Need to turn a letter into a motion path

[TheTrackBallGuy]

I picked up Trapcode Particular a few weeks ago and I've been messing around with it. I'm working with the tutorial provided in the link below. At around the 7:14 mark of the video, he shows how to put lights on a motion path. He has the letter R perfectly drawn out for his motion path. My hands are not that steady to draw out an R like that with the pen tool, honestly, I don't think anyone has hands steady enough to draw out a path that nice with the pen tool. So my questions is how can I make a path like the one he has in the video out of any letter without using the pen tool. I've tried right clicking on the letter and choosing mask from text and shape from text, but it's not getting me the result I want. I feel like I'm on the right path (horrible pun intended), but I can't quite figure out the next step. Thanks.

Getting Started with Trapcode Tao - Pt 1: Paths and Segments - YouTube

[james.holmes]

You are nearly there. After you have created either a mask or path from the text, select the mask (or path) unfurl the path arrow so you see the paths stop watch, select the path by clicking on the word path and just hit Ctrl C (or edit>copy). Then put a light into your scene (name it Emitter) and in it's position property (select the word position) just hit Ctrl V (paste). Boom, your light will follow the path over 2 seconds and your particles will emit from it.

[P.M.B]

James is right.   You just CTRL-C/V the path property to the position property.

Couple of things though.

1) your better off converting the text to a mask than a shape as a mask will maintain the size of the text when you copy it over to the position property of the light.

2) The start point of your motion path might not be where you want it to be. Just select the vert you want to be the start and right click and choose Mask And Shape Path>Set First Vertex

[TheTrackBallGuy]

Y'all both gave great advice, which will work for what I needed for this particular project, but what I really needed help with, which I guess I didn't make quite clear or maybe I didn't understand in your comment, is how to make a path out of a letter with just the dots (that's not the right word) showing up and the fill and stroke gone. I guess it's the path. I'm a little OCD when it comes to things, so I want to learn how to do exactly what he did in the video, just in case I need it for future reference. If you already explained this, then I'm sorry for misunderstanding, could you just elaborate on it a bit more? Thanks again!

[P.M.B]

That's the "motion path"  It will appear when you paste the path information to the position of the light (or any layer with a position property).

[james.holmes]

The R drawn by (is it Harry Frank?) differs from the masks you have created only in so much as he has selected two points of the mask and right clicked on one of them, selected 'Mask Shape & Path' and unchecked the 'Closed' option, giving him an open path.

[TheTrackBallGuy]

OK I got most of it figured out with your help. When I paste the light onto the letter, for some reason, the letter seems to warp a bit. Any clues as to why? Screen shot below.

[Kevin-Monahan]

Did you get this effect done yet, 3000 photos? Let us know what you did to complete it.

Thanks,
Kevin

[P.M.B · Accepted solution]

That's right he opened the path but it's not really necessary.

Here are two videos one just setting up the motion path and the other includes opening the path.

[james.holmes]

With no cameras and no 3D layers my guess is there is a world transform in TAO? Try putting a camera in.