Motion 5.8

Motion 5.7

Motion 5.6.6

Motion 5.6.4

Motion 5.6.1

Motion 5.6

Motion 5.5.2

Motion 5.5.1

Motion 5.5

Motion 5.4.6

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Table of Contents

Welcome
- What’s new in Motion 5.5
- What’s new in 5.4.6
- What’s new in 5.4.4
- What is Motion?
- Motion workflow
- Motion interface
- Basic components of Motion
- Using input devices
- Intro to creating projects
- Create a new project
- Open an existing project
- Search for projects from the Finder
- Bypass the Project Browser
- Create and modify project presets
- Save, autosave, and revert projects
- Intro to adding and managing content
- Intro to project playback
- Define the play range
- Project playback performance
- Intro to basic compositing
- - Modify layer opacity
- Intro to 3D compositing
- - Intro to 3D coordinates
  - Relative coordinates
- Transform layers in 3D space
- - Create 3D intersection
  - 2D and 3D group properties
- Intro to the Timeline
- Display or resize the Timing pane
- Navigate in the Timeline
- Show and modify keyframes in the Timeline
- - Intro to the Timeline ruler
  - Edit a range of frames in the Timeline
- Edit in the mini-Timeline
- Intro to behaviors
- Behaviors versus keyframes
- - Browse for behaviors
- - Intro to adjusting behaviors
  - Adjust behaviors
- Intro to keyframing
- Add keyframes
- - Add an animation path in the canvas
  - Modify animation paths
- Animate from the HUD
- - Apply keyframes to behaviors
  - Combining keyframes and behaviors
- Use the mini-curve editor
- Animate on the fly
- Simplify a keyframe curve
- Intro to Final Cut Pro templates
- - Template workflow
  - Placeholders vs. drop zones
- - Create a generator template
  - Modify a Final Cut Pro generator
- - Convert a Motion project to Final Cut Pro
  - Convert a template to another type
- Use placeholder images in templates
- Set template resolution
- Add multiple aspect ratios to templates
- Override the Final Cut Pro color space
- Where are templates saved?
- Using masks in templates
- Guidelines for better templates
- Intro to rigging
- How does rigging work?
- Build a simple rig
- Work with widgets
- Control rigs from Animation menus
- Publish rigs to Final Cut Pro
- Intro to Particles
- - Add a particle system
  - Anatomy of a particle emitter
- Create 3D particles
- Particle system timing
- Using graphics in particle systems
- Using filters and masks with particles
- Save custom particle effects
- Intro to replicators
- Replicators vs. particle systems
- - Add a replicator
  - Anatomy of a replicator
- Work with 3D replicators
- Replicator timing
- Using filters and masks with replicators
- Save custom replicators
- Intro to basic text
- Select and modify text in the canvas
- Preview and apply fonts
- Use preset text styles
- - Intro to editing text
  - Display the Text Inspector or HUD
- Convert standard text to 3D text
- Check spelling
- Find and replace text
- Using filters with text
- Intro to 3D text
- 3D text workflow
- - Add 3D text
  - Convert 2D text to 3D text
- Apply a preset 3D text style
- Move and rotate 3D text
- Add a glow or drop shadow to 3D text
- 3D text intersection
- Intro to animated text
- Apply a text behavior
- - Use the Scroll Text behavior
  - Scroll Text controls
- - Use the Text Tracking behavior
  - Text Tracking controls
- - Use the Type On behavior
  - Type On controls
- Animate individual text glyphs
- Animating 2D text in 3D space
- When to use keyframes to animate text
- Adding nontext behaviors to text
- Save a modified text behavior
- Intro to shapes, masks, and paint strokes
- - Intro to complex shapes and masks
  - Draw complex shapes and masks
- Edit fill, outline, and feathering
- Keyframe shape control points
- Convert between shapes and masks
- Using filters and masks with shapes
- Copy shape styles
- Save custom shapes and shape styles
- Intro to using generators
- Add a generator
- - Modify or animate a generator
  - Controls common to all generators
- Save a modified generator
- Intro to filters
- Browse and preview filters
- Apply or remove filters
- - Animate filter parameters with keyframes
  - Animate filters using behaviors
- Publish filter parameters to Final Cut Pro
- Using filters on alpha channels
- Filter performance
- Save custom filters
- Intro to color keying
- - Intro to the Luma Keyer filter
  - Luma Keyer filter controls
- 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
- - Intro to 3D object timing
  - Modify 3D object timing in Motion
- Using cameras and lights with 3D objects
- Save custom 3D objects
- Guidelines for working with 3D objects
- Working with imported 3D objects
- Intro to 360-degree video
- 360-degree projects
- Create 360-degree projects
- Add 360-degree video to a project
- - View 360-degree projects
  - View 360-degree video in a VR headset
- - Intro to graphics in 360-degree projects
  - Use graphics in 360-degree projects
- 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
- Intro to tracking
- How does motion tracking work?
- Motion tracking behavior types
- Analyze motion in a clip
- Stabilize a shaky clip
- Unstabilize a clip
- Use a range of frames for analysis
- Load existing tracking data
- Track shapes, masks, and paint strokes
- Track a filter’s position parameter
- Adjust onscreen trackers
- Save tracks to the Library
- Intro to audio
- View audio files
- Add audio files
- Play audio files
- Intro to exporting projects
- Export a QuickTime movie
- Export audio only
- Export a still image
- Export an image sequence
- Export to Apple devices
- Export to email
- Export using Compressor
- Create share destinations
- Render settings
- View the status of shared items
- Share notifications
- Intro to preferences and shortcuts
- Touch Bar shortcuts
- Move assets to another computer
- Work with GPUs
Glossary
Copyright

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 Preferences.

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.

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.

Helpful?

Motion User Guide

Glossary