How do I draw a custom camera path?

If you want the camera to follow a specific route through your video — rather than moving between discrete anchor points — you can draw a custom camera path directly on the preview.

What is a custom camera path?

A camera path is a freehand curve you draw on the video preview. The app converts your drawing into a smooth sequence of camera positions and creates anchors along the path. This is useful when you want the camera to follow an irregular or curved trajectory that would be tedious to create with individual anchors.

How to draw a path

Move the playhead to the point in the video where you want the path to begin.
Enter path drawing mode. (On iOS, look for the path drawing option in the hamburger menu. On Mac, use the appropriate menu command.)
The preview shows an instruction overlay: "Draw the camera path" and "Drag your finger to draw the path the camera should follow."
Draw your path by dragging on the preview. The path appears as you draw.
Lift your finger when you are done. The app processes your drawing.

What happens after you draw

The app smooths your rough drawing into a clean curve.
It places keyframe anchors at 0.5-second intervals along the path.
The default path duration is 3 seconds. You can adjust this.
Existing anchors in the time range are replaced by the path's keyframes.

Tips for good paths

Draw deliberately. Slow, steady strokes produce better paths than quick scribbles.
Use at least 5 points. Very short paths (under 5 points) may not generate useful results.
Keep it simple. A gentle curve often looks better than an elaborate path.
Preview before committing. After drawing, play through the path to make sure it looks the way you intended.
Cancel if needed. If the result is not what you wanted, you can cancel to discard the path and keep your original anchors.

Spatial Path Editor (Pro feature)

On supported configurations, the Spatial Path Editor provides advanced path editing:

Source canvas background so you can see exactly where the path goes relative to your video.
Draggable control points for precise path adjustments.
Velocity-colored segments: Green segments are slow, red segments are fast — you can see the speed at a glance.
Time gradient visualization: The path color shifts from blue to magenta to show the direction of travel over time.

When not to use a custom path

Simple moves: If you just need a pan or zoom, anchors and move blocks are faster.
Multiple distinct camera positions: Anchors are better when you have clear "I want the camera here, then here, then here" moments.