Re: need help with animated ribon .

since your curves look very similar in size (it looks they dont grow over time) i would take a different approach than the birail method. Make a single curve that will define your ribbon movement, create a polycube w/ the proper size/length/look you want for the ribbon, make sure it has enough subdivisions in its width/height/depth for smooth bends, select both curve/cube, in Animation Menu/Animate/Motion Paths/Create Motion Path Options/Reset, With cube still selected Animate/Motion Paths/Flow Path Object Options/Reset, then in 'ffd1LatticeShape' node crank up the 'S Divisions' as well as the T and U to taste. Now when u scrub timeline the cube will follow the curve.

Few warnings, I've found if you ever change the size/look of the cube after doing the motion path maya freaks out and it doesn't work so you have to go through the entire motion path sequence again. Anyone know of a fix for that?

Also sometimes you have to play w/ the Options for the Motion Path for it to look right depending on your object (like if you rotate your object while modeling it.)