VFX Pro Feature

Product Review: Apple Motion 2
By Ed Heede
Sep 9, 2005, 11:16

Apple Motion 2 is billed as the “instant gratification” real-time animator for motion graphics creation. In other words, Motion was built to be a cool, fast and easy client graphics solution. Motion made a handy splash last year as part of Apple’s hardware production array. How well does Motion 2 live up to the dazzling promise of instant wish fulfillment? Let’s take a look.

Moments into the package it becomes evident that Apple has done its homework in an application that appears and feels built for speed. Everything from loading clips to adding effects is enjoyably fast. Motion’s UI is based on four interface components: the utility window, canvas, project pane and timing pane.

The utility window, located on the left side of the screen, contains the tabs for the file browser, library and inspector.

The file browser is a file management staging area used to locate, preview and import media files. Supported file types include QuickTime movies, still image files, image sequences, layered Photoshop files, PDFs and audio files. Motion 2 contains new support for 16- and 32-bit float color depths. Also new is support for multi-channel audio files and multi-track QuickTime movies, in addition to existing support for layered Photoshop files. Capabilities for 16- and 32-bit float color make design for HD and film projects a brave new reality in Motion. Even at standard definition, 16- and 32-bit float color can be a very big deal for those who need precise color reproduction and finely rendered detail.
Use the library to browse, preview, select and apply effects to the objects in a project as well as to access content such as preset particles and gradients.

This tool is similar to the file browser, but rather than showing the files on your disk, it shows all of the behaviors, filters, generators, particle emitters, replicators, shapes, gradients, fonts, text styles, music and photos available from within Motion.
The behaviors utility in Motion is where the interactive fun really kicks off. Behaviors are used to animate objects using simple graphical controls. With behaviors, you can create basic motion effects or complex simulated interactions between multiple objects quickly and easily without needing to create or adjust keyframes. Drag a behavior or several different behaviors onto an object and the object is automatically animated based on the type(s) of behavior applied. For example, creating a fade up and simple slide move, a staple title treatment, is as easy as dropping two behaviors onto the canvas.

Behavior parameters can be customized in the Dashboard or in the behaviors tab of the inspector. If an artist needs more precise control, Motion 2 can bake all the behaviors that have been applied to an object into keyframes using the Convert to Keyframes command in the object menu.
There are six different kinds of behaviors in Motion: basic motion, parameter, particles, replicator, simulation and text.

Simulation behaviors perform one of two tasks. Some simulation behaviors, such as gravity, animate the parameters of an object in a way that simulates a real-world phenomenon. Other simulation behaviors, such as attractor and repel, affect the parameters of one or more objects surrounding the object to which they’re applied. As an example, adding gravity and wind behaviors to a Fireblaze particle emitter from the library offers a quick and interactive visual sample of the power plays capable here.

Parameter behaviors can be applied to any object parameter, and their effects are limited to that parameter alone. A single parameter behavior can be added to several different parameters, resulting in completely different effects. For example, you can apply the oscillate behavior to the opacity of an object to make it fade in and out, or you can apply it to the rotation of an object to make it rock back and forth. You can also apply parameter behaviors to filter parameters, generator parameters, the parameters of particle systems or even the parameters of other behaviors.

Replicator, the star attraction in Motion 2, allows the quick and easy creation of patterns of repeating elements. Replicator is similar to a particle emitter function, although, instead of animated motion, replicator creates sophisticated and wild patterns from virtually any object. The patterns are built on a shape that you select, such as a circle, spiral or rectangle. Once you have animated an object—such as video, a still image or shape—you can change the shape of the pattern and animate its elements by animating the replicator parameters. You can also use behaviors to animate many of the replicator parameters. In addition, replicator has a special behavior that allows you to animate the pattern’s elements in sequence over the pattern.

A total of 170 replicators are supplied for a wide range of looks from categories including transitions, mattes, backgrounds and lower-thirds.

Motion 2 includes 16 new filters, as well as three bonus filters that are available by download when users register Motion on the Apple Web site. The software upgrade also includes three new generators. New for Motion 2 is tighter integration with Apple software tools including Soundtrack Pro, iPhoto, iTunes and Final Cut Pro.

Generators are objects in the library that are added to a project to create solids or patterns such as colors, bars, stripes, noise and gradients. Some generators create animated patterns, while most create static, patterned images. Once a generator is added to a project, its preset values can be modified and nearly all of its parameters can be animated, whether the generator is animated or static.

New generators in Motion 2 are caustics for animated water effects and light patterns, clouds for nebulae patterns and membrane for animated sheets that seem to float in 3D space.
Shapes have been added to the particle emitter parameters that allow you to emit points from the center or outline of a rectangle, burst, spiral or wave.

Inspector, the third tab located in the utility window at the left, is used to adjust the parameters for all effects and objects in a project and to create keyframes, if necessary—though, with Motion’s built-in behaviors procedural animation system, it is often not. Inspector has four tabs (for properties, behaviors, filters and objects) that provide powerful animation controls for effects including scale, position, timing, keyframing, fades and color.

Inspector, like all of Motion’s tabbed navigation elements, is contextual, changing to fit the specific tool selected. The Motion interface offers a time-saving and versatile interface, the Dashboard, which is a dynamically updating, floating, semi-transparent window that puts the most common controls for any selected object within easy reach and amounts to a shorthand tool for the inspector tab.

The project pane, located just to the right of the utility window, contains tabs for layers, media and audio.

