Thanks for your suggestion, thetraininglady. However, the problem is that the copy of the same character, object, etc., within each motion path must begin, begin and end, and end directly on top of each other, or there will be terrible registration problems. Someone lamented powerpoint's lack of a "paste in place" command. By all means, if you or ANYONE knows how I might achieve paste in place by some other means, please let me know. Meticulously placing these characters is very tedious!
I tried placing the motion path order BACKWARDS. This seemed to help a little as I recall, because there were some elements which lent themselves as guides.
I may be able to make multiple copies of the object to be moved in the path, to be used only as markers to guide me in placing the end of each path as I place them in backward order on the slide.
Sounds complicated? It is!
When the three motion paths in this particular project of mine were all selected, I noticed "multiple" in the animation selection in the powerpoint ribbon. It was apparently highlighted when I selected all three motion paths.
I don't know what it is for.
If you have any further suggestions, by all means, msg. me back.