Motion paths
See the trail a joint follows over time, and reshape the motion by dragging it.
A motion path is the trail a joint leaves over time: one dot per frame. It shows you at a glance if a hand moves in a nice arc and where the motion is fast or slow. You can also drag the trail to fix a pose on another frame without going there.
- Click Paths in the stage header, or press M. The arrow next to it opens the settings.
- Dots far apart mean fast, dots close together mean slow. Diamonds are your keys.
- Drag a dot to change that frame’s pose (the playhead stays put). Double-click a dot to go to its frame. Right-drag to bend a whole arc.
Try it
Blue crouches, jumps and lands. Turn the paths on and follow the tasks; each step is explained below.
- Click Paths in the stage header (or press M).
- Click the arrow next to Paths to open the settings.
- Set Joints to Hands & feet.
- Drag a dot on a trail. The playhead doesn’t move.
- Double-click a dot to go to its frame.
- Right-drag a dot to bend the arc around it.
- Set Frame range to ±12.
Point at the playground first, so the keys go to it and not to the page.
Show the paths
- Select the figure you want to study, and click the joint you care about (a hand, for example).
- Click Paths in the stage header, or press M with the stage in focus. A trail appears for that joint.
- Click the arrow next to Paths for the settings. They stay open while you work; click elsewhere or press Esc to close them.
Paths start hidden each time you open the app; your settings are remembered.
Choose what to see
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Figures: Selected / All | Trails for the selected figures only, or for every figure on the stage. |
| Joints: Selected / Hands & feet | Selected shows the joint you clicked (and the orange origin of other figures). Hands & feet shows every end of a limb (hands, feet, head) plus the origin. |
| Frame range: ±12 / ±24 / ±48 / Full | How many frames before and after the playhead to show. The window follows the playhead. With a ± range you can type any number up to 4,000 in Around playhead. |
| Frame numbers | Numbers on the keys, the ends and the current frame. |
| In-between dots | A dot for every frame between keys. Their spacing shows the easing. |
| Speed colours | Colours the trail from blue (slow) to red (fast). |
| Relative to body | Keeps a travelling figure in place so you see only how the arms and legs swing. It changes the view, not the animation. |
Read a trail
- Small dots are frames. Far apart: fast. Close together: slow. A pile of dots in one place: the joint holds still.
- Hollow diamonds are keys, the poses you made.
- The ring is the current frame. The trail behind it is quieter, the trail ahead stronger.
- Point at a dot: it shows its frame number and a dashed outline of the figure on that frame.
Example: in a good jump, the hips draw a smooth curve, close dots at the top (the hang) and far apart near the ground. A sharp corner or an even line of dots usually means a stiff jump: add a key or try Auto easing.
Fix a pose on another frame
- Point at a dot on the trail. You see its frame number and a dashed preview of the pose.
- Drag the dot where the joint should be. The pose on that frame changes, and the playhead stays where it was.
- Hold Shift to move only across or only up and down; hold Ctrl to stretch. Press Esc before letting go to cancel. One drag is one undo step.
- To go to that frame instead, double-click the dot.
Which key changes? A dot on a key changes that key. A dot inside a hold changes the key the hold comes from, so the whole hold moves. A dot inside a tween gets a new key of its own.
Bend a whole arc
A right-drag moves the dot and the keys near it, less and less the further away they are. Use it to lift or widen a whole arm swing in one go.
- In the settings, under Reshape arc, choose how the change fades: Smooth, Linear, Sharp (mostly the dragged frame) or Flat (everything in reach moves the same).
- Set Around dragged point: how many frames each side follow (1 to 240, 8 to start with).
- Right-drag a dot. While you hold the right button, scroll to reach more or fewer frames.
- Let go to keep it, or press Esc to put everything back. Then scrub past both ends to check the motion still flows.
It only changes the dragged frame and the keys already in reach; it doesn’t add a key on every frame. When there are more keys further out, it may add one key just outside the reach to keep the change from leaking into a long tween.
Start small: one joint, a ±12 range and a short reach. A crowded trail is hard to grab.
Questions
M doesn’t show the paths.
Click the stage first, so it has the focus, or use the Paths button. In the Draw workspace, M flips the drawing instead.
The trail is just a pile of dots.
The joint isn’t moving there, or the frames overlap on screen. Turn on Frame numbers, shrink the range, or pick another joint.
Dragging one dot moved several frames.
That dot was inside a hold, which edits the key of the whole hold. Or you right-dragged, which moves nearby keys on purpose. Undo, then drag with the left button, or press A on that frame first.
Relative to body changed the trail but not the animation.
That’s right: it only changes how the trail is drawn.
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