Animate a UFO on a Motion Path

Animate a UFO on a Motion Path

In this short fifteen minute tutorial we show how to animate a UFO on a motion path - a very useful technique for animating anything moving through space - UFOs, aircraft, birds, and even fish.  

Motion Path animation is an important animation technique, and can be learned in a few minutes. The tutorial starts by searching for a free set and a UFO at Turbosquid - free assets anyone can download.  This tutorial is aimed at Maya beginners. 

UFO Motion Path Tutorial 

Work Method

1. Start at Turbosquid.com and search for the "cartoon land" set - this is the set we are using in the tutorial. Search for a UFO, sort by lower prices, and download one of the many free UFOs
2. Create a project and set to it; name it "UFO_motionPath
3. Make sure you are in the Animation Menu (top left)
4. Create a shot camera so you know what the camera view will look like  
5. In the Orthographic Top View, use the CV Curve tool to create a motion path. Make sure NURBS CVs and NURBS Curves are turned on in your Maya Viewport. 
6. Right click on the Curve and select Control Vertex so that the Control Vertices (CVs) are visible.  Adjust the CVs of the motion path so that it is smooth and flowing.
7. Set your timeline from Frame 1 to Frame 99 - around four seconds. 
8. Attach your UFO to the Motion Path. Select your UFO, then Shift select your Curve, and go to Constrain/Motion Paths/Attach to Motion Path.
9. Adjust the animation in the Graph Editor

Lighting & Rendering

To light and render your UFO, watch the two mini tutorials below:

• Basic Lighting setup in Arnold with Physical Sky
• Export a Render Sequence in Arnold

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