Technical Specifications

Minimum
System
Requirements

Mac computer with an Intel Core 2 Duo processor or better.
2GB of RAM (4GB of RAM recommended).
OpenCL-capable graphics card or Intel HD Graphics 3000 or later.
256MB of VRAM (512MB of VRAM recommended).

Display with 1280-by-768 resolution or higher.
OS X v10.6.8 or OS X v10.7.5 or OS X v10.8.3 or later.
3.4GB of disk space (2.2GB app, 1.2GB supplemental content).

User Interface

Dark look to enhance colour perception.
Single-window layout for all user interface panes.
Onscreen controls for selected filters.
Keyframe editor pane with a streamlined timeline view for intuitive time-based control.
Centre toolbar for tools; colour-coded objects and inspector keyframe controls for easy identification.
Unlimited tracks of movie clips, graphics, text and particles.
Project sizes up to 16K (8K resolution requires a graphics card with 512MB of VRAM; 1GB or more recommended; 16K resolution requires a graphics card with 1GB of VRAM).
Open multiple projects simultaneously to easily switch, copy and paste between them.
Colour bits per channel: 16-bit float for GPU rendering; 32-bit float for background software rendering of Motion projects in Final Cut Pro (float processing requires a graphics card with 256MB of VRAM; 512MB or more recommended).
Customisable nonsquare-pixel support.
Semitransparent heads-up display with onscreen controls for layers, behaviours and filters.
Onscreen controls for 3D position, 3D rotation, 3D anchor point, skew, four-corner pin, crop and text glyph manipulations.
Enable or disable viewing and rendering of lighting, shadows, reflections and depth of field.
Support for dual monitor display.

View colour channels and alpha channels independently.
Canvas alignment tools including dynamic alignment guides, 3D grid and rulers.
Pen-and-tablet gesture-based interface.
3D mouse support.
Integrated File Browser for fast access to Finder content.
RAM Previews for viewing complex animations at full frame rate.
Save favourite settings, customised effects, gradients, text styles and more in the Library.
Over 1,900 pieces of Apple-designed, royalty-free vector artwork, high-resolution images and animated design elements.
Instantly display and access all layers in the project using a single keystroke.
Create, save and remap customised keyboard shortcuts.
Show images outside the visible frame boundary for easily adjusting offscreen objects.
Automatically collect media used in a project for easy backup or moving to other locations.
Use Spotlight in OS X to locate Motion projects by searching on any layer name or text string created in the project.

3D Compositing
Environment

Position, rotate and intersect multiple layers in 3D space.
Combine multiple layers into 3D groups for hierarchical 3D animations.
Add, animate and cut between multiple cameras.
Walk-Camera intuitively operates like a first-person video game.
Adjust the camera’s near and far soft clipping planes to avoid object ‘popping’.
Apply Camera behaviours for easily creating and modifying complex camera moves.
Quad split view for displaying multiple orthographic and perspective views.
Inset viewer for quickly checking alternative views while making adjustments.
Multiple light sources including ambient, directional, point and spot.

Enable shadows for selected point lights or spotlights, define objects to receive or cast shadows, and control the shadow colours and softness.
Enable reflectivity on most objects, movies, paint strokes and more.
Activate depth of field to enhance realism and control focus.
Enable particles, replicator elements and paint strokes to be animated in 3D space.
Create 3D text behaviours for character-by-character animations with full 3D position and rotation control.
Create 3D motion paths for layers, cameras and light sources.
Apply behaviours like throw, orbit and vortex, with 3D attributes.
Isolate any layer to a front view for easily modifying masks or editing text.

Timeline Editing
and Layering

Layer list view makes it easy to change the stacking order of any layer, group, filter or animation behaviour.
Grouping for applying compound transformations and filters.
Common “bring to front” and “send to back” functions.
Opacity and blend mode display for quick access to every layer and group.
Create drop zones for easy drag-and-drop image replacement.
Clone layers for linking instances of images that inherit properties automatically.
Solo tracks for easier viewing and refinements.
Isolate selection for temporary framing and solo of an object to facilitate editing of an object in a 3D composition.

Composite with premultiplied or non-premultiplied Alpha channels.
Mini-timeline built into the Canvas that displays a single track for the currently selected layer, group, filter or behaviour.
Trim, slip, slide, and retime audio and video clips via the mini-timeline.
Retime clips using frame blending, motion blur blending or optical flow.
Cache optical flow retiming analysis to change speed at any time without reanalysing.
Full timeline with drag-and-drop editing to choose between compositing and assembling multiple clips.
Insert and overwrite editing directly into the timeline.
Markers that can be placed in the timeline or on a specific clip with notes.

