Motion User Guide
- Welcome
- What’s new
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- Intro to basic compositing
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- Intro to transforming layers
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- Intro to transforming layers in the canvas
- Transform layer properties in the canvas
- Transform tools
- Change layer position, scale, or rotation
- Move a layer’s anchor point
- Add a drop shadow to a layer
- Distort or shear a layer
- Crop a layer
- Modify shape or mask points
- Transform text glyphs and other object attributes
- Align layers in the canvas
- Transform layers in the HUD
- Transform 2D layers in 3D space
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- Intro to behaviors
- Behaviors versus keyframes
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- Intro to behavior types
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- Intro to Parameter behaviors
- Audio behavior
- Average behavior
- Clamp behavior
- Custom behavior
- Add a Custom behavior
- Exponential behavior
- Link behavior
- Logarithmic behavior
- MIDI behavior
- Add a MIDI behavior
- Negate behavior
- Oscillate behavior
- Create a decaying oscillation
- Overshoot behavior
- Quantize behavior
- Ramp behavior
- Randomize behavior
- Rate behavior
- Reverse behavior
- Stop behavior
- Track behavior
- Wriggle behavior
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- Intro to Simulation behaviors
- Align to Motion behavior
- Attracted To behavior
- Attractor behavior
- Drag behavior
- Drift Attracted To behavior
- Drift Attractor behavior
- Edge Collision behavior
- Gravity behavior
- Orbit Around behavior
- Random Motion behavior
- Repel behavior
- Repel From behavior
- Rotational Drag behavior
- Spring behavior
- Vortex behavior
- Wind behavior
- Additional behaviors
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- Intro to using generators
- Add a generator
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- Intro to image generators
- Caustics generator
- Cellular generator
- Checkerboard generator
- Clouds generator
- Color Solid generator
- Concentric Polka Dots generator
- Concentric Shapes generator
- Gradient generator
- Grid generator
- Japanese Pattern generator
- Lens Flare generator
- Manga Lines generator
- Membrane generator
- Noise generator
- One Color Ray generator
- Op Art 1 generator
- Op Art 2 generator
- Op Art 3 generator
- Overlapping Circles generator
- Radial Bars generator
- Soft Gradient generator
- Spirals generator
- Spiral Drawing generator
- Use Spiral Drawing onscreen controls
- Star generator
- Stripes generator
- Sunburst generator
- Truchet Tiles generator
- Two Color Ray generator
- Save a modified generator
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- Intro to filters
- Browse and preview filters
- Apply or remove filters
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- Intro to filter types
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- Intro to Color filters
- Brightness filter
- Channel Mixer filter
- Color Adjustments filter
- Color Balance filter
- Example: Color-balance two layers
- Color Curves filter
- Use the Color Curves filter
- Color Reduce filter
- Color Wheels filter
- Use the Color Wheels filter
- Colorize filter
- Contrast filter
- Custom LUT filter
- Use the Custom LUT filter
- Gamma filter
- Gradient Colorize filter
- HDR Tools filter
- Hue/Saturation filter
- Hue/Saturation Curves filter
- Use the Hue/Saturation Curves filter
- Levels filter
- Negative filter
- OpenEXR Tone Map filter
- Sepia filter
- Threshold filter
- Tint filter
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- Intro to Distortion filters
- Black Hole filter
- Bulge filter
- Bump Map filter
- Disc Warp filter
- Droplet filter
- Earthquake filter
- Fisheye filter
- Flop filter
- Fun House filter
- Glass Block filter
- Glass Distortion
- Insect Eye filter
- Mirror filter
- Page Curl filter
- Poke filter
- Polar filter
- Refraction filter
- Ring Lens filter
- Ripple filter
- Scrape filter
- Sliced Scale filter
- Use the Sliced Scale filter
- Sphere filter
- Starburst filter
- Stripes filter
- Target filter
- Tiny Planet filter
- Twirl filter
- Underwater filter
- Wave filter
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- Intro to Stylize filters
- Add Noise filter
- Bad Film filter
- Bad TV filter
- Circle Screen filter
- Circles filter
- Color Emboss filter
- Comic filter
- Crystallize filter
- Edges filter
- Extrude filter
- Fill filter
- Halftone filter
