Edit motion paths

Mar 04, 2015

Hello,

I am looking for a tutorial or discussion about editing a motion path once one is created. I couldn't find one.

After creating a motion path, sometimes I need to adjust where I want the object to begin or end, but it seems difficult. If I move the object at the start point up or down, the end point moves up or down. I just want to move the start point only, for example and the end point to stay put. I have tried locking the object, but no luck.

Can someone direct me to how to do this without having to delete the motion path and start over?

Thank you,

 

44 Replies
Ryann Cheung

sure - here's the one I'm struggling with.  When I try to move the end point to get the picture to land on the 2nd "step", instead of floating above it, I wind up moving the start point too. 

Eventually, the animation won't start when the slide starts, so while the hovering start point doesn't look horrible now, it will seem odd once I alter the timing.

Heidi Atwood

Has anyone figured this out? I'm struggling to adjust the length of a motion path. For example, I can see the item "Line Motion Path 1" when it is used as part of the trigger, but that "Line Motion Path 1" object is not shown on the timeline. I'm trying to animate several items to stack on top of each other when the user clicks one, and I need to fine-tune the ending point of each motion path to get them aligned. But I can't find any setting that allows me to state the position (height/width relative to the slide) or length of the line. Is this simply not available? If I don't get the motion path right on the first try, there's no way to adjust it?

Michael Hinze
Heidi Fulcher

Has anyone figured this out? I'm struggling to adjust the length of a motion path. For example, I can see the item "Line Motion Path 1" when it is used as part of the trigger, but that "Line Motion Path 1" object is not shown on the timeline. I'm trying to animate several items to stack on top of each other when the user clicks one, and I need to fine-tune the ending point of each motion path to get them aligned. But I can't find any setting that allows me to state the position (height/width relative to the slide) or length of the line. Is this simply not available? If I don't get the motion path right on the first try, there's no way to adjust it?

Select a motion path and press CTRL+Shift+ENTER to display a dialog that lets you define the position and dimensions of a motion path.

Tom Lunzer

It would be great if someone could actually  answer Bill and Ryan's with a useful answer. How do you move the endpoint of a motion path without moving the start point. Or visa versa, move the start point without effecting the position of your end point.

And the links to forms and Articulate Storyline tips pages that don't have the answer are no help people! 

Emily Ruby

Hi Tom,

You can select the endpoint of the Lines, Turns, and Arc.  For the Arc you can move the separately when going left to right, but not moving up or down. I believe this is to keep it in an Arc shape. Circle, Square, Triangle, and Trapezoid cannot be moved as the start/stop are the same spot.

The freeform, scribble and curve do not have a way to adjust the end point without moving the start point to keep it in the same shape that you used. And as always, if you want these options changed, you can submit a request here. Hope this helps, let us know if you need anything further.

 

Tom Lunzer

Thanks. But once again submitting another feature request for something that should have been a standard feature of any motion path option is about as useful as sandals for penguins. I guess we will have to wait until the next version of Articulate Storyline comes around to include this so obvious function. I wonder how much that upgrade will cost us. Grumble..grumble...grumble...

Carina Koren

In fact, the start and the end points can be positioned separately, but only by dragging it with the mouse. Unfortunately this is very imprecise and that's the problem! If by selecting one point you could also use the keyboard for pixel-precise positioning, without repositioning the whole path, the problem would be solved.

Ashley Terwilliger-Pollard

Hi Alicia,

I know some folks have looked for increasing the options and edits available to motion paths, and there were some changes to it within Storyline 360. You can see the basic ideas here for editing and modifying the paths. There is also a bit more information in this article with tips and ideas for how to orient objects to the path so that may help you out as well! 

Marcia Kitshoff

This is becoming an increasingly problematic issue for me. I am using multiple motion paths in my Story, and besides not having the ability to specify start and end points, size or rotation options when adding motion to items (which I have submitted as a feature request), I am unable to distinguish between two motion paths applied to the same item. I want to add a motion to move an item in one direction when the slide timeline starts, and then to move it back to its original position when a button is clicked. I have the option of reversing the motion path (after duplicating it), but then I am unable to assign it to the item as there is no way to see the paths I have created. Clicking on the item will only show me one motion path, and not all the paths that I have created for it.

The only way I have found to work around this is to duplicate the whole slide, and then create the duplicated slide as the "mirror image" for the reverse motion. This is a completely ridiculous workaround, as there is no way for me to judge where the first motion ended so that I can start the "mirror" in the same place and have it reverse.

As someone who loves Storyline, I am becoming increasingly frustrated with this limitation and the fact that I  have seen people requesting this ability for over 2 years now. I can use very basic editors and have the ability to specify exactly where I want an item to start on the X and Y axis and also exactly where I want it to stop. I honestly hope that this issue will be addressed soon as I believe it to be a core functionality to any e-Learning compiler. Motion and animation are at the very heart of Instructional Design principles these days. I was very excited about the launch of Articulate 360, but I have been underwhelmed by the new features and additions thus far. Lots of bells and whistles mean absolutely nothing when the basic functionality you expect from a compiler is lacking.