[1] Andrew Grove, CEO, Intel quoted in Jennifer Lee, The Book of Quotes, Essentially Organized, 2011

Chapter Goals

Most of us are fascinated by motion graphics but have no idea how to create them. Motion graphics are everywhere. They are designed to capture the viewer’s eye and convey a message.

We’re going to look at creating motion graphics (small “m”) using software from Apple called Motion (big “M”). The capitalization is important.

My goals for this chapter are to:

•    Explain what Motion is and how it is used

•    Explore the interface

•    Format and animate text

•    Create a simple project filled with moving objects

•    Create composite images

•    Show how to build a basic motion graphic video

APPLE MOTION CREATES motion graphic videos. So does Adobe After Effects. Why, then, am I discussing Apple Motion? Motion is much easier to learn. After Effects is designed for visual effects professionals. Motion is designed for any creative artist who needs to create motion graphics but can’t devote full-time to learning the software.

Our goal is persuasion, and our tactics are to attract the eye of the viewer long enough to deliver a message. If you are trying to reach a distracted audience, nothing grabs them like movement. Remember the Six Priorities in Chapter 2, “Persuasive Visuals”? The number one “eye-catcher” is movement. That’s why motion graphics are so popular—all they are is movement.

One of the exciting aspects about Motion is that it allows you to create compelling, high-quality videos all by yourself. Unlike video production, no collaboration is needed. Still, creating motion graphics can be intimidating, so take the time to read and practice.

Motion creates videos that can be posted to the web, imported into any video editing application, or displayed on monitors in malls or campuses. In other words, Motion videos can go anywhere.

Another big benefit to using Motion is that Apple designed it for continual, real-time playback without waiting for rendering. To do this, it aggressively pushes the graphics processing unit (GPU) inside your computer. This means, as you build projects, you can watch what you are creating play back in real time. Motion actively encourages you to “try something and see what happens.” If you like it, keep it. If it is too ugly for words, undo it, and no one will know.

One other thought before we start: Motion is unlike any other software you’ve ever used. It can be frustrating to learn, as I discovered when I was learning it myself. Don’t panic! Of all the software I’ve taught my students, the one they enjoyed learning the most was Motion.

Creating Something Simple

The easiest way to think about Motion is to imagine a new version of Photoshop where every element can move. Just as with Photoshop, Motion has elements, layers, selections, and filters. And, just like Photoshop, we stack elements to create composite images. So, you already understand the basic conceptual framework of how Motion works—even before you start using the program.

When you start Motion, the Project Browser appears, as shown in Figure 15.1. Motion plays a dual role: Not only is it a stand-alone motion graphics program, but it is the front end to creating visual effects templates for Apple Final Cut Pro X. While we won’t be covering that aspect of the program in this book, it is worth knowing that Motion can create custom effects for Final Cut.

Creating a New Project

To get started, select Motion Project, configure the settings in the top right, then click Open. We will follow this same process for every example in this book.

Motion always creates video at the highest possible quality. The project settings, located in the top-right corner of the Project Browser and shown in Figure 15.2, determine the frame size, frame rate, and duration of a project. My recommendations, especially for learning the software, are:

•    Broadcast HD 1080

•    30 fps

•    A Duration of 10 seconds, expressed in timecode as 00:00:10:00

This creates a video with a frame size of 1920 x 1080 pixels, which is compatible with YouTube and Facebook, though not for the square aspect ratio of Instagram.

Once you have the settings you want, click Open.

The Motion interface appears; it’s dark, empty, and inscrutable, as you can see in Figure 15.3. Motion may be the greatest thing since sliced bread, but it sure doesn’t look very inviting. Not to worry, we’ll get this looking good shortly.

The Motion interface has four regions, as shown in Figure 15.4:

1. Library/Inspector. This stores a library of visual elements, plus the controls to make changes to them.

2. Layers panel. Like the Layers panel in Photoshop, this adds, modifies, reorganizes, and removes elements.

3. Viewer. This is where we watch our videos.

4. Timeline. This is where we can adjust the timing of elements; however, there’s an easier way called the Mini-Timeline, which I’ll explain as we go.

