Motion on a fixed path

[Ben G unguren]

Alberto,

If you draw the “shape” you want to follow as a mask or path, you can copy the mask shape and paste it into the “position” attribute of your image. That will create two linear keyframes and a series of roving keyframes in between. The roving keyframes allow your image to follow the shape of the mask you “pasted” into the position (really it’s converting the shape of the mask into a motion path) at a constant speed. If you drag either of the linear (diamond-shaped) keyframes, the roving (little cirle) keyframes will adjust accordingly. Look up roving keyframes in AE help; there’s probably a better explanation there.

Incidentally, editing the mask you copied will NOT change the motion path. There isn’t any kind of dynamic link between the mask and the motion path, even if they’re on the same layer (which they don’t have to be).

ben