Now that you have learnt how easy it is to
add motion
paths using presets, and to
draw your
own custom motion paths, it is time to start getting more familiar with some tricks used with Motion Path animations.
The simplest motion path trick is to reverse the direction of your motion path. This option is very helpful if you want
an object to animate using a motion path, and then animate the same object again from the end of the motion path back to
the starting point.
Follow these steps to learn how to reverse your motion paths animation:
- Launch PowerPoint - you will see the
Presentation Gallery
which allows you to set all attributes of your new presentation, such as a preset
Theme or template. Make selections, or just click Cancel in this gallery to open a blank presentation
with a new slide. PowerPoint 2011 users can change the slide layout
of this slide to Blank by selecting Layout | Blank
within the Home tab of the Ribbon.
Then, insert a shape and
select it.
- Apply a Motion Path animation to the selected slide object. You can refer to our
adding a motion
path or
drawing a custom motion path tutorials to get started.
- Now, select the shape to which you applied the motion path animation, and you shall be able to see a dashed
line representing the Motion Path (as shown in Figure 1 below). This dashed line has green and red
arrowheads at both ends. The green arrowhead represents the start point of the motion path whereas the red arrowhead
represents the end point.
Figure 1: Motion Path animation applied
- Now, hover the mouse cursor over motion path so that your cursor changes to a hand, as shown highlighted in
blue within Figure 1, above. Right-click (or
Ctrl+click) carefully to bring up a contextual menu with three options, as shown in
Figure 2, and select the Reverse Path Direction option.
Figure 2: Reverse Path Direction option to be selected
- As soon as the Reverse Path Direction option is selected, you'll see a preview of the
reversed animation. Also notice that now the green and red arrowheads have swapped positions, as shown in
Figure 3. Compare with Figure 1 to see the difference.
Figure 3: Swapped arrowheads
Tip: You can duplicate an object that contains a Motion Path animation, align it next to the original
object, and then reverse the motion path of the duplicated object. You can then add an exit and entrance animations to the
original and duplicated objects. The animation build sequence would thus be:
- Motion
Path animation on original object
- Exit animation on
original object (use the Disappear animation effect)
- Entrance animation
on duplicated object (use the Appear animation effect)
- Reversed motion path animation on duplicated object.
Note: Did you notice the other two options (
Edit Points and
Close Curve)
within the contextual menu shown in
Figure 2, shown earlier on this page? These may or may not have been grayed out depending
on the nature of your motion path. Confused? Don't worry -- we cover this in our
Open and Close
Motion Paths and
Edit Points in Motion Paths tutorials.
See Also:
Reversing Paths of Motion Path Animations in
PowerPoint 2016 for Windows
Reversing Paths of Motion Path Animations in PowerPoint 2013 for Windows
Reversing Paths of Motion Path Animations in PowerPoint 2010 for Windows
Reversing Paths of Motion Path Animations in PowerPoint 2007, 2003, and 2002 for Windows