For this chapter, though, we don’t need to use the Timeline. So, let’s hide it. Go to the Window menu at the top of the interface and uncheck Video Timeline. The lower black block disappears. Everything we need to do, we can do with the remaining three boxes. (Plus, hiding the timeline gives us more room to work.)

Adding Text

Let’s begin exploring Motion by doing something we learned to do in Photoshop: add text. Then, unlike in Photoshop, we’ll animate it.

Just as with Photoshop, we select the Text tool to add text (Figure 15.5). The Text tool (Shortcut: T) is located at the bottom center of the Viewer. (We use this to create both 2D and 3D text, though I’ll save creating 3D text until later.) Click anywhere inside the Viewer and start typing.

When you do, two things happen at once: A new layer is added to the Layers panel, and your text appears in the Viewer (Figure 15.6). When you are done entering text, press Escape (ESC) to exit text entry mode. A box, with blue dots, appears around your text.

Layers are a key part of Motion. A layer contains one and only one element. Each layer can have its own duration, timing, effects, and filters. We can manipulate the element stored on a layer, the layer itself, or the group that contains the layer. For example, we can change the color of an element, animate the layer, or hide all the layers contained in a group.

We view the timing of elements on the Mini-Timeline. We can also view projects using the main Timeline, which we hid earlier. But the Timeline is an advanced feature that often proves more confusing than helpful in learning the software.

The Playhead and the Mini-Timeline

When you play a project, the “playhead” (indicated by the top red arrow in Figure 15.7) moves along the Mini-Timeline, which is located at the bottom of the Viewer. When you select a group, layer, element, behavior, or filter in the Layers panel, its timing is displayed as a bar in the Mini-Timeline. The left edge of the Mini-Timeline represents the start of a project, while the right edge represents the end. Just like Final Cut, to play a project, press the spacebar. To stop, press the spacebar again.

The playhead indicates the current frame we are viewing in the Viewer. Drag the playhead across the Mini-Timeline to skip through your project at high speed. By default, during playback, Motion loops from the end to the beginning of a project and continues playing. Press Home to jump the playhead to the beginning of a project; End jumps it to the end.

The specific location of the playhead is indicated by the numeric display at the lower center of the Viewer. (Video folks tend to prefer timecode, while animators prefer frames. Figure 15.7 shows how to pick your preference.)

Click anywhere just above the blue, purple, or green bar to jump to that part of the Timeline. I’ll explain what the clip colors mean at the end of this exercise.

The Tools Menu

Pressing Escape does more than just exit a text or drawing mode; it also selects the Arrow tool. (Apple calls this the Transform tool; the rest of us call it the Arrow tool.) It’s located immediately to the left of the globe thingy. This general-purpose tool selects and moves elements. If you ever find the cursor not doing what you expect, it’s probably because the Arrow tool is not active.

To select the Arrow tool, either click it at the bottom center of the Viewer or press Shift+S. The Transform tool is the most used tool in Motion.

Select the text layer for the text you just typed. Then, click inside the bounding box displayed in the Viewer and drag the text where you want to place it. While you can change the size of the text by dragging a blue dot on the bounding box, I recommend instead that you use the Inspector. Why? Because when you scale the text by dragging, you don’t really know what size it is, so it is hard to create other text to match the size without spending time dragging. It is better to size the text using the Inspector, which we’ll cover next.

Select the text layer in the Layers panel then, on the top left of the Motion interface, click the word “Inspector.” (These words are called “text buttons.”) The Inspector is where we make changes to whatever we first selected.

Rather than dragging the blue dots to size the text, it is better and potentially higher quality to use the Inspector, or HUD, to alter the text. (We’ll meet the HUD shortly.) The Inspector has four text buttons below the preview image, as shown in Figure 15.8:

•    Properties. This changes the size, position, and rotation of the selected layer.

•    Behaviors. This modifies behaviors, which are prebuilt animations applied to the selected layer.

•    Filters. This modifies filters, which affect the look applied to the selected layer.

•    Text. This option varies depending upon what is selected in the Layers panel.

Click the Text button and three more submenus show up:

•    Format. This changes fonts, spacing, and alignment.

•    Appearance. This changes colors and drop shadows.

•    Layout. This changes how the text is displayed and is a menu that I almost never use.

The Text > Format menu is, again, similar to Photoshop because both use similar text formatting tools.

