Gaaaahhhh!!! (Translation:Need Help With Follow Path)-Solved

[willf]

I am at beat-head-on-desk levels of frustration. I simply cannot get Follow Path to work. I have gotten it to work in the past, so not sure what is going on.

Briefly, I create a path on one layer(A), and an object to follow that path on another layer(B). I make sure that the path layer(A) is above the object layer(B) that will follow it. Also I make sure that the origin point of the object layer(B) is centered on the object.

Then I click on the object layer(B), I select Follow Path Tool, the path appears.

When I click on the beginning of the path, nothing happens. I go down the timeline and try to click further down the path, nothing again. Also, the tutorial talks about holding and dragging the cursor to get the object to move, this does not appear to work, either.

Pardon my acronym, but wtf?

Here is the tutorial I followed (though others I viewed gave the same instructions): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__jy4PvS2S8

[Nolan Scott]

You are almost there…. If you like, here is a short video-demo:
http://www.nolanscott.co.nz/follow_path.mov
(no sound, it’s all very easy and straight-forward)

[willf]

OK, solved it.

I had to open a new file, and import only the layers for the path and the object, to see the problem.

The tutorials say that you can create the object anywhere, just move layer's origin point to directly underneath the object after you create it, right?

My software would not remember the new origin location. Every time I tried to use Follow Path the object layer would revert to its former origin location, as if I had not moved it at all. I solved this by rebuilding the object directly over the default origin point, and so didn't have to move it at all.

After I did this then follow path worked as advertised. I am still not sure why this would have caused some of the behavior I witnessed, but it seems to be resolved now, so I reimported it back into the overall animation.