Motion Direction

The possible directions in which you can animate an object depends on the kind of object. When you start an animation using Animate or the Motion Controller, Sketchpad uses the most common direction for the objects you animate. To access more advanced direction choices, create an Animation action button.

A point on a path can be animated forward, backward, bidirectionally, or randomly. (If the path is a circle, the choices are counter-clockwise and clockwise instead of forward and backward.) If you specify random motion on a path, each time the point is moved it’s given a brand-new random position somewhere on the path.

An independent point always moves randomly. Each time it moves, its new position depends both on its previous position and on its location relative to the window. A point moving slowly takes only small steps from its previous position, whereas a point moving quickly takes larger steps. If the point is near an edge of the window or outside the window, it’s more likely to move toward the center of the window than away from it. In this way, independent points usually remain visible in the window while animating.

A parameter has a domain within which it is animated and can increase in value, decrease in value, change bidirectionally, or change randomly within that domain.