all articles tagged 'Motion'

Warp Speed Workflow #6: First Look: Motion Tracker in Motion 3

Here’s a first look at the new motion tracking behaviors in Motion 3.

Click here to ask a question about Motion.

  | Downloads 4503


A look at lights in Motion 3

This exploration of lights in Motion 3 is now available for free download through DVcreatorsUniversity.

Click here to ask a question or make a comment about Motion.



Motion PowerStart

Michael Wohl’s Motion PowerStart is a comprehensive training course for Motion containing three clear, fun, and practical hands-on tutorials plus a section on integrating Motion with other Apple programs. It was written by Michael Wohl, a member of the official Motion documentation team, along with Josh Mellicker of DVcreators.net.

Motion PowerStart excerpt 1
Motion PowerStart excerpt 2



How does Motion compare with After Effects?

After Effects is the software from whence a new art form, motion graphics, was born.

Motion offers many advantages and disadvantages to AE. The two can work together, AE users can use Motion to generate layers for their AE compositions.

Owners of both, before starting many projects, will have to pause and consider which program to use.

So when would you use Motion?

  • projects involving interaction between elements (attracting, repelling, orbiting easier in Motion)
  • users needing something cool-looking quickly without having to create it from scratch (because of the large library of text behaviors and textures (particle emitter presets) - LiveType also good for this
  • particle



Do I need a studio monitor?

If your projects are going to be delivered on DVD or broadcast, it’s important to have an accurate studio monitor on your desk so you can see your project as your viewers will see it while you’re editing.

Why?

First, many editing programs show you a low quality “proxy” of your timeline, so you can’t judge color correction, brightness, saturation, contrast, how titles or graphics will look, or any other aspect of the picture accurately.

Can I just enable a second computer monitor to show video and that will work?

With some editing programs, you can enable a second monitor to show a …



Apple announces Final Cut Studio 2 - Final Cut Pro 6 - Motion 3 - Soundtrack 2 - etc.

Notable points:

  • Final Cut Studio 2 will be available in May for $1,299, or $499 for the upgrade
  • Final Cut Pro 6 has an Open Format Timeline that lets editors mix and match virtually any video format and frame-rate in a single Timeline without transcoding. Hope this works with nesting and media management!
  • ProRes 422 format for uncompressed HD quality at SD file sizes and support for mixed video formats and frame rates in a single Timeline- nice feature. ProRes 422 will run at about



Nattress releases Big Box of Tricks plugin set!

Nattress Big Box of Tricks includes the existing filters from the discontinued Nattress Set 1 and Set 2, as well as several new filters.

The package consists of eight groups of filters, one group of generators and one group of transitions:

Blurs: These filters give you several different ways to blur your image, or parts of your image. Includes: G Cool Blur, G Directional Blur, G Horizontal and Vertical Blur, G H and V Blur Glow, …



Noise Industries FxFactory Pro

FxFactory Pro is first choice for any FxFactory user looking for the richest combination of plug-ins and features.

150 Plug-ins Included



Core Duo versus Core 2 Duo speed tests

Bare Feats is at it again, with speed tests of the new Core 2 Duo MacBook Pros:



How do I cut a subject out of the background?

To separate a subject from a background, you can either:

1. shoot in front of a greenscreen/bluescreen, then key out the background in postproduction

You can also key out a background that is much darker or brighter than your subject, but it usually takes a little more work, because often your subject will have pixels that are darker and/or lighter than the background, so there there will be holes in your subject that must be “patched” with a garbage matte. If your subject is not moving much, this is much easier than if you have to do a lot of keyframing on …



free Motion templates and resources

Peter Wiggins has created some interesting Motion templates for download here.



What is Motion?

Motion is a software program from Apple that was released in August 2004.

It is used primarily for motion graphics, e.g., animated intro sequences, though it can be used for all kinds of things from special effects to be layered with video to physics demonstrations, titling, generating textures for 3D apps or whatever.

Motion is particularly strong in what it can do in real time, and also its use of drag and drop behaviors, saving a lot of keyframing work, and its excellent library of particle systems and filters.

It is deep and sophisticated, but the documentation is excellent, being written by Michael …



How do I know if Motion will run on my Mac?

Download this compatibility checker and run it.

Apple recommends one of the following graphics cards:

  • ATI Radeon X850 XT
  • ATI Radeon X800 XT
  • ATI Radeon X600 XT or X600 Pro
  • ATI Radeon 9800 XT or 9800 Pro
  • ATI Radeon 9700 Pro
  • ATI Radeon 9600 XT or 9600 Pro
  • ATI Mobility Radeon 9700
  • ATI Mobility Radeon 9600
  • NVIDIA GeForce Quadro FX 4500
  • NVIDIA GeForce 7800 GT
  • NVIDIA GeForce 6600 and 6600 LE
  • NVIDIA GeForce 6800 Ultra DDL or 6800 GT DDL
  • NVIDIA GeForce Go5200 or FX 5200 Ultra

Different cards work in different computers.



Why are my titles and graphics pixelated in Final Cut?

This is a common question and there are several answers:

 1. First, the Final Cut Pro Canvas has a low quality playback engine that will not show the original quality of the clip. (Why? On slower machines, you can play layers, title overlays, real time filters etc. a lot better.) So, the Canvas will always show titles and graphics more pixelated and lower quality video than it will be on final output. Here’s why. Render a title and play it on an NTSC or PAL monitor (TV) before you panic!

More info on monitoring here: http://www.dvcreators.net/tag/monitoring/

2. NTSC is not a perfect …



Where can I find stock photos for use in video projects?

When moving footage is not available, don’t forget about still photos! You can animate still photos with motion and scale, crop them, apply filters (like sepia, B & W, color tint) and sometimes stills can fill empty spots in your timeline as well or even better than a video clip. Also, many stock photos are automatically HD res!

Here is a monster list of sites with free photos:

Wikipedia Commons
Stock Exchange
Morguefile
Image After