Using the Templates in Motion
Motion is Apple’s answer to After Effects – a 2.5D Motion Graphics application. It’s a great tool for simple animation and titling. You can export video from Motion, send it to Compressor, or just put Motion files on your Final Cut timeline. You can also use it to save new Master Templates for use in Final Cut or open and customize existing Master Template files – like the ones we sell.
Open the Template Browser in Motion by selecting File > Open Template .
Select the template you want from the theme list and preview the templates by clicking on them.
When we released Drop Zones Vol 2 we consolidated all the resolution options into a single theme. You can filter them by selecting from the Drop-Down button in the Template Browser (eg. Show: HD)
Drop Zones Vol 1 and Drop Zones Cubed actually have a different theme for each resolution, and you must have the drop-down button set to Show: All in order to see the templates.
The template you just opened is a new untitled Motion project (copied from the master template file) that lives on your HD. The changes you make to it will not affect the master file unless you specifically choose to save over it later.
Press Command-4 to open your Layers Window:
Navigate through the File Browser on the left to find your media, or just locate it in the Finder. (If you’re adding still images, make sure they aren’t extremely high-res files. 2000 pixels high should totally cut it.) Drag and drop the media into the Layers Window and onto the Drop Zone layer you wish to fill:
If you’re adding media that is a different aspect ratio than the Drop Zones you’ll run into some cropping issues:
Drop Zones Vol 1 will crop taller or wider media. If it’s a still image you’re best bet is to crop the image yourself to the correct aspect ratio in an image editing program like Photoshop.
Drop Zones Cubed crops the media to a square. With the Drop Zone layer selected in the Layers Window you can edit the Position X parameter in the properties tab of the Inspector (command-3 brings it up). This allows you to slide your media left or right within the square face of the cube.
Drop Zones Vol 2 was built with unique Drop Zone layers that give you more flexibility over how you can manipulate your media after you put it in a Drop Zone. Check out a video tutorial that covers its usage in both Final Cut Pro and Motion.
When you’re finished you have a few options:
1) Select File-Export and save an MOV file.
This option has one big advantage – you can use Motion’s 3D motion blur. Before you export press Option-M to turn it on. Motion blur can make your template look way more pro, although it occasionally interferes with the overall feel. Use your best judgement. We recommend keeping it turned off while you’re actually working in Motion because it can be a huge render-hog and slow down the app.
2) Save a Motion file and add it to your Final Cut Pro timeline.
This option is advantageous because you can hop back into Motion and make more adjustments anytime from Final Cut Pro by Right/Control-Clicking the motion file on your timeline and selecting Open in Editor. Note that the Drop Zone wells will not be accessible in Final Cut Pro because it has been saved as a Motion file, not a Master Template.
3) Save a new template you can access in both Final Cut Pro and Motion.
This option is a good idea if you made changes to the animation or camera position in Motion and you want to access those changes as a template over and over again. Select File > Save as Template and either choose a theme from the list or create a new theme. Creating a Quicktime preview is optional. After you save the template it will be accessible in Final Cut Pro right away – you don’t even need to restart the App.
Note: If you select the same theme you found the template from and you give it the exact same name, you can save over the old template. However, this will modify any previous versions of the template you used in older Final Cut Pro projects. You also run the risk of an update from us saving over your new version. We actually recommend creating a whole new theme for the customized Master Templates you create to avoid any confusion.