Why is my animation path curving?

While animating using paths, you may find that the path is curving where you don’t want it to. This is usually caused by the use of a peg with a 3D path instead of a separate one. This article will show you how to turn your curved paths back into straight ones.

For more information, see What is the difference between a 3D path and a Separate path?

Step 1: Activate the path

If your peg path is not already activated, do the following.

1. Select the peg that you want to activate the path on.
2. In the Camera view, select the Show Control button in the Camera View toolbar.

3. Your peg path will show up in the Camera view.

Option 1: Straighten the path using tension

If you want to keep the 3D path on the peg, you can use the Tension value to straighten the path.

1. Open the Control Point toolbar by doing one of the following:
   • By going to Windows > Toolbars > Control Point.
   • By right clicking in the Camera view’s toolbar area and selecting Control Point from the dropdown menu.
2. The toolbar will open above the Camera view and contains the following value boxes:
   • T is for Tension
   • C is for Curve
   • B is for Bias.

3. In the Tools toolbar, select the Transform tool and select a middle point on the path in the Camera view. 
4. In the Control Point toolbar, place your cursor in the T box and change the value to 1.
5. The path turns from curves to straight lines. If you have more than one point on the path, you may have to do this multiple times.

Option 2: Change the 3D path to Separate

Only use this option if you did not mean to use a 3D path peg and need to permanently switch to a Separate path, as doing this will require you to redo your animation.

1. Open the Layer Properties of the peg by doing one of the following:
   • In the Node view, click on the yellow box of the peg node.
   • In the Timeline view, right click on the peg layer and select Layer Properties…
2. In the Layer Properties view, under the Transformation tab, change the Position from 3D Path to Separate.

3. Close the Layer Properties window.
4. You will have to redo your animation, but your animation paths will automatically stay straight.