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About this lesson

Make an object move along a defined or custom path to enhance the engagement of your audience or explain in animated form very complex topics.

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Multiple versions of this lesson are available, choose the appropriate version for you:

2010, 2013, 2016, 2019/365.

Exercise files

Download the ‘before’ and ‘after’ PowerPoint presentations from the video tutorial and try the lesson yourself.

Motion Path Animations.pptx
481.8 KB Motion Path Animations - Solution.pptx
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Quick reference

Motion Path Animations

Motions paths – a powerful animation option.

When to use

To move an object from an origin on the slide to a destination.

Instructions

  • To open the Animation Pane: On the Animations tab, in the Advanced Animation group, click Animation Pane.
  • Motion Paths are contained in groups titled Basic, Lines/Curves and Special.
  • To add a Motion Path:
    • Select the object you wish to animate with the pointer, and
    • Click a Motion Path animation icon in the Animation group to apply that animation to one or more selected objects. You will likely need to drop the Animation Gallery drop-down arrow and select Motion Paths.
    • Clicking again on an animation icon in the Animation group will change the current animation on any selected object.
    • If an object is already animated, click the Add Animation drop-down arrow to add an animation.
  • The motion path is bounded by a boundary box – handles of the box can be dragged with the pointer to move or resize the Motion Path animation.
  • Drawing a motion path provides a preview of the end destination point of the object. This feature is very useful to determine if the end point is in the place on the slide you wish the object to conclude its animation.
  • Select the boundary box to also see a preview of the object end point of the animation.
  • Color indicators:
    • The green triangle indicates the start of the motion path.
    • The red triangle indicates the end of the motion path.
  • Right-click a motion path to access options of:
    • Edit points – displays points along the path that can be edited with:
      • Right-click a point to add, delete, open a path (if the path is a closed loop), and close a path (if the path is not a closed loop).
      • Point types: smooth, straight or corner.
      • Exit the edit point option, or press the Esc key.
      • Motion path points have edit handles that are similar to those in graphic editing programs. Handles govern curvature of the path either side of the point.
    • Keyboard shortcuts:
      • Hold down the Ctrl key and click with the pointer on a part of the motion path that doesn’t have points – adds a path point.
      • Hold down the Ctrl key and click an existing point – deletes that point (the pointer changes to an x).
    • Reverse path direction – to reverse the path direction.
  • A custom path allows you to draw a path with a simulated pencil in any manner you choose.

Also note:

It can be useful to use drawing guides or even drawn lines as cross hairs to help decide the end point of the animated motion path.

Animations can be quickly duplicated by:

Method 1: Click the animated object with the pointer, click Animation Painter, and then click the new shape or picture you wish to animate.

Method 2: Duplicate the object already animated and change the resultant shape or picture to a new shape or picture.

Motion path animations have the same characteristics as other animations in the Animation Pane. Timing and Effect Options can be changed by right-clicking the animation entry in the animation timeline or from various buttons on the Animation tab on the ribbon.