Again, with Photoshop in our background, most of the options shown in Figure 15.9 will feel familiar such as Font, Size, Alignment, and Line Spacing. You already know how these work. Modify a setting and see how it changes your selected text.

Animating the Text

Now, let’s move into the “magic” part—animating the text. The easiest way to animate anything is using behaviors. (Behaviors are what make creating motion graphics in Motion both fast and fun.) Again, select the layer that contains the text; remember the rule: “Select something, then do something to it.”

Change a Position Preference

If you are adding elements to the Layers panel and they start at the position of the playhead in the Mini-Timeline, rather than the start of the project, you need to change a preference. Go to Motion > Preferences > Project and select “Start of project” as shown. I find it easier to move a clip after I create it than to keep remembering to put my playhead in the right spot before adding the element.

There are almost 200 behaviors bundled with Motion. (You can see some of them in Figure 15.10.) To access them, click the Behaviors gear icon at the top center of the interface. Behaviors are grouped into categories, with the last seven devoted to text animations.

As you roll over a category, individual animation options appear on the right. If it includes the word “In,” the text makes an entrance. If it includes the word “Out,” the text makes an exit. It is impossible to describe in words what these do. Select one, play your project, and watch.

Each time you add a behavior to anything, it appears as its own layer inset under the layer to which it is applied, as you can see in Figure 15.11. To disable a behavior, uncheck it. To delete a Behavior, select it and press the big Delete key (the one above the Return key). You can apply more than one behavior to the same layer.

Some of these animations are unbelievably tacky. Others are really nice, and most will make you giggle. Go ahead, play.

I’ll wait.

• • •

What Clip Colors Mean

In the Mini-Timeline, a blue bar indicates a video element, meaning anything that has an image. A purple bar represents an effect. A green bar represents an audio clip.

Interim Summary

Before we go on, let me summarize what we’ve covered so far:

•    You know how to create and configure a new project.

•    You know how to add and modify text using the Inspector.

•    You know how to find and apply behaviors to animate an element.

•    You know how to start and stop playback of a project.

These are key techniques that we will return to again and again.

Creating a Simple Animated Composite

Let’s use Motion to create a simple motion graphic composite, say to post to a Facebook page or to display on a monitor in the mall. There’s no audio with this (yet), but we will animate the elements (Figure 15.12).

Taking Time to Plan

Before I open Motion and start a new project, I’ve found it’s useful to think clearly about what I want to create. It’s that “planning” thing again. Specifically:

•    What message do you want the video to convey?

•    What is the timing of the elements?

A storyboard helps answer both these questions. As we discussed in Chapter 7, “Persuasive Photos,” a storyboard is a sketch of what you’d like the finished project to look like, along with the text you want to use. It can also help determine timings for scenes or the specific elements that appear during the video. Just as in a story, you can’t say everything at the beginning. You need to reveal elements over time. A storyboard will help. (I’ll cover how to time scenes in the next chapter.)

Most motion graphic videos are very short—10 to 20 seconds. This means that every second has value. A good way to plan a motion graphic is to divide it into three scenes (maybe four if you have limited text) then give each scene a specific amount of time.

•    Scene 1: Establish the problem.

•    Scene 2: Develop the problem.

•    Scene 3: Provide a solution to the problem with a Call to Action.

For a 15-second video, this means each scene runs only five seconds. Remember in Chapter 3, “Persuasive Writing,” when I stressed that writing for video is more like poetry than prose? This timing issue is why. If you have only five seconds per scene, that means your viewers can only read and comprehend five to ten words per scene. Writing paragraphs means they won’t get your message.

This is a hard concept for nonvideo people to grasp. My students keep wanting to put a full paragraph of text on the screen or dawdle on the first scene. Too much text means there isn’t enough time to read it. Too much time spent on the first scene means that you won’t have enough time when you most need it: displaying the Call to Action.

A rule of thumb is to put your most arresting visual first. In this example, it’s the title text—big, bright, and with movement to catch the viewer’s eye. Then, end with the Call to Action telling the audience where to go and what to do.

Organizing a Project Using Groups

To start, create a new Motion project. Like Photoshop, composites in Motion often have lots of layers. So, we use groups (which are simply folders to which Apple gave a new name) to organize our projects.

