Tips from the Pros
If you animate
shapes with multiple sequential motion paths, you'll find that its' not too easy to line them up and "connect" them end to
end. If you turn off Snap to Grid and turn on Snap objects to other objects options, then the ends of the motion paths snap right
together when you move them near each other. And if the start point accidentally gets moved off center of your object, all you have
to do is move it a little bit and it'll go right back to the center of the object. This works for both locked and unlocked motion paths.
-- Glenna Shaw
Microsoft PowerPoint MVP
Add to Glenna's tip:
Motion paths
will snap to intersecting guides, too. This works great for accurate positioning
-- Julie Terberg
Microsoft PowerPoint MVP
PowerPoint for Mac
users cannot add motion path animations since this feature is not available on PowerPoint for Mac. However, users of PowerPoint 2004 and
2008 for Mac can still view the motion path animations when they play presentations created in PowerPoint 2002, 2003, and 2007 for Windows.
-- Geetesh Bajaj
Microsoft PowerPoint MVP
See Also: Cross Platform PowerPoint
Motion Path Animations for PowerPoint
By: Geetesh Bajaj
Date Created: October 30th 2008
Last Updated: March 26th 2009
Motion path animations in PowerPoint can illustrate a process, show how a piece of machinery works, or just work with poetic abandon!
On this page, we've compiled together all the motion path animation content on this site along with quick tips from the pros
On this site
Motion Path Tools -- a free PowerPoint add-in from Shyam Pillai
Julie Terberg discusses Motion Paths: "What if you’re looking to put a little spin on things, literally? To make visuals really move you need to understand PowerPoint’s motion paths effects and how to combine them with other effects for dynamic results".
Download this sample presentation containing motion paths from the Indezine presentation bank.
External Links
PowerPoint MVP John Wilson shows how you can use motion path animations to simulate the flow of an object through a path.
Learn Motion Path Animations
Geetesh Bajaj teaches you motion path animations -- choose a tutorial page below:
- Motion Path Animations -- Getting Started
- Motion Path Animations -- Drawing Custom Paths
- Motion Path Animations -- Reversing Motion Paths
- Motion Path Animations -- Open and Close Motion Paths
- Motion Path Animations -- Lock and Unlock Motion Paths
