TOPIC:

Hi there!

I may have a simple question, but since I'm new to Motion 5, I have a hard time helping myself , maybe due to the lack of the correct keywords.

Take a look at the image, I have a little tower and I want an energy ball move around it with the motion path I've created. For one object that works nice, but I'm having trouble to have multiple objects that have an offset on the path itself.

I'm looking for some "path offset" or path position with different values so I can have 4-6 of those energy balls moving on the same path, one after another.

My current solution is to copy the whole thing and stagger it on the timeline. However, I wonder if there's a better possibility to achieve this.

The best would be to have a path and somehow define, that I want to have 5 items on that path, each with the same offset to each other.

Thanks!

Duplicate the original object with its Motion Path. In the duplicate's Motion Path inspector, set the Offset to a distance you want to separate the original with the copy. Repeat as many times as you need.

PS - whereas you can set the offset percent as high as you need, you cannot offset in a negative direction!

HTH

sc_fox wrote:

Duplicate the original object with its Motion Path. In the duplicate's Motion Path inspector, set the Offset to a distance you want to separate the original with the copy. Repeat as many times as you need.

PS - whereas you can set the offset percent as high as you need, you cannot offset in a negative direction!

HTH

Hi,

thanks for your answer. Could you explain further where that offset should be? I can not see anything named like that in the Inspector when I select the motion path.

Thanks!

I'm sorry — my mistake! I thought you drew a Bezier path and applied it to the Motion Path with *Geometry*.

I'll start over.

Unfortunately, you cannot convert the shape you already created into a "regular" Bezier or B-Spline shape so you'll have to start over if you need a more customized shape than a circle or an oval.

Offset is available only when the Motion Path > Path Shape is set to Circle, Rectangle or Geometry.

If you can live with an Oval shape, you can choose Circle and change its width/height to a more oval shape [dial down Radius for X/Y options]. Otherwise, if you need the shape to be a little more irregular from point to point, you can draw a Circle shape (as a separate object) then go to Object menu > Convert to Points and reshape the circle to your needs.

For the Motion Path of your object, if using an "external" shape, set the Path Shape to Geometry and drag your custom shape into the source well. Offset will be right underneath the source well.

If using a regular "Circle" shape, Offset will be right under Radius, and for a Rectangle path shape, Offset will be right under the Size parameter.

One of the benefits to using a "custom" shape [bezier tool] is that you can Add Point [in Edit Points mode: right click on the curve and select Add Point with the popup] and then right click on any control point in the line and select Set Start Point, which will create a custom starting point in your illustration for the Offset to originate from.

HTH