To create a group, right-click in the dark gray area at the bottom of the Layers panel (or choose Object > New Group), as shown in Figure 15.13. In this example, we’ll create three new groups: Text, Shapes, and Background. To rename a group, select it, then press the Return key.

Just as with Photoshop, the stacking order of groups and elements determines foreground to background order, with foreground at the top of the Layers panel.

•    To change the stacking order, drag the name of a group, element, or effect up or down.

•    To put a group inside another group, drag them on top of each other.

•    To move an element into a different group, drag it into the new group.

•    To delete a group, highlight it and press the big Delete key.

Apple has not made moving groups easy. For example, there is no keyboard shortcut to move a group up or down. Instead, you need to drag it, as Figure 15.14 illustrates.

When moving groups, a blue line, illustrated in Figure 15.14, appears indicating the group you are moving. If the blue line is aligned with the left edge of a group (left), it means the group you are moving will go between groups. If the line is indented (center), it means the group you are moving will go inside the group above it. If a group itself is highlighted, it means the group you are moving will go inside the highlighted group.

Another helpful technique in designing a motion graphic is to start at the lowest layer of your project and work up. So, the first thing we’ll create is the background.

Creating the Background

Click the Library text button in the top-left corner of the Motion interface, then click Content > Backgrounds. Scroll until you find Golden Reflection and click it once (Figure 15.15).

This loads it into the small preview window at the top. Select the Background group (the one on the bottom of the Layers panel). Click the Apply button to the right of the preview window, and your background is added to the group and displayed in the viewer.

The problem is that many of Apple’s backgrounds are too bright. Way too bright. So, let’s use Levels to dim it back. (You could also reduce the Properties > Opacity setting, but that actually makes the background translucent, which you may not want.)

Filters change the look of an element or a group containing elements. Select the Background group (which means the filter we are about to apply will affect all the elements contained in that group) then choose Filter > Color > Levels (Figure 15.16). One nice thing, which makes using Levels easier, is that Levels in Motion work the same as Levels in Photoshop.

Select the Levels filter in the Layers panel then choose Inspector > Filters > Levels to adjust the settings. The settings I used are illustrated in Figure 15.17.

Here’s another important point: Behaviors and filters can be applied to an element or group. Applying an effect to a group means that one effect can affect all the elements inside that group. This is a huge time-saver when lots of elements all need to move together or look the same.

That’s it for the background layer. Twirl up the small triangle next to Background in the Layers panel to hide the contents.

Enable Safe Zones

The blue rectangles around the image are called “Safe Zones.” The outer rectangle is called “Action Safe,” which is 5 percent in from all edges. The inner rectangle is called “Title Safe,” which is 10 percent in from all edges. These indicators were adopted decades ago by the video industry to protect essential text, such as phone numbers, and graphics, such as corporate logos, from getting cut off when images were broadcast. We use these today because many video display technologies crop images after they leave your control.

Whenever you create a video for the web, keep all text, URLs, graphics, and other essential elements inside the Action Safe zone, which is the outer rectangle. When creating graphics for broadcast, cable, or digital cinema, keep all essential elements inside the Title Safe zone. Protect yourself; it’s important.

Creating the Mid-Ground

Twirl down the Shapes group in the Layers panel. Yup, it’s still empty.

There are three geometric drawing tools in Motion: Rectangles, Circles, and Lines (Figure 15.18). (We can also draw paths, which I cover in a supplemental online chapter.) They all work in a similar fashion: Select the Rectangle tool and draw a rectangle in the lower third of the frame. The easiest way to draw is to start outside the frame and drag through to create the shape you want.

When you are done drawing, press the Escape (ESC) key. This exits drawing mode, just as pressing Escape exits the Text mode.

Click the Arrow tool then select the rectangle in the Layers panel. The rectangle is highlighted in the Layers panel and displays a box around it in the Viewer. Choose Inspector > Shape and change the color to something darkish. I chose a pea green. Next, choose Inspector > Properties and change Blend Mode to Screen. Figure 15.19 illustrates both these settings.

Play your project and notice how the animation in the background is reflected in the rectangle. The blend mode means they are sharing textures, which makes these elements look more organically related.

