the center point (the black dot), the other half ends on the colored dot. The only way I know how to do that is by using a plug-in with illustrator (to get the angle from the colored dot to the center point, and the size of the circle), an analog of this plug-in is not offered in after effects.
My original question: why when I paste the circles (that are already made in illustrator) into the null: position in after effects, some give me a perfect circle, some give me a Bowen knot? I appreciate the suggestions about only in after effects, unfortunately the circle paths were already made in illustrator.
Best,
Chris

Motion path handles disappeared

I've been working in After Effects for a little while now and am having some of my motion path handles not appear when they should. I'm working on a slideshow and they seem to appear for all of my other pictures. What I do is go in between the start and end point of a path and move my picture away from the main (straight) motion path I created which usually creates a new keyframe on my timeline and inserts a point on my motion path with two handles I can adjust to make the path curved. This time it just creates the point on the motion path and keyframe, but doesn't allow me to make the path curved. It's really strange and has happened to me before. The way I solved it earlier was to remove the point where it wasn't working and insert a new one, and it would magically turn on, but that doesn't seem to work now.
I've only been able to find one other person that had a similar problem online, which was solved by going to view---->view options and enabling 'view handles'. This didn't solve my problem so I figured I would ask on here. Thanks in advance for the help.

That worked, although it's a few extra steps that I shouldn't have to take (and haven't prior to this). I held down alt by mistake at first and it only gave me one handle, but if I just tap alt and then click--->drag away from the point, it does provide me with a handle in each direction, which is what I was ultimately needing. Here is a screenshot of that layer although it's pretty standard.
When I selected a keyframe that was in between the beginning and end of the motion path, pressed G, and then hit alt it does exactly what I want it to, but usually it adds the handles automatically, and want it to always. This extra step is very annoying because I'm dealing with a lot of motion paths and plan to in the future as well.

How do I get different layers to follow a motion path but start at a different time?

I'm doing a project where I need to have several credit cards come in from the bottom left, move to the middle right, loop up and come back down to exit bottom right. I can make one card do that with a motion path but every time I make the cards follow it, it just follows the null object wherever it's at. How do I make those cards start at different times so it looks like the cards are trailing? Once it gets to the loop the cards still need to stay behind as well.
I've been using AE for years and I feel like I should know how to do something as basic as this but I've been drawing a blank now for days. Thanks for your help!

Meaning the speed is constant for the duration?
Rove Across Time feature would help.

Custom speed not working in motion path behaviour of emitter

I am trying ot make a custom speed motion path along an open spline. Any amount of adjusting of keyframes and percentages produce no movement at all along the path. The emitter is stuck at the beginning of the path. All the other speed options work except for custom, in the motion path behaviour. What's going on here?

What's going on is a little complex.
When you first add a Motion Path and select Custom Speed, you get a "default" 0% - 100% over the life of the behavior [basically the same as Constant]. If you try to add keyframes in between, it can mess things up pretty good. The results you get can be unexpected.
If you "clear" the automatic default keyframing, then the Custom speed stays at 0% (there are no keyframes). If you move the playhead and change the Custom parameter, nothing "takes" since no original keyframe is set.
In order to make a Custom Speed on a path, you need to first, clear the default keyframing (on the right edge of the column, click on the disclosure triangle and select Reset Parameter). Then, set the position you want your object to start at and Set a keyframe. Then you can advance the playhead and move the Custom Speed control to position the object on the path.
HTH

Imported Photos keep freezing during a motion path across the screen

Today is the first day I am using Motion since upgrading to Leopard about a month ago. I am working on a project where I have various photo images floating around or across the screen. For some reason, I keep getting hiccups when the image moves across the screen. It moves, then pauses for a second or two then continues on. I scaled the image down, added a motion path and a Fade in/Fade out behavior and that is it.
I am not sure if it is a Leopard thing or something I need to adjust in the parameters but I have used Motion plenty of times before the upgrade and it never paused in the middle of move. Its annoying pause. At first I thought it kept hitting a spot on the timeline that needed to be rendered but I keep looping the timeline and it keeps pausing at the spots. Not every picture does this either.
I have enough memory to run the whole Final Cut Studio with no problem so I am still not sure what is up. I may just export it and see if it corrects itself.
Any suggestions you all may have will be appreciated.
C.

In the Motion manual or tutorial or something from Apple, they tell you to put one of the Glow filters on a clip, saying that no system could play it back full speed. So you have enough to run the programs, but that doesn't mean you have real time playback.
Here's a tip- right click the bar right below the toolbar, and check "Frame Rate" in the menu. Now, when you play back your video, it will tell you how many frames per second it is playing back. It will play every frame (this is not how FCP works).
So if you aren't getting smooth playback, RENDER! Then you can see how it will play when exported.

