How to view/change motion path of a puppet pin position keyframe?

[Major Biology]

Hi,

I have a character that I am trying to animate using the puppet pin tool. I have set keyframes for the position of certain points, but I am having trouble finding a way to view the motion path of the puppet pin position keyframes.

I have checked my settings, both the view options and the preferences, and they are both set to show motion paths. When I click the toggle mask and shape path visibility icon it immediately turns off when I move the playhead. When I open up the value graph editor it does not show any handles, and the motion path does not show up at all on my composition window.

I am working with illustrator layers, but even when I convert them to shape layers I cannot see the motion path for my puppet pin position keyframes. When I double click the layer to try and view the layer window, it does nothing. I have tried changing the spatial interpolation to bezier, and I still see no motion path or handles. 

I have attached a picture of my character - I am trying to animate the points on the foot of the back leg to move them to the left, but I want them to move in an arc, or curved path, rather than linearly along a straight line. Any help would be appreciated.

[Rick Gerard]

Select the layer with Puppet Pin applied, press 'uu' to reveal all modified properties, click on the Pin you want to animate in the timeline, adjust the motion path using the selection tool(v), or the puppet pin tool. You just have to pay attention to the cursor and watch for the right selection tool to pop up then drag the handles to get the motion path you want.

[Major Biology · Accepted solution]

Thanks, I figured out the problem. Apparently motion paths aren't available for a layer that has been parented to another. As soon as I unparented the leg from the body the path shows up. 

[nishu_kush]

Thanks for updating the thread, Major Biology. Glad that you figured it out.

Feel free to reach out if there are any other questions.

Thanks,

Nishu

[hellopaul4]

Annoying that this bug (pardon the grasshopper-related pun!) is still here in 2023. Just to re-iterate:

Puppet motion path pins do not show up on a parented layer.

[Eugene Reisch · Accepted solution]

Thanks for clarifying your fix - it was bugging me too! 🙂