Let’s add a gadget. These are animated whirly-gigs that do nothing except add movement and visual interest to an image.

1. Select the Shapes group.

2. Choose Library > Content > Gadgets.

3. Drag anything you like into the lower-left corner of the project. I chose Disk 02.

4. Disk 02 is added to the Layers panel, above the rectangle.

5. Press Shift and Option and drag a blue dot to scale the image small enough to fit inside the rectangle. (Shift constrains the aspect ratio, and Option scales from the center.)

6. Apply a Screen blend mode and watch what happens. Blend modes are used constantly in motion graphics, even if I don’t specifically mention it for each example.

7. Play your project.

We could add more gadgets, drawings, or gauges—they all work the same way. In fact, take a few minutes to play with some different options. Almost all of them, especially drawings, contain animation, and they all look great with different blend modes applied (Figure 15.20).

I’ll wait.

• • •

Adding Text

Let’s wrap this exercise by adding some text. Select the Text group then select the Text tool (Shortcut: T). Click in the top half and type Model Railroad Expo. Why? Because, uh, this chapter is about “training.” Plus, I have some cool model train footage we’ll add shortly.

All the text settings are defaults except these four:

•    Set Font to Shabash Pro (or another casual font that you like).

•    Set Size to 138.0.

•    Set Alignment to Center.

•    Set Line Spacing to –41.0.

Add Drop Shadows to Text

Drop shadows for text are important in Photoshop, but they are essential in video. Resolutions are lower, text appears for only a brief period of time, and backgrounds tend to be busy.

To add drop shadows to text:

• Select the text.

• Choose Inspector > Text > Appearance and scroll to the bottom.

• Check the box to enable drop shadows.

• Change Opacity to 95%.

• Set Blur between 3–5.

• Set Distance between 5–15.

We can add drop shadows to any group or element in Motion, not just text. Element and group drop shadows are added and modified in Inspector > Properties.

Again, with the Text group selected, add the Call to Action, which describes where the Viewer needs to go to see these wonderful trains. Format and color this text as you see fit—I used Calibri (Figure 15.21).

Adding Animation

Animation is the last step in this project, but it is also the most fun.

Adding Behaviors

Select the “Model Railroad” text in the Layers panel. Click the Behaviors icon at the top and choose whatever text animation you like. (I used Text-Energetic > Dolly In.)

For Pomona, we’ll do something different. Select the Pomona text layer. Choose Behaviors > Basic Motion > Motion Path (Figure 15.22).

The Motion Path behavior provides a path with a starting point and an ending point along which the selected object moves (Figure 15.23).

This path needs a bit of tweaking. Press the Home key to jump the playhead to the beginning of the project. Select the Motion Path effect; then, choose Inspector > Behaviors, and change Direction from Forward to Reverse. This means that the text will start outside the frame and slide in.

Drag the red dot located outside the frame so that the starting point of the text, indicated by a white box, is just outside the right edge of the frame.

Now, when you play the project, the text, uh, just creeps into the frame. This is way too slow. We need to fix this, which we will do shortly.

Adjusting Timing

Another important concept in Motion is that clips and effects are separate objects, each of which can have a unique start, end, and duration. By default, Motion places all effects and elements at the beginning of the Timeline. But in the case of this Call to Action, we want it to start later. That’s where the Mini-Timeline comes in.

Move the playhead to the point where you want the text to enter. For this example, I want the text to enter when the timecode display at the bottom of the screen shows three seconds (3:00).

Select the Motion Path layer and press I. This trims the start of the clip so that it begins at the position of the playhead. This is called “setting an In,” which Figure 15.24 illustrates. Since we want this movement to last for only a second, move the playhead to timecode 4:00 and press O. This means that the movement, the effect, of the Pomona text will start at three seconds and finish at four seconds.

Move the playhead back to 3:00. Select the Pomona text layer and press I. This trims the text so it starts at the same time as the Motion Path effect. (Because the text and effect are different objects, you can have them start at different times, should you want to.)

Change Duration

You can change the duration of any effect—even text animation—by grabbing the edge of an effect clip and stretching it longer or shorter. Motion displays a yellow dialog showing the modified end (Out) and length (Dur).

