User Manual

Table Of Contents
Tips for Manipulating Motion Paths
There are a variety of ways you can create and edit motion paths in the viewer.
Compound Motion Paths Using Path Centers
Every motion path has a defined center represented by a crosshair. Path centers allow paths to
be connected to other controls and behave in a hierarchical manner, which is an exceptionally
powerful way of creating complex motion by combining relatively simple paths.
A useful example of this technique would be animating the path of a bee in flight. A bee often
flies in a constant figure eight pattern while simultaneously moving forward. The easy way of
making this happen involves two paths working together.
In the following example, the bee would be connected to a first path in a Transform node, which
would be a figure eight of the bee moving in place. This first path’s center would then be
connected to another path defining the forward motion of the bee through the scene via a
second Transform node.
To create a compound motion path:
1 Create a figure-eight motion path by keyframing an object or drawing a polyline mask.
(If using a polygon mask, you’ll need to remove the auto-keyframing and publish the
mask prior to the next step.)
2 Add a polyline mask and create a smooth curve spline that travels across the screen.
3 At the bottom of the Inspector, right-click over the “Right-click here for shape animation”
label and choose Remove Polygon Polyline to remove the auto-animation behavior.
4 Right-click over the label again and choose Publish.
5 Select the object’s Transform node and click the Modifiers tab.
6 Right-click over the Path1 Center X/Y parameter and choose Path.
7 At the bottom of Path2, choose Connect To > Polygon: Polyline.
8 Keyframe the Path2 Displacement to move the object along the second path.
Two motion paths working together.
Chapter – 62 Animating with Motion Paths 1259