Triggering Motion Paths Using a Slider V2

This is a follow up to my How to pan the screen left and right using a slider and motion paths post. The problem is, that if you are using motion paths with relative start points, they can be thrown off kilter if someone moves the slider back and forth really fast for a while. As a result I redeveloped this concept using not just a left and a right motion path with relative starting positions, but a motion path for each movement.

diagram one

As you can see for a slider with five stops, you will need eight motion paths. The number with out the parentheses are if you want to move an object on the screen (ie move the box) and the number in the parentheses are for changing the view (ie  panning the image). Just like in my first attempt, you will still need a chaser variable.

The reason this works is that each motion path is absolute and doesn't rely on the objects last position. It is a little more work which is why I didn't completely replicate the original example.

Also I found it much easier to create a small box, do all of my motion path work, then fill the box with the image I wanted to use. 

View Demo



43 Replies
Mary Ann Kowalczyk (Hagemann)

I have an animated diagram of refrigerant traveling through the various Air Conditioning components.  This was created about 10 years ago and I need to recreate it.  As the refrigerant molecule travels through the components, the temperature gauge/thermometer goes up and down depending where the molecule is.  I created a freeform motion path that travels in and out of the different components.  That is working.  I click a button and the molecule travels through all the components.  But I am trying to incorporate a slider into this that would be the temperature/thermometer, so as the molecule travels through the components, I could set it to move the thermometer up and down, or vice versa.  Is there a way to do this?  Hopefully you can visualize what I am talking about.  Anyone have any suggestions?

Charles Zoffuto

The first test you will need to do is to determine if you can adjust the slider by changing a variable via a trigger (set to move at the start of the corresponding molecule animation). Second you will need to determine what happens with the learner moves the slider (thermometer). Does it cause the molecule to run along a particular motion path? If so then it should be a pretty straight forward trigger set to a certain value.