Animation

Unique behaviour animations for creating natural phenomena like wind, gravity and vortex.
Sophisticated simulations like attract, repel and orbit, which create multilayered 3D animations.
Text sequencing for automating complex title animations in 3D space.
Auto-animated Parameter controls like oscillate, wriggle and more.
Parameter linking for driving secondary animations.
Retiming behaviours automate ramping in and out of speed changes.
Audio behaviour for syncing animations with audio tracks.
MIDI behaviour for triggering parameter changes via any MIDI device.
Shape behaviours allow you to track points on a shape or create random wriggling animated shapes.
Complete keyframe-based animation tools.
Keyframe editor with Bezier, Linear, Constant and Ease In/Ease Out curve interpolations.

Keyframe edit tool, keyframe sketch tool and a keyframe box manipulation tool.
Copy and paste keyframes from different tracks and parameters.
Keyframe settings for ping pong, repeat and progressive.
Record animations and thin keyframes in real time.
Draw keyframes in the Keyframe editor using a freehand pen tool.
Squish, stretch and move groups of keyframes using a transform box.
Save curve sets for quick access to common parameters.
View animated curves for easier navigation.
View keyframes in the timeline for quick positioning.
Enable or disable keyframe and behaviour-based animations to easily compare different results.

Particle Engine

Sprite-based particle engine with accelerated performance.
Over 200 particle presets for easy access to sparkles, fire, smoke and more.
Animate particles in 3D space with Face-Camera control.
Apply multiple objects or video clips as emitters.
Apply additive blend mode for intense glowing results.
Animate emitters and cells independently.

Save newly created particles in the Library for reuse in other projects.
Choose between point, line, rectangle, circle, box, sphere and more for emitter shapes.
Control birth rate, life, speed, angle, spin, scale and gradient colours for particle cells.
Scale particles over their life or add behaviours like orbit and vortex for amazing 3D results with little effort.

Paint Effects

Paint with pressure-sensitive vector-based brushstrokes.
Select from over 140 customisable brush styles from traditional to abstract.
Modify brush width, colour, opacity and jitter over the stroke path.
Automatically draw on and draw off with full customisation.
Edit brushstrokes as Bezier or advanced B-spline paths.

Rotate the stroke in 3D space with Face-Camera control for volumetric 3D strokes.
Assign pressure and speed to brush properties when using a pen and tablet.
Enable dynamics on paint dabs for particle paint type effects.
Apply Replicator-like sequencing animations that can cause the paint stroke to ripple through 3D space.

Replicator Tool

Automatic replication of any graphic, text object or movie file along defined patterns.
Over 200 Replicator presets that can be completely customised and resaved.
Animate replicated patterns in 3D space with Face-Camera control.
Save newly created Replicators in the Library for reuse in other projects.
Choose between line, rectangle, circle, burst, spiral, wave, box, sphere and more for Replicator patterns.
Define the number of rows, columns and 3D ranks that fill or outline the pattern.
Control pattern size, cell size, angle, scale and gradient colours for Replicator cells.

Change the offset for rows and columns, causing them to shift position across the defined pattern.
Control origin of animation from various points of the pattern.
Add random scale and angle setting for more natural replications.
Apply additive blend mode for intense glowing results.
Set the colour of replicated objects from a single tint to a user-defined range.
Add a Replicator Sequence behaviour for wavelike animations over various patterns.

Title Design

Vector-based text engine for creating clean type at any size.
Import capability supporting Text and RTF files to create Motion text objects.
Format text using size, rotation, slant, tracking, kerning and more.
Animate individual text characters in 3D space using customisable text behaviours.
Transform single characters with the Adjust Glyph tool.
Select from a common set of blend modes, including normal, multiply, screen and add.
Customise text styles with control over the face, outline, glow and drop shadow.
Type-on and text-on-a-path layout and animation options.
Scroll and Crawl layouts and animation options that support large amounts of text.

Text field parameter in Inspector makes it easy to edit text even if text is obscured in the Canvas.
Fill text with solid or multipoint gradients.
Apply static images or video clips as textures to text faces.
Control textures using hold frame, offset, wrap modes and opacity.
Support for Asian, Cyrillic and other Unicode system fonts.
Right-to-left and vertical text support for non-Roman languages like Japanese, Chinese and Arabic.
Search-and-replace function to find and modify specific text throughout a project.
Shrink-to-fit option that automatically resizes text to fit into a given area.

