Moving performers in curved paths

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KZimmerman
Posts: 3
Joined: Sun May 17, 2020 4:45 pm

Moving performers in curved paths

Post by KZimmerman »

How can I move performers using curved paths? Each performer would move in a unique "free-form" path as is a common design approach in today's DCI/BOA shows. I haven't found a tutorial or other documentation to explain how to do this. Thanks for any assistance.
William
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Joined: Mon Jun 20, 2011 2:59 pm
Location: Kitchener, Ontario, Canada
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Re: Moving performers in curved paths

Post by William »

Hi KZimmerman,

A couple of the tools create curved paths automatically, such as Follow the Leader, and Rotate Path, but you can also manipulate paths individually using Path Mode.

Path Mode is between "2D" and Form selection mode in the toggle toolbar, and looks like a road. I've circled it in the image below. When in this mode you can select individual paths (make sure paths are visible in the toggle toolbar). When a path is selected you can change it to a curved path and generally work with it the same way you do with the Multi-Curve form tool. Including changing the path and adding new subsections to create additional complexity.

There are other features that you can play around with such as the "Set to All Segments" and "Delete Segment" buttons.

Since we're talking about this tool, the "Smooth Paths" options is a useful tool if you want a performer to have a single straight-line path with even step sizes over multiple sets, which normally you would have to do by hand.

There's also a description of "Path Selection Mode" in the EnVision Help Center
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Screenshot 2024-01-14 at 8.05.02 PM.png (1.64 MiB) Viewed 9387 times
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Screenshot 2024-01-14 at 8.25.33 PM.png (4.98 MiB) Viewed 9387 times
Have a great day!
William Lee
-----------------
CEO
Box5 Software
https://box5software.com
KZimmerman
Posts: 3
Joined: Sun May 17, 2020 4:45 pm

Re: Moving performers in curved paths

Post by KZimmerman »

Thanks very much, I appreciate your fast and detailed response. The key was to have the View Paths toggle 'on'. As soon as I saw your answer the light bulb went on and now the Path Mode makes sense! I'm in my fifth year now using EnVision and still learning!
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