Speed of objects on path?

Support Basics & Interface
#1

I am trying for a “write on” effect for blender procedural text. I want an object as particle emitter to follow the path of the text. But even when I parent my cube to a text path that has been converted to a curve, it won’t follow. do your curves have to be open in order for an object to animate along them?

I tried to delete a point to “open” the text curves but whenever I delete a point it just keeps the curve closed and joins the two vertices between them. I don’t want to trace the text by hand, there’s got to be a way to do this and make the path connect through all the letters

EDIT: got it. for anyone who might be interested, (0 members) I forgot to turn on “CurvePath” and that “C” opens and closes curves. it was also another moment of brilliance when I realized “F” will join two vertices with an edge. now I can edit happily.

but now how do I adjust the speed of an object on the path?

#2

Select the path, open an Ipo Editor window.
Select Ipo type “Path”.
There is one empty channel: “Speed”
Ctrl-LMB to add a point (and a curve).
0,0 is the starting point. The end of the path is where the curve meets 1 on the vertical axis. Adjust the curve to your liking.