Now, when you play the project, the title animates on first, attracting the eye because it is big and bright and moving. Then, just as our eye starts to look for something else, the Pomona text slides on, grabbing the eye again and telling us where we need to go to watch model trains.

This is a good example of implementing the Six Priorities. We create something that attracts the eye then, a few seconds later, create something else that attracts the eye. By doing so multiple times, we can capture and re-capture the viewer’s attention for the duration of our motion video.

Still, wouldn’t it be great if we could add audio to drive the emotions then add video to make this motion graphic really exciting? Yup, you guessed it—we can, and it’s next.

Interim Summary

Just to reflect what we’ve learned, this exercise covered:

•    Creating and stacking groups

•    Drawing and modifying shapes

•    Adding and modifying gadgets

•    Adding blend modes

•    Adding and modifying text then holding it on-screen long enough to read

•    Adding basic Motion behaviors

•    Trimming clips and effects and adjusting their timing

Adding Media

Audio and video are central to almost all motion graphic videos. Let’s continue with this project and add media to it.

Adding Audio

Audio is a key emotional driver in any video. Like any element outside the Library, we need to import the clip before we can use it. Let’s continue working with the current project and add audio to it.

Choose File > Import (we open projects, but import media) and select the audio file you want to use. In the Mini-Timeline, a green audio clip appears.

When you import an audio clip, you’ll see the green bar in the Mini-Timeline, but you won’t see it in the Layers panel. That’s because the Layers panel only displays clips and effects that affect the video.

The Audio panel controls volume and pan for an audio clip. To select a clip, click near its name in the Audio panel. Selected clips turn blue (Figure 15.25).

•    To rename an audio clip, click directly on its name.

•    To change the volume, drag the audio volume slider.

•    To delete an audio clip, select it and press the Delete key.

•    To change where the audio starts, drag the green bar in the Mini-Timeline to start at a new location.

•    To end an audio clip early, drag the end of the clip to the left in the Mini-Timeline.

To add an audio fade to the beginning or end of an audio clip, select the clip in the Audio panel; then choose Behavior > Audio > Audio Fade in/ Fade Out. Again, you won’t see the audio effect in the Mini-Timeline, which just drives me nuts!

Start Audio 10 Frames Late

Because the web has a habit of chopping audio located at the very beginning of a clip, I’ve developed the habit of starting all audio ten frames after the start of a project. (This means the first ten frames are silent.) To shift an audio clip, select it in the Audio panel then drag the green bar in the Mini-Timeline to the right until the In starts ten frames after the beginning of the project, as shown.

If the audio is synced to video, trim the video to start ten frames early so you don’t move the audio out of sync.

To add fades to video, choose Behaviors > Basic Motion > Fade In/Fade Out. The operation of the HUD for video is identical to creating audio fades.

Instead, select the audio clip, and click the HUD icon in the top-right corner of the Motion interface, as shown in Figure 15.26. (HUD stands for “heads-up display.”) Or choose Window > Show HUD. This displays a floating, interactive controller which can be used for elements or effects.

Using the HUD, drag the vertical line on the left of the HUD to adjust the duration of a fade at the beginning of a clip; the line on the right adjusts the duration of the ending fade. If you don’t see this fade control, click the faint two-headed arrow at the top right next to the title of the HUD, illustrated by the upward-pointing red arrow in Figure 15.27. This menu determines what is displayed in the HUD.

The HUD is a useful tool because it presents most common adjustments in an easy-to-use fashion. The Inspector offers more options, but the HUD is faster to use.

Again, just to stress, the best way to work with audio in Motion is to import a clip that is complete for duration, levels, and content—in other words, finished.

Adding Video

Working with video in Motion is more fun than audio because we can see what we are doing. To keep ourselves organized, create a new group—called “Video”—and place it at the top of the Layers panel. Select the Video group. Choose File > Import and choose the file you want to work with.

Video is always imported at 100 percent opacity and scale, which we rarely want to use in motion graphics. With the video clip selected in the Layers panel, choose Inspector > Properties and adjust the scale to decrease the size of the image.

Remember, images in the center get boring quickly, so, after scaling, I moved the video to the side. I also expanded the title to three lines using the Text tool to make room for the video (Figure 15.28). To continue holding the eye of the viewer, let’s delay the start of the video until after the title animation finishes then have it quickly fade in.

