Editing points of Bezier curves

If you have to redraw your logo in Motion, this might help:

https://youtu.be/SXUFGZqF6h4

It's fast and reduces errors.

To move points in the Canvas, select one (or more), hold down the Command key and type the arrow keys to go 1 pixel at a time or the Command and Shift keys to move 10 pixels. You can type in values for individual points if you go to the Shape Inspector and you might have to reveal the Control Points section if it's not showing by double clicking on "Control Points".

You will not have access to the tangent line control points only the main points on the line/shape.

You can animate ALL the points with keyframes on "Control Points" in the Shape Inspector (not the individual shape points) or you can use the Record button (I always forget to turn it off again, so I don't usually recommend this method). A keyframe "node" will reveal itself when you mouse over the Control Points label "bar" in the inspector.

I recommend that if you are animating the shape, start at the point at which the most points required are used, then manage their locations over the course of the animation. I do not recommend attempting to add or remove points for an animation.

You can animate from any point in time forwards and backwards - once the initial keyframe is set since it is just a matter of moving the playhead and making adjustments to the shape (as soon as a change is applied, Motion automatically sets a keyframe in place.)

HTH

I just did a quick test.

Took an SVG file, opened it in Gapplin (free application from the App Store), and exported as pdf.

Imported to Motion, turned "fixed resolution" and it worked beautifully.

Here is part of the image, scaled up to 2725%:

EDIT: here is a link to a "Motion Magic under 5 Minutes" episode where Mark Spencer explains how to turn off "fixed resolution" to use vector images to the full in Motion:

https://www.rippletraining.com/blog/motion/use-vector-graphics-motion-5-3/

How about manually typing the points’ coordinates? I don’t think it can get more precise than that.

Can elaborate a bit more?

Also: even you can’t work with the svg file directly, maybe you could convert it to a vectorial pdf and use that? If you turn off “fixed resolution” you should be able to use the vector file.

Yet another option is to use one of the available online tools that let you create fonts from svg files and use your logo as a text element. This would have the added benefit of enjoying all the built-in features for text, including 3D.

PS - working with bezier curves in Motion:

If you have tangent control points, if you hold down the shift key, you can constrain the angle while dragging out -- only as long as you follow that tangent line. Break out of the bounds and the Constrain goes to 45º angles (0º, 45º, 90º, etc...).

Hold down the Command key and click on a point to reset it it to just a point, continue to hold the command key down and drag out the handles will create the tangent line going in both directions from the control point.

While dragging out a tangent point, if you hit the command key while dragging - both ends will continue outward - release the command key and continue dragging out one side. This is weird - but kind of cool. You can make minute adjustments to both ends "unevenly"!

Hold down the Option key and click/drag a tangent point to break the tangent line into a segment control.

Clicking on the shape in different places with the Control key held down (or more simply right-clicking) will give you menu options for various things you can do like Add Point, Set Start Point, Lock Point, Open Curve, etc...