- Hatched Screen filter
- Highpass filter
- Indent filter
- Line Art filter
- Line Screen filter
- MinMax filter
- Noise Dissolve filter
- Pixellate filter
- Posterize filter
- Relief filter
- Slit Scan filter
- Slit Tunnel filter
- Texture Screen filter
- Vignette filter
- Wavy Screen filter
- About filters and color processing
- Publish filter controls to Final Cut Pro
- Using filters on alpha channels
- Filter performance
- Save custom filters
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- Intro to 3D objects
- Add a 3D object
- Move and rotate a 3D object
- Reposition a 3D object’s anchor point
- Exchange a 3D object file
- 3D object intersection and layer order
- Using cameras and lights with 3D objects
- Save custom 3D objects
- Guidelines for working with 3D objects
- Working with imported 3D objects
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- Intro to 360-degree video
- 360-degree projects
- Create 360-degree projects
- Add 360-degree video to a project
- Create a tiny planet effect
- Reorient 360-degree media
- Creating 360-degree templates for Final Cut Pro
- 360-degree-aware filters and generators
- Export and share 360-degree projects
- Guidelines for better 360-degree projects
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- Intro to settings and shortcuts
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- Intro to Keyboard shortcuts
- Use function keys
- General keyboard shortcuts
- Audio list keyboard shortcuts
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- Tools keyboard shortcuts
- Transform tool keyboard shortcuts
- Select/Transform tool keyboard shortcuts
- Crop tool keyboard shortcuts
- Edit Points tool keyboard shortcuts
- Edit shape tools keyboard shortcuts
- Pan and Zoom tools keyboard shortcuts
- Shape tools keyboard shortcuts
- Bezier tool keyboard shortcuts
- B-Spline tool keyboard shortcuts
- Paint Stroke tool keyboard shortcuts
- Text tool keyboard shortcuts
- Shape mask tools keyboard shortcuts
- Bezier Mask tool keyboard shortcuts
- B-Spline Mask tool keyboard shortcuts
- Transport control keyboard shortcuts
- View option keyboard shortcuts
- HUD keyboard shortcuts
- Inspector keyboard shortcuts
- Keyframe Editor keyboard shortcuts
- Layers keyboard shortcuts
- Library keyboard shortcuts
- Media list keyboard shortcuts
- Timeline keyboard shortcuts
- Keyframing keyboard shortcuts
- Shape and Mask keyboard shortcuts
- 3D keyboard shortcuts
- Miscellaneous keyboard shortcuts
- Touch Bar shortcuts
- Move assets to another computer
- Work with GPUs
- Glossary
- Copyright
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Object menu in Motion
The Object menu contains commands for manipulating objects in Motion, including object placement in the layer hierarchy and physical alignment in the canvas.
New Group: Adds a new empty group to the project. (Shift-Command-N)
New Camera: Adds a new scene camera to the project, and lets you specify whether to use 2D or 3D mode (if the project is not empty). (Option-Command-C)
New Light: Adds a new light to the project, and lets you specify whether to use 2D or 3D mode (if the project is not empty). (Shift-Command-L)
New Light Setup: Adds a preset lighting environment to the project, and lets you specify whether to use 2D or 3D mode (if the project is not empty).
New Drop Zone: Adds a new drop zone to your project. Drop zones allow you to replace footage in a project by dropping clips onto the canvas. See Intro to drop zones.(Shift-Command-D)
New Rig: Adds a new rig to the project. Rigging lets you create complex animations that are easy to modify, by aggregating many separate parameters into a single control, such as a slider or pop-up menu. See Intro to rigging.
New 360° Environment: Adds a 360° environment to the project (Shift-Command-E). See Intro to 360° video.
Bring to Front: Moves the selected object to the top of the layers in a group. (Command-Right Brace)
Send to Back: Moves the selected object to the bottom of the layers in a group. (Command-Left Brace)
Bring Forward: Moves the selected object upward in the Layers list by one object. (Command-Right Bracket)
Send Backward: Moves the selected object downward in the Layers list by one object. (Command-Left Bracket)
Alignment: Opens a submenu of commands for aligning and distributing multiple objects in the canvas. See Align layers in the Motion canvas. Submenu commands include the following:
Align Left Edges: Moves the selected objects so their left edges line up with the leftmost edge in the selection.
