User Manual

To slow down, speed up, stop, or even reverse the motion of the control along the path, adjust
the values of the points for the path’s displacement in the Spline Editor or in the Inspector.
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A Displacement value of 0.0 in the Spline Editor indicates that the control is at the
very beginning of a path.
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A value of 1.0 indicates that the control is positioned at the end of the path.
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Each locked point on the motion path in the viewer has an associated point on the
Displacement spline.
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Unlocked points have a control point in the viewer but do not have a corresponding
point on the Displacement spline.
Heading Offset
Connecting to the Heading adjusts the auto orientation of the object along the path. For
instance, if a mask’s angle is connected to the path’s heading, the mask’s angle will adjust to
follow the angle of the path.
Right-Click Here for Shape Animation
It’s possible to animate the shape of the path as well or to connect it to other path controls like
Polyline Masks or Paint Strokes.
TIP: Switching Default Paths
You can change the default path type used when animating a position or center
control to a path (if this is the preferred type of animation). Open the Preferences
window and select the Global Settings. In the Default category, select the Point With
menu and choose Path. The next time Animate is selected from a Position or Center
control’s contextual menu, a path is used.
Perturb
The Perturb modifier generates smoothly varying random values for a given parameter based
on Perlin noise. It can be used to add jitter, shake, or wobble to any animatable parameter, even
if the parameter is already animated. Its results are similar to those of the Shake modifier,
although it uses a different set of controls that may be more intuitive. Unlike other random
modifiers, you can apply the Perturb modifier to polylines, shapes, grid meshes, and even color
gradients.
For example, to add camera shake to an existing path, right-click the crosshair and choose
Insert > Perturb, and then adjust the Strength down to suit. Alternatively, right-clicking the path’s
“Right-click here for shape animation” label at the bottom of the Inspector lets you apply perturb
to the path’s polyline. This works best if the polyline has many points—for example, if it has
been tracked or hand-drawn with the Draw Append pencil tool. A third usage option is to use
the Insert contextual menu to insert the modifier onto the Displacement control. This causes the
motion along the path to jitter back and forth without actually leaving the path.
NOTE: Perturb can only add jitter; it cannot smooth out existing animation curves.
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