To find the end of the title animation, select the text behavior in the Layers panel then put the playhead at the end of the Dolly In effect in the Mini-Timeline. Without moving the playhead, select the video clip in the Layers panel and press I. This sets the start of the video clip. Next, select the Fade In behavior in the Layers panel and press I again. This sets the start of the fade to match the video (Figure 15.29).

Play the project and watch the timing of your elements.

For Figure 15.30, I decided to polish the video a bit more—I imported a second video and made it smaller. Then I added drop shadows (Inspector > Properties > Drop Shadow) to both video clips.

You may not be creating promo videos for model railroads, but the creation process is similar for whatever content you need to create.

The Last Step: Saving and Exporting Your Work

Once you have your project created, you need to save the project then create a video; the two are not the same thing.

To save a project, which means you can open and modify it later, choose File > Save As (or File > Save, if you saved it at least once already). Remember, Motion does not save projects automatically.

To export a finished video, choose File > Share > Export Movie. When exporting (“sharing”) a video, we are creating new media based upon all the elements in our Motion project. Motion master files are really big—often hundreds of megabytes. While you need to compress this for distribution, you always want to export a movie at the highest possible quality so you have a great-looking master file to use to create additional compressed files later as needed.

Using the Share settings, shown in Figure 15.31, you can:

•    Export audio, video, or both.

•    Determine the codec. My recommendation is Apple ProRes 4444 for a master file or H.264 for a compressed file for distribution.

•    Color space. Leave at the default.

•    Color channels. Leave at the default.

•    Set Duration to the entire project.

•    For Action, pick what works best for you. I generally set this to “Save only.”

After sharing is complete, and it may take a few minutes, double-click the movie file stored on your hard disk and enjoy watching your work.

3D Text

So far, all our text is flat—“2D,” but Motion includes a very capable 3D text engine. Figure 15.32 illustrates where we are going. Here’s how to get there.

Create a new Broadcast HD 1080 project and two new groups. Label the top group “Text” and the bottom group “Background.”

Select the Background group and drag Library > Particle Emitters > SciFi > Space Cloud into it. By dragging an element into the Viewer, you can position the effect anywhere, so aim for the lower-left corner, as shown in Figure 15.33. Select the Background group and choose Inspector > Properties. Lower Opacity to around 35 percent. I also increased the size to fill more of the corner.

Altering the opacity darkens and softens the cloud. (This will be a stand-alone movie with nothing under it, so I don’t need to worry about the translucency that adjusting opacity creates.) You could put additional images or animated elements above it in the open space, but you already know how to do that. Let’s concentrate on creating the 3D text.

Select the Text group on top; then click and hold the Text tool and select 3D Text. Click anywhere in the Viewer and type the Order Now! text. As with all on-screen text, keep the text short and punchy.

With the “Order Now!” text layer selected in the Layers panel, drag the text to the right side of the Viewer; then choose Inspector > Text > Format (Figure 15.34). Make the following changes:

•    Font: Impact

•    Size: 400 points (don’t use the slider; type in the number)

•    Alignment: Center

•    Line Spacing: –100

It’s time to emphasize the 3D effect in the text. Select the text layer, choose Inspector > Properties, and click the triangle next to the Rotation parameter to display its settings. (I call this “twirling” a parameter.) Then, change Y to –45° and drag the position of the text in the Viewer to create a composition you like. Next, choose Inspector > Text > Appearance and make the following changes:

•    Depth: 60

•    Front edge: Concave

•    Lighting Style: Backlit

Feel free to play with all these settings, illustrated in Figure 15.35, and watch how they change the look of your text. It is far easier to change a setting and watch what happens than for me to write pages of definitions. But, now, the real magic happens!

Change the Material popup menu from Single to Multiple. This applies different surfaces on the five edges of our text. Because this text is truly 3D, we can rotate it and see something different on all six sides (top, bottom, left, right, front, and back).

Given the choice, I like text with texture, provided it doesn’t make the text too hard to read. All white all the time is boring. The Material options (Figure 15.36) in Motion provide lots of opportunity to play with the look of our text. (I especially like using concrete or stone surfaces applied to crumbling fonts like Chalkduster or Cracked.)