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  • 00:04 This video is all about motion paths in PowerPoint.
  • 00:08 Now motion paths are part of the animation set that you can choose from
  • 00:12 that allow you to take an object from its origin to a particular destination.
  • 00:17 The easiest way to demonstrate this is with some real pictures on our slide.
  • 00:21 So first of all, I set up our PowerPoint application by going to the View tab and
  • 00:25 turn guides on.
  • 00:27 Now grids and guides is the subject of another video and
  • 00:29 they are effectively lines that are movable and
  • 00:32 allow you to position objects very easily in particular locations.
  • 00:36 Though you'll notice that each of these pictures is located at the intersection
  • 00:40 point of two guides.
  • 00:41 I have both vertical guides as well as horizontal guides.
  • 00:44 And the guide will give me the destination for the animation.
  • 00:48 Let's zoom out a little bit.
  • 00:50 Select a picture and go to the Animation tab.
  • 00:53 Drop the little arrow down, more motion paths.
  • 00:56 Now, there are some presets here, quite a lot of them.
  • 01:00 And groups of basic lines and curves, scroll down.
  • 01:05 And we have special grips.
  • 01:06 Some of these are quite complex.
  • 01:08 I want a turn path, down and right.
  • 01:12 And with the Preview Effect check box Enabled, we get a little preview of that.
  • 01:17 Now notice, immediately with the Motion Path selected that I have a bounding box
  • 01:22 around the path with some edit handles.
  • 01:24 Now the origin of my animation will be off the slide, so
  • 01:27 I can drag the image up here at the edge of the slide next to the guide.
  • 01:33 I select the path handle and drag it to the location of the destination
  • 01:38 which is at the intersection of these two guides.
  • 01:40 Notice that as I drag the motion path, I get a preview of the object,
  • 01:44 which helps me identify where it will be at the destination.
  • 01:48 So there it is at the origin of the path, and there's the destination.
  • 01:52 Now this little colored triangle, green, is the origin of the motion path,
  • 01:57 and the little red triangle is destination of the path.
  • 02:01 When you set a motion pattern object,
  • 02:03 it defaults to the absolute center of the object.
  • 02:07 So that when the animation condenses, it doesn't jump.
  • 02:10 I can right click on those, and close the path so
  • 02:12 that the animation would go back to the origin.
  • 02:15 Ctrl+Z to undo that.
  • 02:16 If I need, I can right click and reverse the path direction so
  • 02:20 that it goes in the opposite direction.
  • 02:21 Again, I don't need to do that now.
  • 02:24 Now the easiest way to apply this animation to these pictures
  • 02:28 is to select the animated object,
  • 02:30 animation painter button and then paste the animation to that object.
  • 02:35 And then again, animation painter paste,
  • 02:39 and now I have motion pause on those two objects that are identical.
  • 02:42 But it's also very handy to know that you can double-click
  • 02:46 the animation painter button to make it sticky.
  • 02:48 So that I don't have to keep reselecting it and
  • 02:51 then I can apply that to all of the objects on the slide that I need.
  • 02:55 And when I'm finished adding animations,
  • 02:57 just do Escape on the keyboard to the sticky button.
  • 03:02 So I'll move this first picture out of the way, the second picture and
  • 03:06 it's origin, move the endpoint of that motion path to the destination,
  • 03:11 shift that picture out of the way, move the third picture to the origin of
  • 03:15 the animation and also move the endpoint of that motion path to the destination.
  • 03:21 Now I need to line up all of my pictures.
  • 03:23 So I go Ctrl+A on the keyboard, which selects all of them, Format tab > Align
  • 03:29 > Align selected objects to slide, Align middle, Align center.
  • 03:35 And even though all of those pictures are now aligned to the center of the slide,
  • 03:39 I can simply drag them to the origin of the animation, and there they are ready to go.
  • 03:43 We can see the red triangle is a at the destination of the guides,
  • 03:47 representing the destination of each of those pictures after they animate.
  • 03:52 Now, let's go to the Animation Pane,
  • 03:53 I would like all of them to travel at the same time.
  • 03:55 So we select With Previous, we preview them with reading view, and
  • 04:00 they all animate fine.
  • 04:02 Hit Escape on the keyboard, and we're back to our presentation.
  • 04:06 Now notice also that actual motion path take a slightly different angle or
  • 04:10 path, because of the way the motion path has kind of been dragged across to the right.
  • 04:16 If I wanted to, I can right click, edit points and
  • 04:20 notice how my mouse changes as I hover over the actual path.
  • 04:24 If I hold the Ctrl key it turns into one little x which would delete that point.
  • 04:29 But I grab that point with the mouse, drag it to the same location.
  • 04:34 Now I use the corner point handles to manipulate the curve so
  • 04:37 that it reflects the curve of the motion path beside it.
  • 04:41 We do the same with this motion path.
  • 04:43 Right click on the path, Edit Points.
  • 04:46 Drag the point across, and again use the point
  • 04:49 handles to manipulate the curve to reflect the other two paths beside it.
  • 04:53 Now when we preview this in reading view the motion paths will follow exactly the same path.
  • 05:00 So finally,
  • 05:00 I'd like a little bit of a delay between the commencement of each animation.
  • 05:04 So grab the entry in the timeline and direct this one by 0.4 seconds and
  • 05:08 this by 0.8 seconds.
  • 05:10 Notice that as I've been moving these shapes around
  • 05:13 the slide that the motion path has also moved with the shape.
  • 05:17 In PowerPoint terminology, this means that the motion path is unlocked to the shape.
  • 05:22 Maybe somebody who named this should have swapped it around and said it's locked.
  • 05:24 It's a bit weird.
  • 05:25 If I double-click one of these entries and go into the effects settings and
  • 05:29 lock the path, the shape could be moved, but the path does not move again.
  • 05:34 So I guess it really means the path is locked in relation to the slide.
  • 05:37 So Ctrl+Z to undo that.
  • 05:40 So select the first entry with the mouse, hold the Shift key, and
  • 05:43 select the last entry.
  • 05:44 Right-click and select Effect Options, and
  • 05:47 notice also that there is a smooth start and a smooth end option as well.
  • 05:51 And a bounce.
  • 05:53 If I select the smooth end, bounce immediately snaps back to zero because
  • 05:57 you effectively can't have both at the end of an animation.
  • 06:01 I give them a little bit of bounce, preview the slide, and
  • 06:03 they look a little bit funny so Ctrl+Z to undo that.
  • 06:07 So motion paths are very easy to put into PowerPoint.
  • 06:09 You can also get various effect options, so that
  • 06:11 you can change them in terms of direction, locking or unlocking the origin.
  • 06:16 You can even use the menu to edit points or reverse the direction,
  • 06:21 as well as right-click on the motion path itself to select the various options.
  • 06:26 So motion paths are a good animation option in PowerPoint,
  • 06:30 because they allow you to move objects from the origin point to the destination
  • 06:35 point along a predetermined path, all to help support your story.

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