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Motion paths

A motion path makes a layer travel along a line you drew. Set motion path turns the line into Position keyframes, one per node, timed so the layer moves at an even speed over the whole animation.

The paper plane flies along the dashed line over the 3-second animation, turning with each curve, and starts over.
WHAT YOU’LL MAKE

The paper plane flies along the dashed line over the 3-second animation, turning with each curve, and starts over. This one is the real exported SVG, playing.

Do it in the editor: guided tour4 steps · about 3 minutes · opens a practice scene

Step by step

  1. Select the plane

    Click the plane on the canvas, or its row in the Layers panel.

  2. Pick the path to follow

    In the inspector's Motion path section, open Follow (Set motion path…) and pick Flight path. The plane jumps to the start of the line, and its Position track gets a keyframe for every node of it.

  3. Turn it along the path

    Click the arrow button at the end of the Rotate row, under Transforms: Rotate along the motion path. The plane now points where it is going.

  4. Play it

    Press Space. The plane flies the whole line in 3 seconds, banking through the curves, and starts over.

Good to know. The plane's path is now its own: the dashed line is just another layer, so hide or delete it if it shouldn't show. Drag the path on the canvas to curve it, drag its handles to fine-tune, and double-click a segment to straighten it. Even speed along curves keeps the speed steady inside each curved segment too.

Keys

Shift PAdd a position keyframe at the playhead
SpacePlay and pause