Figure 15.37 illustrates the settings I used for this example:

•    Front: Miscellaneous > Motion

•    Front Edge: Metal > Chrome

•    Side: Plaster > Scraped Plaster

•    Back Edge: Metal > Copper

•    Back: Concrete > Aged Concrete

At this point, you can apply any of the text behaviors we first learned about in Chapter 15. Fully animated 3D text! Because there are textures on all four sides, you’ll see something different as you rotate the text 360°.

Animating 3D text is the same as animating 2D text. All the text animation behaviors work with both, as do keyframes. However, there is a category of behaviors available for all elements called Basic Motion that can also animate text. These include movements such as Fade in/Fade Out, Throw, Motion Path, and Spin that are useful for 3D text.

Three Axes

As we explore the world of 3D, we need to understand the three axes, which use the mnemonic XYZ = RGB:

X   Moves/rotates objects along the horizontal axis. (Color code: red)

Y   Moves/rotates objects along the vertical axis. This tends to show perspective the best. (Color code: green)

Z   Moves/rotates objects along an axis running perpendicular to the face of your computer monitor. This is the traditional axis around which objects rotate. (Color code: blue)

With the exception of 3D text and particles, Motion does not create 3D objects. All elements are displayed as 2D objects moving in 3D space. This is similar to moving a photograph around a room. The photo is moving in space, but when you look at the back of the photo, it does not display the backs of the people in the photo. This form of 3D is often called 2.5D.

Key Points

Motion does so much and does it so differently that it is easy to feel overwhelmed. Motion is designed to create short, snappy video graphics. It is not a video or audio editor. Here are other key points from this chapter:

•    Motion always works at the highest-possible quality.

•    When creating projects for the web, the frame rate doesn’t matter.

•    Like Photoshop, the Layers panel controls placement of elements.

•    Groups are used to organize elements and to allow a single effect to control multiple elements.

•    The Inspector is where we make changes to any selected element.

•    Behaviors are small, prebuilt animation modules.

•    Filters are visual effects that change the look of an element.

•    Text is styled in the Inspector and animated using Behaviors.

•    The Mini-Timeline is where we adjust the timing of clips and effects.

•    There’s no limit to the number of elements in a project.

•    Motion supports audio; however, the audio should be complete.

•    Motion supports multiple video clips in a project.

•    Keep all text short and punchy. Think haiku, not paragraphs!

Download the online chapter where we will look at specialized features in Motion that can add life and eye-catching visuals to your videos.

Practice Persuasion

Go back to the ideas you created for Chapter 1. If you have Motion, create a 15-second motion graphic based on your initial idea. If you don’t have Motion, sketch a storyboard of your idea.

As you create this video (or storyboard), ask yourself:

•    How did your idea evolve?

•    How did you simplify your idea?

•    What did you need to drop?

•    What did you decide to emphasize?

When you have only 15 seconds, you can’t do a whole lot. This means you need to intently focus on one message to one audience. Which did you pick—and why?

Persuasion P-O-V

Thoughts on Learning Technology

Larry Jordan

I still remember my first experience learning Motion. It was a training class, and it was awful. At the start of the first day, the instructor jumped right into 3D space. As someone new to motion graphics, it felt more like “alien space.” I was lost and never did catch up.

I’ve used that experience in my teaching ever since. At heart, learning technology comes down to overcoming fear: the fear of not being smart enough to learn, which is nonsense. All of us are smart enough. The key is to get past the fear.

This is why I spend so much time covering the fundamentals. Once you understand how things work, you can more easily learn at your own pace.

This book covers a vast range of topics using some of the most sophisticated software on the planet. Give yourself permission to make mistakes, “creating garbage” I call it. Create something simply to learn how the software works, rather than to accomplish a specific purpose. I warn my students that the first thing they create will look awful. That takes the pressure off. Now they can have fun learning by creating trash.

Practice without a deadline, without anyone looking over your shoulder. Get oriented, discover how the software works, and play without trying to create anything worthwhile. As you do, opportunities will unfold before you. It’s kind of like learning a new language; suddenly you discover there’s a whole new community of people you can talk with.

The first goal in learning software is to understand its purpose. The second goal is to learn how it works. The ultimate goal is to use that software to help you persuade.

Persuasion is the goal—software is just a tool to get us there.