Path animation allows you to animate an object along a path specified by a curve. In this way, the curve controls the motion of the object. With keyframe animation, Maya calculates the motion of the object for the animation based on the positions that were set at the keyframes. With path animation the motion for the object is defined by its location along the path curve.

Path animation is useful for animating objects such as trains, boats, airplanes, and moving cameras whose motion follows a set path. To animate an object to do this type of motion smoothly with keyframe animation would require you to laboriously create and edit many keys for the motion. By having the object move along a curve, you can easily adjust the object’s path by editing the curve.

In this lesson, you make an aircraft follow a motion path so it appears to fly and bank while it changes trajectory. We provide a scene for your use in the lesson.

Watch: PathAnim.mov

In this lesson, you learn how to:

• Set an object to animate along a motion path using a NURBS curve as the path.
• Modify the timing and rotation of an object along a motion path.
• Blend between keyframe and motion path animation.