Paths tab: Coins
The route a coin takes from its source point to its pot, and how long it takes to get there. Nothing on this page changes how the coin looks - only where it goes.
The Paths tab follows the mode switch in the header. This page is Coins mode. For the other one see Paths: Win lines.
Turn on Show paths in the panel header while you work here. It draws the route as a line so you can see a change without launching anything.
[paths_01 - The Paths tab in Coins mode, panel width, from Straight lines down to Seed, with Bend side under Side bend and Scale with distance under Auto shape. No highlights, overview picture.]
The shape
Straight lines - fly straight from the coin to the pot. Everything else in this group is ignored while it is on.
A good sanity check: if something looks wrong, turn this on to see the effect without any curve confusing you.
Arc height - how far the path lifts above the straight line, from -1400 to 1400. Negative values sag below it. With Show paths on you see a white dot: that is what this moves, and the curve itself bows about half as far as the dot.
A positive arc reads as "thrown". A negative one reads as "dropped". Coins that fly up into a pot usually want a positive arc.
The dot stays inside the screen plus Screen margin, so the far ends of the slider only show where there is room.
Side bend - how far the curve can swing sideways, from -1400 to 1400. Whether the minus sign means anything depends on Bend side, just below.
Small values (20-60) give a natural, slightly lazy path. Large values make coins loop around, which reads as playful but takes longer to arrive.
Bend side - which way the side bend goes. Random per coin (the default, and what every older file means): each coin picks left or right from its seed, and a coin almost under its pot leans toward the open side; only the size of Side bend counts. As set: the sign decides for every coin, + to the right and - to the left. Mirror at centre: like As set, but coins on the right half of the stage bend the other way, so + bends every coin toward the middle and the flights fan out symmetrically.
Mirror at centre with a positive Side bend for a tidy fan of coins converging on a central pot.
Random per coin is why a path changes every round with Loop on, even with Randomness at 0: every round picks a new seed, and the seed picks the side. Choose As set or Mirror for the same path every round.
Path nodes - how many bending points the path is built from. One node is a simple curve.
More nodes only matter together with Wave. On their own they mostly change the path subtly.
Wave - pushes each node alternately left and right, so the path snakes.
Wave plus 3 or 4 nodes gives a floating, drifting flight - good for feathers, bubbles and butterflies. Keep it small for coins.
Node distribution - bunches the bending points near the start (positive) or near the target (negative).
Negative bunches the action near the pot, so the coin travels calmly and then swerves as it arrives.
Auto shape - how much of the tool's built-in shaping stays switched on: extra lift for long or steep flights, extra sideways bend for long ones, and a sideways kick for coins sitting almost directly below their pot.
Leave it on while you explore. Set it to 0 when you want the path to be exactly what your own sliders say - at 0 with everything else at 0 you get a dead straight line.
This is the reason two coins at different distances do not look identical even with the same settings. That is usually what you want.
Scale with distance - makes short flights curve less than long ones. Off, every coin uses Arc height, Side bend and Wave exactly as you typed them. At 100 % the values you typed are for a 1000 px flight: a coin travelling 500 px gets half of them, one travelling 2000 px double.
50 % when the pots are far from some sources and close to others, so the near coins do not loop wildly and the far ones do not look flat.
It does not scale Auto shape's extras, which already grow with the distance on their own.
Randomness
If every coin flew the same curve, fifteen coins would look like a machine. These two controls break that up.
Randomness - how much the lift and side bend vary from flight to flight.
0.2 to 0.4. At 0 every coin from the same spot flies the same line; above 0.6 the shape you tuned stops being recognisable.
Seed - the number the randomness is generated from. The same seed always gives the same set of curves.
Found a launch where every coin looked great? Write the seed down. It reproduces exactly.
Randomize Paths in the header just changes this number.
Timing and bounds
Duration - how long one flight takes.
600-900 ms feels snappy, like a win being collected. Above 1.5 s a single coin starts to feel slow, though a slow drift can suit a big win.
Duration changes everything downstream: trail length, particle life and hit timing are all measured against the flight. Set it early.
Near-below boost - extra lift and sideways kick when a coin starts almost directly underneath its pot.
Leave it on. Without it, a coin directly below its pot travels in a dull vertical line while its neighbours curve.
Screen margin - how close to the edge of the screen the curve is allowed to bulge. Negative values let it go slightly off screen.
If coins near the edges look flattened compared to the middle ones, this is why - the curve is being held inside the screen.
[paths_02 - Stage only with Show paths on, about 1200 px, showing five coin paths from the bottom row to one pot: same settings, randomness about 0.3, so the curves differ. No highlights.]
Work in this order: Duration first, then Arc height, then Randomness. Everything else is fine tuning, and tuning it before the timing is set means doing it twice.