05 · Motion Paths

Motion Paths

Oliver Aemisegger · 4 min read

04 was about when. Now it’s about where: Position keyframes leave a trail, the motion path. Shape it, and your ball rides the loop.

This section enables you to

Create Paths

Every Position keyframe is a point on the path. The handles between them shape the curve.

01

Rough it in

Set a few Position keyframes. Don’t worry about the curve yet.
02

Shape the path

Pull the handles with the Convert Vertex tool, it sits under the Pen tool: press G until it shows. Move the points with the Selection tool.

The ball should look where it’s going, also upside down at the top of the loop.

01

Auto-Orient

Ctrl-click the layer and turn on Orient Along Path.
Transform > Auto-Orient > Orient Along Path
02

Fix the rotation

Set the Rotation once so the ball’s line points forward. Don’t animate it.

Uneven spacing between keyframes makes the speed jump. Rove Across Time evens it out.

01

Rove Across Time

Select all Position keyframes except the first and the last. Ctrl-click and choose Rove Across Time.
02

Ease in and out

Select the first and the last keyframe and set them to Easy Ease.
F9
03

Shape the speed

Open the Graph Editor and adjust the speed graph. Pull the handles until the start and the end feel right.
Shift+F3

Exercise

Continue with your project from 02 Import

Expected result

01Open the loop comp from 02.
02Select ball. Set as many Position keyframes as you like: from the left, once around the loop, out to the right. Uneven spacing is fine.
03Shape the path with the Convert Vertex tool so the ball stays on the inner edge of the loop.
04Turn on Orient Along Path and fix the Rotation.
05Set Rove Across Time on the middle keyframes and Easy Ease on the first and the last one.
06Adjust the speed graph in the Graph Editor.
07Preview: the ball stays on the track, starts and stops softly and keeps an even speed in between.