Align Right Edges: Moves the selected objects so their right edges line up with the rightmost edge in the selection.
Align Top Edges: Moves the selected objects so their top edges line up with the topmost edge in the selection.
Align Bottom Edges: Moves the selected objects so their bottom edges line up with the bottommost edge in the selection.
Align Far Edges: In 3D mode, aligns the farthest edges of each object along the Z (depth) axis.
Align Near Edges: In 3D mode, aligns the nearest edges of each object along the Z (depth) axis.
Align Horizontal Centers: Lines up the selected objects on their horizontal center points.
Align Vertical Centers: Lines up the selected objects on their vertical center points.
Align Depth Centers: Lines up the selected objects on their Z (depth) center points.
Distribute Lefts: Spreads the selected objects evenly between the leftmost and rightmost objects based on their left edges.
Distribute Rights: Spreads the selected objects evenly between the leftmost and rightmost objects based on their right edges.
Distribute Tops: Spreads the selected objects evenly between the topmost and bottommost objects based on their top edges.
Distribute Bottoms: Spreads the selected objects evenly between the topmost and bottommost objects based on their bottom edges.
Distribute Far: Spreads the selected objects evenly between each object’s farthest point.
Distribute Near: Spreads the selected layers evenly between each object’s nearest point.
Distribute Horizontal Centers: Spreads the selected objects evenly between the leftmost and rightmost objects based on their horizontal center points.
Distribute Vertical Centers: Spreads the selected objects evenly between the topmost and bottommost objects based on their vertical center points.
Distribute Depth Centers: Spreads the selected objects evenly between the nearest and farthest objects, based on their Z (depth) center points.
Group: Combines the selected objects into a group. (Shift-Command-G)
Ungroup: Removes the grouping so you can manipulate the objects individually. (Option-Command-G)
Active: Sets whether an object is active. When an object is not active, it doesn’t appear in the canvas and doesn’t appear in the final output. When the selected item is active, the menu item has a checkmark beside it. (Control-T)
Solo: Hides all other objects in the project (but not the selected object). When the selected item is soloed, the menu item has a checkmark beside it. (Alternatively, you can Control-click an object in the Layers list and choose Solo from the shortcut menu.) You cannot solo a camera, light, or rig. (Control-S)
Isolate: Displays the selected object in its original front-facing orientation if it has been rotated in 3D space. (Control-I)
Lock: Prevents any changes from affecting the selected object. When the selected object is locked, the menu item has a checkmark beside it. (Control-L)
Unsolo: Opens a submenu that lets you turn a soloed object back to its normal state. There are three choices: Video Only (Control-Shift-S), Audio Only, or Video and Audio. This menu item is available only when a soloed object is selected.
3D Group: Changes the selected group to a 3D group. Deselecting the menu option changes the group back to a 2D group. (Control-D)
Blend Mode: Opens a submenu for setting the blend mode of the selected layer. A layer must be selected for blend mode options to be available. A layer can only have one blend mode set at a time. See Types of blend modes.
Add Image Mask: Adds a mask to the selected layer. (Shift-Command-M)
Add Keyframe: Adds a keyframe to the selected object, based on the last parameter adjusted. The name change is based on your last action (positioning an object, adjusting the scale handles, and so on). (Control-K)
Convert to Keyframes: Converts all behaviors to keyframes on the parameters that the behaviors affect. This command is available only when the selected object or objects have behaviors applied. (Command-K)
Convert to Mask: Converts a selected shape to a mask and applies the mask to the enclosing group. This command is available only when the selected object is a shape in a 2D group or a flattened 3D group. See Convert between shapes and masks.
Convert to Points: Converts a selected shape to editable Bezier points. This command is available only when the selected object is a simple shape. (Option-Command-B)
Make Particles: Uses the selected layer as a cell source for a new particle emitter. (E)
Replicate: Replicates the selected layer. (L)
Make Clone Layer: Creates a clone of the selected layer or group. See Add and remove layers and groups.
Reveal Source Media: Opens the Media list and highlights the item that corresponds with the selected object. (Shift-F)
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