Motion 2 Getting Started Manual
About Motion
In Motion, you create motion graphics and basic compositing projects with imported images (such as Adobe Photoshop or Illustrator files), image sequences, QuickTime movies, audio files, as well as objects created within Motion. These objects include text, masks, shapes, and particles.
All media imported into Motion, or elements created within a project, are referred to as objects. In your project, you can apply effects such as filters or behaviors to any object. A filter is a process that changes the appearance of an image. For example, a blur filter takes an input image and outputs a blurred version of that image. A behavior is a process that applies a value range to an object’s parameters, creating an animation based on the affected parameters. For example, the Spin behavior rotates an object over time at a rate that you specify.
A Motion project is made up of layers that contain objects. The layer acts as a “parent” to its objects. If you move or apply a filter or behavior to a layer, all objects within that layer are affected. You can also apply filters and behaviors to the individual objects within a layer. Layers and objects can be moved and animated by using behaviors or by setting keyframes. Filters can also be animated.
A project represents a single flow of image data built from the bottom up. In a composite with a single layer, the objects within that layer are stacked above one another. Filters and behaviors that are applied to an object appear beneath the object in the Layers list (and can be hidden using the disclosure triangle, or by filtering what is displayed in the Layers tab). The layer represents the resulting image of its objects and their applied behaviors, filters, and composite modes (blend modes).
In a simple example, a layer contains a single image with applied color correction and blur filters (in that order). The image provides the input data to the color correction filter. The output data of the color correction is the input data for the blur filter. The layer represents the result of that image data flow. Layers are also stacked one above the other in a project—the output of the lower layer is the input to the layer above it in the list. No matter what your level of experience, this tour introduces you to creating motion graphics in Motion. In a style that is a blend of tutorial and user’s manual, the tour provides an overview of the user interface components, and a quick start to every main feature of Motion and its general workflow.
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