Follow Path - bugged?

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Pierre Gombaud
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Follow Path - bugged?

Post by Pierre Gombaud »

I'm messing around with the "Follow Path" tool since some days,
and I've noticed that it might be bugged.

Here are two exemples, to try and explain what I mean:

  • 1 - two shapes following paths. Download .anime file

    When I open the file, not touching anything, you can see the first frame and last frame of the animation are the same:
    Image

    I've got the same result when I render those frames:
    Image



    But once I play the animation on the timeline, the shapes changes, like this:
    Image

    Same thing when I render them:
    Image



    The weirdest part is when I export the whole animation (here as an animated gif),
    it's a mix of both of the previous renders!
    Image

Notice that the start position is set to 0 and ending position to 100,
so the shape should do a loop (as the path is looped), ending exactly where it begins.

I tried with a lot of different settings (with and without 3D acceleration, export options,
start/ending of the Follow Path positions at different values, ...), but each time I get the same results
(well, with differents starting/ending positions, it will change but the problem remains the same).

So, I suppose the problem comes from the Follow Path tool,
as I never had anything similar on other animations (not involving this tool).
(I was talking about two exemples, but this post took me longer than I expected,
I'll add the second exemple tomorrow) :)
eric1223
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Re: Follow Path - bugged?

Post by eric1223 »

The reason ur shape change so much is because you've scaled the layer with the transform layer tool. Just delete your keyframes in both of your yellow and red bases,and you should be fine.

I'm pretty sure you know this, but it changes some even without the scaling because u've used the "alt method" instead of the "just click method" when you made this.
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Pierre Gombaud
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Re: Follow Path - bugged?

Post by Pierre Gombaud »

Thank you for your reply, Eric!
Though I'm not sure to get what you mean by "Alt Method" and "Just Click Method"?

The keyframes in the Red and Yellow bases are needed to change the shapes of the two objects (to get this dynamic movement effect I want).
When I remove them, the movement starts and ends at the same point, so it's ok, but I lose the effect I wanted.

Do you mean I should not change them with the Scale Layer Tool, but rather with the Transform Points Tool directly?
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Greenlaw
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Re: Follow Path - bugged?

Post by Greenlaw »

XZS wrote:Thank you for your reply, Eric!
Though I'm not sure to get what you mean by "Alt Method" and "Just Click Method"?
Follow Path has 2 modes. If you just click on the path, the selected layer follows the path but if you Alt-click on the path, the selected layer will also deform along the path.

I have a related question: Sometimes when I use Follow Path, the 'following' layer is attached way offset from the path and I'm not sure why. At first I thought had to do with the pivot having been moved but that doesn't seem to be the case. It only happens with certain layers/groups but I can't figure out what makes these layers behave differently. Any idea what I'm doing wrong.

I'm going to take another look into other transforms that may be on the layers/groups but I don't think that's it.
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Pierre Gombaud
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Re: Follow Path - bugged?

Post by Pierre Gombaud »

Greenlaw wrote:Follow Path has 2 modes.
Oh yes I get it know, yes I used the "Alt method", to get the shape to deform with the path.
Still, I don't get why the result is different when I play the animation or not, and also different when doing an export (see my first post).
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funksmaname
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Re: Follow Path - bugged?

Post by funksmaname »

Greenlaw wrote:I have a related question: Sometimes when I use Follow Path, the 'following' layer is attached way offset from the path and I'm not sure why. At first I thought had to do with the pivot having been moved but that doesn't seem to be the case. It only happens with certain layers/groups but I can't figure out what makes these layers behave differently. Any idea what I'm doing wrong.
I don't know for sure but my money would be on it has to do with the layer origin - experiment with the parent origin or sub layer origins placed differently and see which is causing the issue...
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Greenlaw
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Re: Follow Path - bugged?

Post by Greenlaw »

Yeah, that's what I thought too (sorry, I used the wrong terminology.) I tried changing the origin but it didn't seem to make a difference in this case. Then again, I've been pressed for time lately so I haven't really given it a proper look yet. Thanks for your opinion though--I'll take another look the origin position tomorrow.
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p8guitar
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Re: Follow Path - bugged?

Post by p8guitar »

Greenlaw wrote: Wed Mar 16, 2016 9:10 pm
XZS wrote:Thank you for your reply, Eric!
...
I have a related question: Sometimes when I use Follow Path, the 'following' layer is attached way offset from the path and I'm not sure why. At first I thought had to do with the pivot having been moved but that doesn't seem to be the case. It only happens with certain layers/groups but I can't figure out what makes these layers behave differently. Any idea what I'm doing wrong.

I'm going to take another look into other transforms that may be on the layers/groups but I don't think that's it.
Same problem here - when I use the follow path tool, the original position of the layer jumps somewhere else and this messes up the whole animation I did before in the timeline (moving and turning the layer). Even in the smith micro tutorial, this bug appears!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dk4qvxy9KWw
!?!
Is there a trick to prevent this problem? Otherwise I cannot use the follow path tool together with other animation.
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Jkoseattle
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Re: Follow Path - bugged?

Post by Jkoseattle »

This is quote-unquote "normal" behavior. Tutorials I have seen on Follow Path just tell you when that happens, to drag the object back to where you want it. Which will make it jump a bit if it's not exactly right, necessitating yet more time-consuming tweaking.

My problem is that I click on the path I want it to follow and nothing happens, no new follow path keyframe is created. I'd be thrilled if the object jumped like that because it would mean it's connected to the path at least.
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