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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Glossary
- alpha channel
Ordinary video clips and image files have three channels of color information: red, green, and blue. Many video and image file formats also support an additional alpha channel, which contains information defining areas of transparency. An alpha channel is a grayscale channel where white represents areas of 100 percent opacity (solid), gray regions represent translucent areas, and black represents 0 percent opacity (transparent).
When you import a QuickTime movie or an image file into a project, its alpha channel is immediately recognized by Motion. The alpha channel is then used to composite that object against other objects in the canvas.
- aspect ratio
A film or video frame’s width-to-height ratio on any viewing screen. High-definition (HD) video has an aspect ratio of 16:9.
- canvas
The visual workspace in Motion. Here you can arrange objects in your project, adjust object parameters using onscreen controls, and play back your project. What you see in the canvas is what is exported when you share your project.
- canvas toolbar
A row of tools in the center of the Motion window (under the canvas and above the timing toolbar), for manipulating objects in the canvas. Tools on the left side of the canvas toolbar let you transform objects in the canvas in 2D or 3D space, as well as zoom or pan the view in the canvas. Tools in the center of the canvas toolbar let you create shapes, paint strokes, text, and masks.
- chroma
The color information contained in an image, consisting of hue, which represents the color itself, and saturation, which represents the intensity of the color.
- clipping
In digital video, the state of an image with a color gamut that falls outside of the minimum and maximum level that can be represented in a color space. For example, when a Rec. 2020 source image is converted to Rec. 709, the image may appear “clipped” (colors muted or over- or underexposed when compared with the original) because the smaller target color space (Rec. 709) cannot reproduce the detail in the image’s original color space (Rec. 2020). Clipping can occur in any color channel of an image.
In digital audio, clipping describes a signal that exceeds the maximum sample value of 0 dBFS during playback or recording, resulting in audio distortion.
- codec
Short for compressor/decompressor, or encode/decode. A software component used to translate video or audio from its current form to a different, digitally compressed form. Apple ProRes and H.264 are common QuickTime video codecs.
- destination
A set of preconfigured export settings that you can use to share a project from Motion. Destinations make it easy to export a project as a movie, as an image sequence, as a single frame, or to export using the Compressor app. Motion comes with a variety of preconfigured destinations, and you can also modify destinations and create new destinations. You add and modify destinations in the Destinations pane of Motion Settings.
- floating point
In computing, a formulaic representation of real numbers (whole numbers or fractions) as a sequence of digits separated by a decimal point. Depending on the number represented, the position of the decimal point moves (“floats”) left or right relative to the significant digits. Floating point numbers can represent both very large and very small numbers using a limited number of bits. Motion uses floating-point numbers (sometimes called float) to calculate values (such as color) quickly and precisely at orders of magnitude large and small.
- high dynamic range (HDR)
A range of luminance values (levels of brightness) in an image that exceeds the luminance values of traditional, or standard-dynamic-range (SDR), images. For example, the HDR PQ standard can represent luminance values as high as 10,000 nits (candelas per square meter) with a dynamic range of 14 stops or more, creating more realistic color transitions and revealing more detail in both shadows and highlights.
- HDR10
A widely supported HDR media profile specified by the Consumer Technology Association, used in Ultra HD Blu-ray, and supported by most video streaming services.
- HLG (Hybrid Log-Gamma)
One of the two supported systems in the ITU-R Rec. 2100 standard for high-dynamic-range (HDR) video. The HLG transfer function relates image signal values to scene-relative light levels and is compatible with standard-dynamic-range (SDR) displays without the need for metadata. HLG was developed by the BBC and NHK broadcasting networks.
- Inspector
A pane on the left side of the Motion window for adjusting the parameters of a selected object (an image, video clip, or effect) in your project.
- inverse tone mapping
A technique that expands the narrower range of luminance values in standard-dynamic-range (SDR) images to a wider range of brightness values that can be shown on a high-dynamic-range (HDR) display.
- Library
A pane on the left side of the Motion window for adding built-in filter effects, content, presets, behaviors, and other elements to your project.
- luma
A value describing the brightness of an image. A luma channel is a grayscale image showing the range of brightness across the whole image or clip.
