Using Freeform Motion Path
Mar 05, 2020
By
Jane Kuo
I am building a course where I need a plane to move along a curve but I am having trouble getting it to work using a Freeform motion path. When I use it, the plane movement is very jittery.
In another course that used Freeform, the movement was smooth.
I've attached a screenshot of the path that I need the plane to travel on.
I've read on the forum that you can use curves or turns, but how do I use a turn motion path and have the plane change direction as it's moving?
Thanks,
16 Replies
In the path options, choose Orient Shape to Path.
Hi Jane,
Another thing to check, as this can give the appearance of a jittery movement, is that the Direction under Path Options is set to None. By default, this is set to In & Out which causes your plane to start off slowly and increase speed and then do the reverse at the end of the path. The setting of None will result in constant speed throughout:
Thanks for the replies. I used those settings and it's looking like when the plane is moving around the curve, it has these fast jerky movements. It should be moving around the curve and not be jerking around like I had change the orientation of the plane. I checked the image state, and there is no change in the orientation.
Is there another setting I am missing?
Have you tried slowing down the animation. The default duration is 2 seconds, try 6 seconds or more.
Thanks Richard. I've slowed the animation down to 20 secs, and it's still jerky.
Can you share your Storyline File slide
Attached is the slide that I'm trying to get the motion path to work on. Thanks again for the help.
I see what the problem is. You uses scribble to draw points (a lot of points) on the slide, so the software is trying to place the plane over each point. Use free form or curve. My example is using curve. Of course you need to fine tune it more.
Your attachment showing zero KB on download, can you upload it again
Try this one.
Thanks Richard. I used freeform when creating the motion path. I tried the curve path, but had issues with getting it to work. I will try it again.
I am having trouble getting the curve motion path to work. When it turns the curve, the plane is slanted instead of pointing to the right and does the same thing as it's coming around, but is slanted to the left.
I am not sure what I am doing wrong.
Is there an easier way to do what I need?
Try rotating the plane a little. It's a bit of trail and error to get it to follow the path correctly.
That worked! Strange that the plane needs to be angled for it turn around the curve properly. Now I have to do this for another slide.
One other question that isn't related to the motion path, but is there a way to do a teeter animation like in Powerpoint?
No teeter. Animated gif would be another method for tetter or even the plane following a path. I normally use PhotoShop for those types of animations.
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