Beyond Print
Making Your Design Move with Motion
For many designers, making the jump from 2D design to 3D motion graphics can feel a bit intimidating. Because of its intuitive, real-time interface, Motion can help you begin to design quickly and creatively without having to learn many of the details associated with other motion graphics applications. Whether you’re animating files that you’ve already created, or are designing something new completely from scratch, Motion is loaded with tools that take the guesswork out of motion graphics.
A Tour of the Motion Interface
Toolbar
The toolbar contains all of the tools you’ll need for manipulating the objects in your project. Several of the tools have multiple options that can be accessed by clicking and holding on any tool icon that has an arrow next to it.
Canvas
The Canvas is where you arrange and modify the elements of your project. It is a visual representation of what will result when you export your final design.
Utility Window
The Utility Window has three tabs which give you access to all the elements available to you: the File Browser, the Library, and the Inspector. The File Browser is where you navigate to the files on your computer. The Library shows you all of the effects, presets and fonts available from within Motion. The Inspector gives you access to the changeable parameters of each element in your project. Since the Inspector is contextual, it will change depending on what you have selected.
Project Pane
The project Pane displays the components of your project much like the layers in a Photoshop document.
Timing Pane
For a visual representation of your layers over time you use the Timing Pane. This pane is very similar to the Timelines in Final Cut Pro and Soundtrack Pro.
HUD
The HUD, or Heads-up display, is a floating window that gives you easy access to the most common controls for the selected element. By adjusting the HUD’s sliders you can instantly modify the parameters of the selected element in real-time.
Saving Your Layouts
The entire Motion interface can be customized to fit the way you work. You can use one of Motion’s preset workspaces, or create one of your own. Resizing the workspace is as easy as grabbing one of the edges between panes, and moving it to the desired size. Once you have a layout you like, use the layouts command in the Window menu to save your layout.
To save a layout, do the following:
- Step 1: Arrange the interface to your liking
- Step 2: From the Window menu select Save Current Layout
- Step 3: Choose a name for Layout
- Step 4: You saved Layout will appear in the Layouts menu
- Step 5: If you need to make changes to the Layouts list select Window > Manage Layouts
Bringing a Layered PSD file to Life with 3D
Motion makes it easy to turn layered files that you’ve already created into vibrant new compositions. When you import a layered PSD file into Motion, you can choose between merging your layers and keeping them separate. Photoshop layer effects can be imported as well, just remember to use the create layers command in the Photoshop layers menu to turn your effects into layers. If you don’t do this, Motion will discard the layer effect information on import.
Using Behaviors and Effects
Behaviors are a powerful way to create seemingly complicated text treatments easily and intuitively. Control of your objects is accomplished through the use of simple graphical controls. Behaviors are applied by simply dragging one of the many behaviors listed in the library to an object in the canvas. You can even preview a behavior at the top of the library before applying it. Once you’ve applied a behavior, the HUD will change to reflect the properties, which you can control.
Motion also comes with a complete collection of effects including animated fonts, filters, gradients and particle emitters. All of these effects are applied in the same drag-and-drop manner as behaviors.
Working in 3D space.
The most exciting thing about designing in Motion is that you are no longer stuck working in two dimensions. By adding cameras and lights to your projects you can add sophisticated movement and depth to your compositions.
Using behaviors you can quickly set up camera moves that take full advantage of the 3D space. Motion also has a full complement of camera manipulation tools that allow you to fine tune your camera moves for maximum impact.
When you are happy with your composition, it’s easy to export your design back to Final Cut Pro to integrate into your final sequence.
Adding texture with Particles
Particle systems are an exciting way to create sophisticated textures in Motion. Using particles you can create abstract textures or create real-world effects such as smoke or fire. Particles allow you to start with a single object such as a shape, text or movie and create a complex animation that turns your single object into many objects that interact in random ways or perfectly in sync.
Motion’s library includes a wide variety of pre-made particle systems that make it extremely easy to integrate particles into your projects. Just drag a particle preset to the canvas and you can instantly start to modify it to create the look that you want. Add behaviors to your particles and you’ll really start to see how easy it is to create seemingly complicated projects by combining your materials with the creative options contained in Motion.