The layers tab displays the hierarchy of layers and objects in a project and is the preferred place to organize, nest, reorder and prioritize objects in Motion 2. One important Motion trait is that layers can be brought into other layers for true locking and unified control over all objects, a feature missing in some high-end composite packages, which must pre-compose their workflows for like results. Pre-cooked templates that are a good starting point for novices to the package may be explored and attached to incoming objects. Templates can also be custom-created and saved for later use. Motion supports most third-party After Effects filters. The text tool in Motion 2 is, like everything else here, made for fast creation.

New to Motion 2 is the fixed resolution parameter, a control that allows users to define the size of a layer. By default, the size of a layer is determined by the objects within that layer. Since animated objects often grow in size, a layer can become quite large. When filters are applied to very large layers, or large layers are used as the source object for other objects, processing time is greatly affected. This control allows a user to crop the size of the layer and thereby speed processing time.

The media tab shows all the files imported into a project, whether or not they appear in the canvas. Finally, the audio tab provides access to and control of any audio objects in a project.

Motion’s timing pane, located below the project pane and canvas, comprises timeline, keyframe editor and audio editor tabs.

Layers may be stacked and organized for further editing in the timeline tab. The audio editor is where audio files are brought in for further edit work, which may be conducted down to the visual waveform level.

The timing pane’s keyframe editor tab is for those projects that require sophisticated animation manipulation and professional-level function curves. The inclusion of professional f-curves in a package at this price point is unique and speaks well for what Apple has in mind for this tool.

Several enhancements have been made to creating and working with keyframes in Motion. You can now quickly add a keyframe to the last modified parameter of an object, record keyframes only on parameters that are already animated, and modify the exact value of a keyframe in the keyframe editor’s curve graph or parameter list.

Rotoscope work and masking in Motion is straightforward. Keying and matte pulling tools are fairly basic in this package and perform well for light work. As a keyer for more sophisticated film and high-definition duty, Motion 2 will likely be stressed beyond its reach and may not be the best solution for the task.

Performance workflow enhancements include a new Motion file format that allows work to be saved out without rendering or export so that Motion project files can be used seamlessly inside Adobe After Effects 6.5 and re-edited in Motion for practical updating. Also, Motion now automatically saves backups of your project in a folder on your hard drive. You can specify how frequently projects are automatically saved as well as the location of the saved files. Saved projects are time- and date-stamped.

Motion 2 also introduces MIDI controller support. The MIDI behavior allows users to edit and animate object parameters using the controls (knobs, dials, keys, etc.) of a standard MIDI device, such as a synthesizer. You can “teach” Motion what control on the MIDI device manipulates each parameter to which the MIDI behavior is applied.

Still on the wish list for Motion are dedicated paint tools, expressions, tracking, programming and true 3D. In short, Motion is not meant as an alternative to high-end desktop composite tools. Instead, Motion 2 is designed to work well with others as a pipeline team player. Of course, Motion’s future will no doubt enhance that pipeline.

DMTS (digitalmediatraining.com) offers a fine two-DVD trainer on Motion that is an excellent way to get a jump start on putting most of the learning curve of this package behind you, and in a breezy and trouble-free way. At its modest cost, the DMTS system is a practical must.

Motion in Action
Anyone who’s done effects editorial work knows that pleasing clients with a wide range of looks in the shortest possible time is essential. Motion was built for rapid-fire performance, and it shows. Using simple Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator and SD QuickTime clips with Motion text, I created looks by adding and modifying stacks of behaviors (in my case, wind, vortex and assorted other simulations with peddle, slide in from left and a range of others for Motion text). Finally, a sequence replicator and particle emitters (Big Blast, Blurry Sparks, Shrapnel Explosion) topped off with added filters was what I considered a full test. The process was rapid and fluid as I created dozens of treatments at a rate that would have been impossible on the desktop a few years ago.

The look and feel of Motion will be a revelation for anyone new to it and will no doubt continue to spawn departments and business models based on its client-pleasing speed. There are few speed bumps or drawbacks to this tool, although Wacom tablet hardware is recommended. Motion has been optimized for Wacom Tablet use (the Wacom Cintiq 21UX, with its unique draw-on interface, is more than a treat) especially with the use of Motion Gestures: essentially, tablet shortcuts to accomplish repetitive artistic tasks.

Inspired power has its limits in Motion 2, and once you go beyond several layers of uncompressed SD or HD video with attached behaviors and/or particle emitters, Motion will bog down and fall out of real-time playback. (This change can happen fairly quickly as you begin to chain together the more processor-intensive of Motion’s effects tools.)
Minor limitations aside, Apple Final Cut Pro HD and SD users will find that Motion works seamlessly with their projects as a dynamic timeline (not merely a QuickTime file) that can be updated from inside Motion on an ongoing basis. Motion 2 is also part of Apple’s Final Cut Studio, which counts Final Cut Pro HD and DVD Studio Pro among its principal elements for a relatively complete media and authoring studio experience.

Last Word
Apple delivers on its giant-sized promise of an interactive show-pleaser. Motion 2 allows artists to work on the fly in quick feedback modes that power imagination instead of selling it out. In place of legacy kluge, Motion 2 brings a slick, unfettered 16- and 32-bit float workflow for editorial effects creation. In film and broadcast, Motion is simple enough to be picked up by editors unable to cope with high-end composite programs. For high-end graphics pros, Motion may be simpler to use but powerful and wonderfully fast within a now seamless workflow. Ultimately, Motion is about clean interactive power and ease of use at a great price—a combo that makes Motion a standout. Apple’s relentless pursuit of a professional HD and film audience has to be taken into account for the future of this product.


© Copyright 2003 by United Entertainment Media, Inc.