Motion path animations: "Orient shape to path" movements are not smooth

Hi there Allen,

Thanks for including your file. We're seeing the same problem on our side, and our team has got our eyes on this bug. As soon as I know more, I'll pass the information along to you!

Thanks very much for this, Alyssa. 

Looking forward to hearing about a fix, as I've got a whole series of animations to create for an imminent course launch. I appreciate your checking in!

Use the curve tool to draw the path. It'll be smoother. My guess is the built-in turns have fewer points thus the pivoting will be more exaggerated.

Here's a video that shows it's smoother. Kind of like the Vanilla Ice of motion path animations.

Tom, thank you so much for taking the time to do this! Such a thorough explanation--it's greatly appreciated.

I had experimented briefly with curves, but found that I wasn't doing them cleanly. It's probably that I used too few points. Will practice this. It's something I'll need to learn anyway, as many of the movements I'll be animating won't just be a 90-degree turn.

Thanks very much once again.

Tom, Is this still the best way to achieve the "smoother" turn? If so, great! Just want to make sure there hasn't been a shortcut developed before I get started. Thank you!

Hello Amber. Thanks for reaching out!

We're still seeing an issue with motion path animations in Storyline 360, but Tom's tip above should help smoothen the interaction for now:

• Use the curve tool to draw the path and turn off the easing.

📕 More on adjusting the properties of animations: Choosing Effect and Path Options in Storyline

Let us know if you have any other questions!

What if your path is not curved but straight? I have a simple motion path of an element going up and it's not smooth. I've tried playing with the timing but that doesn't help. It jumps up a bit and then follows the path. Is there any fix for this?

Hi, Carol.

Thank you for reaching out!

Do you have a sample .story file you can share with a motion path that is not looking smooth? I'm happy to take a look and offer suggestions or help you troubleshoot.

Yes, this is attached here. I did tweak the easing and it's smoother, but it still kind of jumps at the beginning. Ideally would like the same speed throughout. Anything I can tweak here?

Hi, Carol.

Thank you for sharing the .story file!

I can see what you mean by "kind of jumps at the beginning". One suggestion I have is to, instead of adding the entrance animation (fade) and the line motion path (starting at 8 seconds) to the same object, can you duplicate your logo so that:

• Fade happens on object one. 
• Object two has a line path and a trigger to start moving when the timeline starts on that object.
• The end of object one is the beginning of object two:

Let me know if this works a little better!