Multiple motion paths for my 3 photos

I’ve been trying to use key frames and motion paths to create a particular effect, but am not really getting anywhere.
This is what I’m TRYING to achieve using 3 different photos.
(Step1) Photo 1 appears full screen, zooms out as it reduces in size. Ends up at a position occupying left third of screen.
(Step2) Cut to Photo 2 full screen, does the same thing – zooms out – reduces in size (in the process revealing small Photo 1 on left). Ends up in middle third of screen.
(Step3) Cut to Photo 3 full screen – does the same thing – zooms out – reduces in size (in the process revealing small Photo1 on left and small Photo 2 in middle). Ends up on right hand third of screen.
However, although I have been able to complete these as individual moves on each of the 3 photos, they remain as 3 separate clips in the timeline.
I can never get the small Photo 1 to be revealed under Photo 2 as it zooms out, or in turn the small Photos 1 & 2 to be revealed under Photo 3 as it zooms out. After a day on this, I’m obviously doing it quite wrong. Maybe it can’t be done in FCP5.
Any advice appreciated.
Robert

Are you putting them on three different tracks?
Yes, on V1, V2, V3 – but no matter where I put them or how I staggered them in relation to each other, it doesn’t work. Each track totally covers the others up – no “transparency”.
Before I possibly went crazy I decided to start fresh.
First, I trashed all my FCP preferences, double checked everything in FCP, and repaired permissions. In FCP I created a new clean “test” project with just the 3 video tracks as before. I also got a friend a little bit familiar with FCP to watch exactly what I was doing. I re-did the three motion paths. Same 3 photos, same moves in each.
It worked perfectly!
I don’t know what’s happened. My first attempt was obviously quite wrong somewhere. My old G4 has been a bit cantankerous lately with FCP. It's all very weird.
Andy - I’m giving you the points, because you forced me to seriously forget about trying to do a fix - instead, redo the whole thing. I’ve lost a day, but it’s been worth it.
Regards
Robert

Motion Paths In After Effects CS6?

Hello,
I was wondering if you could draw a motion path for objects to follow. I have multiple objects(12) that all need to follow on the same path. Do I have to animate all of them individually, or can I draw a path? These objects are NOT masks. They are text imported from Illustrator(CS6).
If Microsoft Powerpoint can do it, then surely Adobe can...
Thanks,
Jack Reynolds
Reynolds Films 2014

You can do this in several ways. The easiest is with Parenting. Next would be to tie position of one layer to position of another layer with an expression. You can also draw a mask path on a layer, select the mask in the timeline, reveal the position property of another layer, set a new keyframe for position to guarantee the mask path will be used as a motion path, and paste.
See this thread for details and a screenshot.
http://forums.adobe.com/message/6084453#6084453
These are AE basics. You can also find more information by using the Search Help field at the top right corner of AE.

How to animate a sequence of shapes on a motion path

Hi All.
I am trying to animate a moving line of dots on a curved motion path but can only do one at a time. What I need is a stream of dots moving along the line as I need to show something 'coming from here and going to there'. I've tried to get a particle emmitter to spit out dots that follow the path but no joy there. I can't do it with a replicator either. Will I just have to laboriously animate one dot then dupe it and offset tons of copies to get the effect? Seems a bit long-winded.
Any ideas would be very greatfully received.
Many thanks
Roger Harris
Quad G5 Mac OS X (10.4.5)

Refer to specialcase's tutorial on drawing lines with the replicator, and you'll have the basics. It's a stellar explanaexplanation of the Sequence Replicator behavior and how it can be used to animate things. Ms. or Mr. Case rules.
http://www.motionsmarts.com/tutorials/drawinglines/drawinglines1.html
Beyond that:
- draw a dot
- draw a wavy line with the Bezier tool
- replicate the dot
- in the inspector under the replicator tab, change the shape to geometry, then drag your wavy line into the shape source well
- increase the number of points 'til they fill your line
- go to the behavior button and add the Sequence Replicator behavior to the replicator
- add opacity as the parameter and start mucking about
Here's the project -- 'dots.motn'
http://homepage.mac.com/longstrider/FileSharing7.html
Cheers

Can't select handles on motion path

Everytime I try to click on and move a handle from a keyframe on a motion path... it suddenly deselects. Sometimes I get the handle, most times I don't. Kinda funny, really. I would select the path, click on a keyframe to make the handles appear, then try to click on one of the handles, and the whole thing deselects. Over and over I go. Am I doing something wrong?

Thanks, I can be a little at ease now that I know I'm not missing something. I did realize tonight that I do need to be very precise, but that just slows me down a lot. And often I still can't quite grab that handle. Perhaps they could add a Precision setting in Preferences which tells the cursor how close it needs to be to the handle to select it.

FCX & FCP: Keyframing and Motion Path

I need to find out if keyframing and motion paths are accomplished pretty much the same way in FCP as in Express. Someone is going to help me with keyframing and motion paths but works only with Final Cut Pro. Anyone know if that will be a problem?
Thanks.
Lee

Your FCP person should know how to do this in FCP.
I believe he does, and I think I can figure out that part of it (eventually) in FCX.
The "walking forward" means that, at the same time the image is scaling up, the right front lower corner of the image moves forward, then the left front lower corner moves forward, etc giving the appearance of the image "walking." I don't know if that makes any sense. What's more, I don't even know if it is possible in FCX.
It was suggested I start the image as a square or rectangle and change it into a trapezoid giving the illusion of its "moving." While I understood it as a theory when explained, actually doing it in FCX is another story.
Lee

Motion Path Advice needed!

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