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Snap Alignment to Motion Question
Greetings from the UK…I really hope someone can help me out with this query, I know there’s a simple answer somewhere and I’m probably missing something quite obvious…so, here’s the situation:
I’ve made an airplane fly from the UK to Spain, following a motion path across a map of Europe.
It looks cool.
I’ve made the plane from the Special Character text symbol that looks like a plane.
I’ve snapped the alignment of the plane to the motion path so the plane always heads forwards along the path.
The motion path is 5 seconds long. The project is 10 seconds. Thus the plane flies for 5 seconds then rests for the remaining 5 seconds.
However, when the plane reaches the end of the motion path it snaps back to it’s original alignment, pointing from left to right across the screen. So there’s the problem. I want the plane to rest in the direction it faces when it reaches the end of the motion path.
If someone could advise me on this issue I’d be very grateful.
Many thanks,
Steve.
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3 Replies
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Well, the thing about the Snap Alignment to Motion behavior is that it only works while the layer is in motion. There are two ways to fix this.
1) Shorten the length of the Snap Alignment to match the length of the Motion Path behavior. Go to the last frame of the animation. Note the Rotation value in the properties of your plane layer. Advance one frame so that neither behavior applies. Type in that same value for as the base value for the rotation. While in Snap to Motion mode, the layer will ignore the rotation of the layer in favor of following the motion path. Once that animation is finished, it’ll revert to it’s base rotation, which you will have matched to the end rotation of the motion path.
2) This is the easier way in my opinion since you built your plane from a text object. Delete your Motion Path and Snap Alignment behaviors or turn them off. Select your text layer and go to the Layout section of your Text tab. Choose Path for your Layout method. Under Path Options, choose Geometry for your path shape if you built your Motion path with the bezier tool. If you built it manually, then choose Open Spline from the Path Shape menu and rebuild your “flight path”. Then just animate the Path offset and the Text will naturally align to the path you created.
Hope this helps.
Andy
https://www.timesavertutorials.com
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Thanks Andy – option 1 worked very well so I’ll work with that. I got a little lost on option 2, but I’m finding the tutorials on your website very helpful indeed. Coincidentally, I’m currently in Exeter, the town on the map in your first tutorial!
Thanks again for your help,
All the best,
Steve. -
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