How "To adjust a motion path in 3D space" from the manual ?

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Level 1

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How "To adjust a motion path in 3D space" from the manual ?

Walking through the instructions about how "To adjust a motion path in 3D space", from chapter "Basic Motion Behaviors":

https://help.apple.com/motion/mac/5.0/help/English/en/motion/usermanual/chapter_9_section_9.html

I cannot go beyond "2. Do one of the following:", as the app displays the beach ball and I get an "App not responding". This happens every time no matter how long I wait.

Has anyone of you met this problem?

I believe this is a bug and I sent a feedback form to Apple.

Motion 5.5.3

Catalina

Posted on May 13, 2023 8:26 AM

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Answer 1

fox_m

Level 6

12,015 points

May 13, 2023 2:55 PM in response to claude_210

I am assuming you're trying to create a Z-direction animation away from the XY plane? In other words: adding "elevation".

It is very much more simple to only create a 2D motion path - on a flat XY plane. Any Z variance is more easy to accomplish by adding a Custom behavior > Add Transforms > Position > Z and use that Z to set/animate elevation. Custom values are additive to whatever is going on with the object with any other type of behavior or keyframing.

— I haven't experienced the crashing you describe, but trying to alter/adjust the Motion Path in 3D space is a royal pain in the... It's extremely difficult to "visualize" on the screen. You really have to be able to "see it in your head".

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Answer 2

claude_210 Author

Level 1

51 points

May 14, 2023 1:55 AM in response to fox_m

fox_m wrote:

I am assuming you're trying to create a Z-direction animation away from the XY plane? In other words: adding "elevation".

Yes. After adding a Basic Motion>Motion Path to my camera in the Front view (XY plane), I see a red circle. I see a line in the Top view, like it should be. Now, I'd like to rotate this circle and give it some Z elevation.

It is very much more simple to only create a 2D motion path - on a flat XY plane. Any Z variance is more easy to accomplish by adding a Custom behavior > Add Transforms > Position > Z and use that Z to set/animate elevation. Custom values are additive to whatever is going on with the object with any other type of behavior or keyframing.

Hmm... How can I do that since adding a camera forces the whole project to be 3D?

Maybe I misunderstood. Do you actually mean I can create a separate 2D path object (in my case a circle) and pass it to the Geometry argument of the Motion path behaviour? Animating separately the Z position sounds doable, but very likely challenging to tweak.

I certainly can create a circle 2D object and rotate it in the Z plane, then pass it to the Geometry argument in the Motion Path Properties, but I lose to attachment of the path to the Motion Path behaviour which was conveniently automatically provided in the Motion Path's path shape argument...

— I haven't experienced the crashing you describe, but trying to alter/adjust the Motion Path in 3D space is a royal pain in the... It's extremely difficult to "visualize" on the screen. You really have to be able to "see it in your head".

I was not even that lucky watching the beach ball...

Tx again, Fox!

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Answer 3

★ Helpful

fox_m

Level 6

12,015 points

May 14, 2023 11:04 AM in response to claude_210

Technically, the Motion Path is not a "shape outline", it is the representation of the animation an object will follow. It will change under any other influence. I will attempt to explain:

In the image below, you see a faded light gray outline. That is a Bezier object that I used as a Motion Path Geometry shape (make sure Attach to Shape is checked)... it's one you can actually see and one that doesn't change as you make modifications to the actual Motion Path behavior.

The dashed red and black line IS the Motion Path. It is distorted from the original geometry shape due to the 3D Parallax you always get in Motion. Therefore, the right side of the Motion Path is closer to you / it's elevation is raised in Z-space. Now take a look at the GIF below.

This is the scene rotated (via camera / Rotation > X -72º).

The change in Motion Path is due to a Custom Behavior with Position > All added as well as Rotation > All added. Increasing Custom > Position > Z bends the Motion Path by elevation. You can control the "fineness" of this shape by keyframing and using Bezier control points.

I did *not* go through a lot of trouble to make this demo. However, using Custom > Rotation angles, I can animate things like the roll, pitch and yaw of the airplane model (also not an easy task - it takes practice to know how to make it all work.) I will say, it is so much easier to "mold" a Motion Path by adding to it rather than trying to manually distort the shape in the Canvas.

Be careful using 3D Models. In all likelihood, you will have to go into the 3D Object inspector and change the orientation so that it will actually follow a Motion Path with a Snap Alignment to Motion behavior. For this Airplaine.usdz, I had to set X to -90º and Y to 180º.

All that said -- you gave me an idea of using a duplicate Object + Motion Path I hadn't tried before. It looks like this:

I'll go into the details later — the explanation may be a little lengthy and I don't want to confuse you with an alternate set of details (just goes to show you: there's usually more than one way to do things in Motion!) I also have a ton of other things I have to do for awhile before I can get back... :P

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Answer 4

claude_210 Author

Level 1

51 points

May 14, 2023 11:20 PM in response to fox_m

I realise that the problematic of animating a simple object, - like a plane - is challenging, but you still think in terms of visualising the object's overall path, which is all what it is about. Now, thinking of animating the plane just by visualising what the *pilot sees* may be a different challenge.

It is just what I am trying to do, animating a camera, thus interested into the camera vision, not so much in its path. I can't figure how a human cam operator would manage moving the camera without a monitor screen. Camera animation potential is Motion looks absolutely great, but er... challenging to explore. I guess I just need to go back to the manual and practice...

Tx a million for your help and time, Fox, all the best!

--

Claude

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How "To adjust a motion path in 3D space" from the manual ?

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