Tracking and
Stabilisation

Match move using single-point tracking or four-corner pinning.
Create tracking data that can be referenced by multiple objects.
Track a filter’s onscreen position controls.
Offset tracking for creating a single track from multiple offsets.
Tracking behaviour highlights best potential tracking points, eliminating guesswork.
Advanced tracking algorithm maintains accurate analysis when patterns rotate or skew.
Smart retry feature resets the search region automatically for less user intervention.

Provide directional hints for fast-moving regions by using the look-ahead feature.
Stabilise using traditional point stabiliser or optical flow analysis.
Automated optical flow stabiliser bypasses selecting points and time-consuming setup.
SmoothCam optical flow analysis removes jitter and rocking from handheld shots while retaining overall camera moves.
Adjust amount of smoothing applied to transforms, rotation and scaling in real time.

Accelerated
Filters and
Effects

Over 110 accelerated filters for real-time interactivity.
More than 10 blur filters, including Gaussian, Channel Blur, Radial Blur and Defocus.
Simple and bevel borders.
More than 15 colour correction filters, including Color Balance, Gradient Colorize, Color Reduce and Threshold.
More than 25 distortion filters, including Refraction, Insect Eye, Glass Distortion, Ripple, Scrape and Polar.
Stunning glow effects for Light Rays, Bloom, Aura and more.
Keying filter that automatically analyses the dominant colour of the visible frame and presents onscreen controls for refining the sample colour and edges of the key.
Keying controls for filling holes, adjusting edge distance, spill level and light wrap.

Advanced keying colour-wheel control for adjusting the tolerance and softness in the chroma and luma channels of the keyed region.
Stylise filters like Vignette, Bad TV, Bad Film, Color Emboss, Halftone, Line Art and Slit Tunnel.
Unique kaleidoscope and tiling filters.
Time-based filters for echo and strobe effects.
Video filters for deinterlacing and broadcast-safe colours and luminance.
Generators that automatically generate patterns, noise, colours, caustics, and concentric shapes and spirals.
Text generators that create and animate text elements like numbers, currency, dates and timecode, or can generate text using the contents of a text file.

Masking Tools

Bezier or advanced B-spline masking tools.
Create ovals, rectangles and arbitrary freehand shapes.
Control opacity, rounding and edge feathering.
Combine masks using mathematical operations.

Track entire shapes or control points using tracking behaviours.
Create image masks from alpha, luminance or RGB values of a second image.

Audio

Support for AIFF, WAV, MP3, VBR MP3 and AAC (MPEG-4 Audio).
Edit audio tracks in the timeline with trim, slip and move.
Retime audio tracks with pitch change.
Scrub audio tracks for frame-accurate positioning.

Control balance, gain, mute and solo individually.
Use master audio controls for global audio adjustments.
Trigger parameter changes based on audio frequencies or transient hits.

Final Cut Pro
Integration
and Third-Party
Support

Create and save Smart Templates in Motion for titles, effects, transitions and generators, to make them available in Final Cut Pro for drag-and-drop application without rendering.
Rigs allow multiple parameters to be controlled with simplified sliders, pop-up menus or checkboxes.
Predefined aspect-ratio snapshots make templates automatically fit the Final Cut Pro project frame size.
Define fixed durations for intro and outro sections in templates; Final Cut Pro adjusts the title body to fit the timing in the middle.

Rigs and parameters can be published in a template for simplified control in Final Cut Pro.
Import vector PDF graphics, Photoshop layered documents, BMP, GIF, JPEG, PICT, PNG, TIFF, TGA or Open EXR files.
FxPlug 2 for GPU-accelerated third-party filters and effects, including support for shapes, paths, cameras and lights.
Support for Image Unit plug-ins.

Export

Share feature to export and deliver content automatically to devices like iPod and Apple TV or to services like Facebook, Vimeo and YouTube, in a few clicks.
Export to ProRes, H.264, MPEG-4 and other QuickTime-supported codecs.
Export as movies or image sequences.
Export as OpenEXR format.
Export to uncompressed 8-bit and 10-bit 4:2:2.
Support for progressive and field-based rendering.

Accelerated motion blur with customisable shutter.
Save customised export settings for easier selection.
Settings created in Compressor can be accessed directly from the Share feature in Motion 5 and Final Cut Pro X.
Send a whole project to Compressor for advanced encoding requirements.
Export Selection can render out selected objects.