After Effects motion paths

October 16, 2019 9:41 AM

I'm trying to make an object follow a motion path. Doing it exactly as in tutorial (draw path, copy Path, paste onto Objects Position parameters). But it doesn't work - the object follows the path but it's offset, so it starts offscreen and ends halfway across. The Path looks like it's in the right place so I can't just shift it. How do I fix? Everyone else makes it look so straightforward :(
posted by KateViolet to Computers & Internet (7 answers total)

Maybe you need to change the anchor point on the object? The offset is probably coming from the difference of where the center of the object is and where the anchor point is. Hold down y and click on the anchor point to change where the anchor point is. You will probably need to repaste the path after you do that.
posted by matcha action at 9:46 AM on October 16, 2019

Sometimes I’ve had weird results when I forget that either the source or destination object for the copy & paste operation has scale or position set.
posted by sixswitch at 9:48 AM on October 16, 2019

I was going to say what sixswitch said, it sounds like the layer with original mask path or the object you're pasting it to has been scaled. That does weird things. Although matcha action's point is valid too, if your object's anchor point is offset from the content of the object that would also cause your issue.

If you select all the position keyframes in the object (after you've pasted the path) do they appear in the comp where you expect the, but the object is offset from that motion path, or is the object on the path but the path is in an unexpected place?
posted by under_petticoat_rule at 1:31 PM on October 16, 2019

The path looks correct but the object is offset from the path. Thanks!
posted by KateViolet at 12:35 AM on October 17, 2019

Sorry, just adding a point - this happens to me even if I start a brand new project and do nothing other than create a shape and draw a path. So I don't see how it can be down to scaling? I feel like I'm missing a step but I'm sure I'm doing it exactly as shown in every tutorial. Could there be something in my preferences that is throwing it off?
posted by KateViolet at 3:53 AM on October 17, 2019

I really think it's an offset anchor point that is throwing you off. Does your object look like this when you click on it? offset anchor point? If so the anchor point (target in center of comp) is what is actually orienting to the path, not the object itself (brown/orange box). Hold Y and click and drag your anchor until it is in the center of your object, then repaste the path. This especially happens when importing files from other applications, your anchor points will often come in as the center of the layer, and if your object is one tiny thing in the center of a huge layer, it will be offset.
posted by matcha action at 12:56 PM on October 17, 2019

It really sounds like your shape is not located at the layer's anchor point. I can't think of anything in preferences that would cause this.

If you want, contact me via MeMail and I can give you an email address to send your project file, I'd be happy to take a look.

Shapes can be tricky, there are several levels at which you can set position, so if you paste the path into the wrong position property you can get weird results, and it's really easy to have your shapes offset from the layer's anchor point.

And if the path you're copying is a shape path in a shape layer rather than a mask path you could also get weird results, although this doesn't sound like that.
posted by under_petticoat_rule at 2:45 PM on October 17, 2019