A Basic Walkthrough of Apple Motion

To begin our journey in learning Motion, I decided to do a simple walkthrough of Motion's interface. Let's go ahead and get right into it.

Project Browser

First up, we've got the project browser. This menu is where you'll decide on the types of motion projects you'd like to create. Before we get into the options, it's important to note that because Motion and Final Cut are tightly connected, many projects you create will be published in Final Cut. This means you'll be able to change specific parameters in the final cut without having to go into motion to make those changes. This is one of the biggest reasons why I love Motion and find it so powerful.

Your options are:

• Motion Project: This is just a simple motion graphics project that you could use to make an animation or graphic title for not only final cut but also for premiere or resolve.

• FC effect: This would be a project that would be sent to the effects pane. A notable example would be a security footage effect.

• FC Generator: Is just a motion project sent to the generator tab in Final Cut. In Apple's support docs, they classify a generator as a piece of content that "can be composited over a clip in the Final Cut Pro Timeline or added to the main timeline. The duration of the generator in Final Cut Pro is determined by its duration when created and saved in Motion."

• FC Transition: This is explanatory.

• FC Title: This is also obvious.

This is where you'll set the duration and size of the project. You can also open titles or generators you've got from third parties or the built-in ones.

Library and Inspector

An awesome feature about Motion is that it comes with many pre-installed assets. Ranging from particles (fire, smoke, leaves, etc.) to random elements like animated shapes.

These are fantastic tools to help you take your project to the next level without much extra work. They might seem lame at first, but as you mess with the settings and how to use them, you'll be surprised at what you can do.

The next part is the inspector. The inspector is where all the magic happens. There are four principal areas: the properties tab, the behavior tab, the filter tab, and then a content-specific tab (Could be for text or video, etc.). We'll be spending a lot of time here.

Layers Pane (Project Pane)

Next up, we have what I like to call the layers pane, or what Apple calls the project pane. This is where you lay out your project. Imagine Photoshop layers. This is where you'll create groups, and see your effects and behaviors. Lock layers and turn off and on layers.

You also have a media and audio tab, which is where you can locate the media that you've imported into your project.

Viewer (Canvas Pane)

The canvas pane, or what I like to call the viewer, is where you see your actual project. You can change the resolution, add rulers, and change how you view your project; for example, you may want to have the alpha channel shown with a specific color.

Timeline

The timeline is where you'll adjust the duration of elements and behaviors and mess with the keyframes. We'll learn how to do many cool things in this area.

That's essentially the basics. I hope that helps. Until next time.