Motion paths & curves

Motion paths

A position keyframe can carry spatial tangents — an in and an out handle, the same tangent-in /tangent-out model Lottie uses for bezier motion paths. Either side can be null, which means linear (no curve, no handle) on that side.

The tangent offsets are relative to the keyframe's own position, in frame pixels, so dragging the anchor point carries its handles along with it — they don't need separate re-adjustment afterward.

In practice: give a layer two or more position keyframes and its literal path appears on the canvas as a Bézier curve. Grab and reshape it directly, exactly like editing a vector path with the pen tool.

Curves & easing

The curves panel shapes how fasta property moves between keyframes, not where it goes. Drag a keyframe's tangent handles to bend real Bézier eased curves; hold ⇧while dragging to lock the handle's time, which constrains the drag to change only the easing steepness rather than retiming the keyframe. Easing presets can be applied to a whole selection of keyframes at once.

Properties that aren't numeric — text content, discrete values — show as a dope sheet instead of a curve: blocks you can retime, since there's nothing to interpolate smoothly.

Motion paths move a layer through space; a related but separate idea, morphing, reshapes a layer's own geometry over time. Neither is the same as text on a path, which binds a text to a shape's outline rather than keyframing a trajectory across the stage.