- luminance
An objective measurement of light corresponding to intensity weighted by the spectral sensitivity of human vision. Luminance is measured in units of candelas per square meter (cd/m2), often referred to as nits.
- marker
A visual reference point in the Timeline that identifies a specific frame. You can use markers to align different objects at specific points in time, quickly navigate to specific points in a sequence, add notes about a specific area in your project, and more. There are several kinds of markers:
Project markers are fixed to a specific frame or timecode value in the Timeline ruler.
Object markers are attached to an object (or clip) in the Timeline.
Template markers control the timing of templates that you export to Final Cut Pro.
- MOV
The QuickTime movie file format from Apple. This digital media container format is the basis for the MPEG-4 (MP4) format.
- PQ (Perceptual Quantizer)
A high-dynamic-range (HDR) transfer function that relates image signal values to absolute light levels produced by a display. PQ is standardized in SMPTE ST 2084 and is one of the two supported transfer functions in the ITU-R Rec. 2100 standard for HDR video. PQ is used in formats such as HDR10, HDR10+, and Dolby Vision.
- Project Browser
A window that appears when you create a new project or open an existing project. In the Project Browser, you can choose from a list of preset project types or set custom project properties (resolution, frame rate, and duration).
- Project pane
A pane containing three lists, each of which provides access to a different aspect of your project. The Layers list displays the stacking order of objects (groups, layers, cameras, lights, behaviors, filters, and so on) in your project. The Media list shows all still-image files and video files imported into your project. The Audio list shows all audio files imported in your project (and allows you to adjust basic audio parameters of each audio file, such as volume).
- Rec. 709
Short for ITU-R Recommendation BT.709, the standard broadcast color space for high-definition (HD) television.
- Rec. 2020
Short for ITU-R Recommendation BT.2020, the designated color space for ultra-high-definition (UHDTV) television with standard dynamic range and wide color gamut.
- Rec. 2100
A wide-gamut HDR standard that uses Rec. 2020 color primaries and either PQ or HLG transfer functions.
- Rosetta
A translation process that provides application compatibility between different CPU architectures. When Mac computers transitioned from PowerPC-based systems to Intel-based systems, Rosetta dynamically translated most PowerPC-based applications to work with Intel-based Macs. Using the translation technology of Rosetta 2 in macOS Big Sur, Mac apps that haven’t been updated will run on Apple silicon.
- standard dynamic range (SDR)
The conventional technique for processing luminance (brightness) and color values in images, developed in the mid-1900s, with a nominal maximum brightness of 100 nits (candelas per square meter) and a dynamic range of 6 to 10 stops. Some newer imaging devices can display high dynamic-range (HDR) images, representing a much wider range of brightness levels.
- Timing pane
A pane at the bottom of the Motion window, lets you view and modify the time component of a project’s contents. In the Timing pane, you can view the Video Timeline, Audio Timeline, or Keyframe Editor (each alone or in a combined view).
- timing toolbar
Controls immediately below the canvas toolbar for project playback (transport controls), keyframe recording, muting audio, looping playback, and showing or hiding elements in the Timing pane.
- tone mapping
A technique that restricts the wide range of luminance values in high-dynamic-range (HDR) images to a narrower range of brightness values that can be shown on a standard-dynamic-range (SDR) display.
- toolbar
Controls at the top of the Motion window to import media, add effects and other objects to your project, display interface components, and export your finished project.
- transcode
To convert a media file to a different format or change its properties. All media files use a format. Video format examples include Apple ProRes, H.264, HDV, and MPEG-4. Video files also have a variety of properties, such as video frame size and frame rate, data rate, and audio sample rate. Compressor, an Apple app designed to work with Motion, makes transcoding media files a fast and easy process.
- transport controls
Controls in the timing toolbar (under the canvas toolbar) for project playback.
- USDZ
A 3D file format developed by Pixar and Apple based on Pixar’s Universal Scene Description (USD) framework. Although the assets are rendered in a single zip archive, the file format is a zero-compression, unencrypted zip archive of the USD format. USDZ was developed for creating and easily sharing 3D augmented reality (AR) content.
- watermark
A visible graphic or text overlay applied to an image or a video clip to indicate that it’s protected by a copyright. Watermarks are used to discourage the use of images or media without the copyright holder’s explicit permission.