Animating a series of objects along a path independently

Question

I'm trying to animate a long trail of objects along a path, I want each one to follow the path independently without having to offset each single object. I tried follow path but as I said all objects are constrained on a single point of the curve, "clamp to" seems to work but objects do not rotate and I can't control the distance between them.

Answer 1

You can add an array modifier to the object, this will allow you to control the distance from one to another. A Curve modifier will make the meshes follow the curve. You can keyframe the object to make it move along the curve.

Method 1:

Note that this will deform the object along the curve

1. Make sure the origin of the curve is at the start of the path.

   

2. Place the object at the start of the curve as well

3. Select the object. Add an Array modifier:

   • Count: how many copies you want

   • Offset: how far each object will be from one another

   

4. Add a Curve Modifier and select the curve in the Object slot.

5. Animate the object by setting key frames. You only need to animate the Object along one axis depending on the orientation of the curve.

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Method 2:

Note: This will not deform the object along the curve. This method is a bit of a workaround and a hack.

1. Make sure the origin of the curve is at the start of the path.

   

2. Create a cube at the origin of the curve.

3. In edit mode merge all vertices into a single point. Alt M -> Center

4. Back in object mode add an array modifier. And set the Offset to constant.

   • Increase the offset to where you can see each individual point

5. Make sure your object is at the start of the curve

6. Parent the object to the array of verticies. Ctrl P

7. Set the Duplication type to Verts under the mesh properties. Enable Rotation.

   

8. Use the array of vertices to animate the object along the curve. Animate by setting key frames. You only need to animate the Object along one axis depending on the orientation of the curve.