Mastering Particles in Motion - iTunes/iPad Edition
Particle Systems are commonly used in motion graphics, visual effects and gaming environments to simulate smoke, fire, snow, explosions, dust and fog to name just a few. Particle systems are also used in abstract ways to create effects like glowing trails and magic pixie dust (think Tinker Bell). Motion has a built in particle system that's not only intuitive, but can be used to create just about anything you can imagine. Used in conjunction with Behaviors, particles can be made to obey (or break) all the laws of physics with just a few mouse clicks. Motion comes with many built in particle presets, but as you'll learn in this tutorial, Motion's interface makes it easy to develop custom particle effects.
Mastering Particles in Motion is presented in 7 individual lessons with a running time of just under 2 hours. The tutorial also includes project and media files for following along in Motion 5. Each lesson focuses on building fundamental skills for generating, modifying and animating Particle Emitters to create amazing visual effects and motion graphics. As you work through the lessons, you'll create 7 different projects - each focusing on building different skill sets. You'll learn how to modify preset particle emitters, create emitters from scratch; animate particles using keyframes and behaviors, attach particles to text; track particle emitters to video and work with particles in 3D space!. To view the Table of Contents click here
Experience our Training on the iPad
The iPad is revolutionizing the way people access and interact with media. Video training is therefore a natural fit for people who want their training on the go or on a separate device from their main system. Because of the limited storage capacities of the iPad, we have labored to keep the movie sizes as small as possible while maintaining our high standards of image and sound quality. And perhaps best of all, you don't need to be connected to the internet to watch our tutorials on your iPad.
Tutorial Delivered Through iTunes
We realize you may have a question or two, so we created a short FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) page to answer them.
Text Transciption eBook - NEW!
Movies are great for learning, but sometimes you just need a quick reference of the tutorial in text form. We're now including the complete text transciption of the movie's audio in a separate and searchable PDF document. You can open the eBook in any PDF reader app on your Mac, PC or Apple iDevice.
Who is this Tutorial for?
Mastering Motion's Particles was designed for users who are already fluent in either Motion 4 or 5. As an intermediate level tutorial, it assumes you are comfortable with Motion's user interface and the basic process of compositing and animating in Motion. This tutorial focuses on generating and animating particle systems in Motion 5. If you are a motion graphics designer, animator, visual effects artist or editor who is interested in creating custom visual effects using particles, this tutorial is for you. Users who are new to Motion 5 should purchase Motion 5 Fast Forward before working through this tutorial.
Table of Contents
Introduction to Particle Emitters
- Getting Started
- Adding a Background
- Adding a Source Object for Particles
- Creating the Particle System
- Adjusting the Emitter in the HUD
- Adjusting the Emitter in the Inspector
- Using the Emitter Tool in the Canvas
- Adjusting the Emitter in the Properties Inspector
- Adding Randomness to a Particle System
- Working with Cell Color Options
- Desaturating a Source Object
- Working with the Gradient Editor
- Understanding Playback Speed
- Design Variations
- Changing the Emitter Start Time
- Changing the Cell Source
- Creating Multiple Cells
- Interleaving Particle Cells
- Working with Particles in 3D
- Adding a Title
- Creating an Emitter "Ceiling"
- Using the Random Motion Behavior
Attaching Particle Emitters to Animated Graphics - Part A
- Looking at the Project Contents
- Creating Rocket Exhaust
- Modifying a Preset Emitter
- Adding Smoke
- Breaking Down a Preset Emitter
- Animating Emitters with Keyframes
- Compositing Emitters with Blend Modes
- Using the Wriggle Parameter Behavior
- Creating an Animated Starfield
Attaching Particle Emitters to Animated Graphics - Part B
- Looking at the Project Content
- Adding Locomotive Smoke
- Adjusting Layer Order in 3D Projects
- Animating Emitters with the Motion Path Behavior
- Animating the Background with the Offset Filter
- Animating the Offset Filter with a Parameter Behavior
- Using the Wind Simulation Behavior
- Animating a Camera with the Move Behavior
- Masking the Offset Filter
Attaching Particle Emitters to Text - Part A
- Creating, Formatting and Styling Text
- Burning Text with Particles
- The Key to Filling Text with Particles
- Additive Blend for Particle vs. Layers
- Changing Text and Updating Particles
- Saving a Custom Emitter Effect
- 3D Fire Text
- Giving Text Depth
- Flying the Camera Through Flaming Text
- Using the Dolly Behavior
- Animating the Camera with Keyframe Recording
- Changing Keyframe Interpolation
Attaching Particle Emitters to Text - Part B
- Adding Text
- Making Snow
- Using Master Cell Controls
- Changing Emitter Duration
- Sticking Snow to Text
- Trimming an Emitter
- Changing Cell Opacity
- Using Points Instead of Images
- Snow in 3D
- Animating the Camera
Particles and Image Sequences
- Looking at the Project Content
- Understanding Image Sequences
- Creating an Emitter from an Image Sequence
- Customizing the Emitter
- Covering the Deck
- Animating the Emitter to Deal Cards
- Introducing Randomness
- Using Drag Simulation Behaviors
- Dealing to Multiple Players
- Animating Emitter Rotation with a Parameter Behavior
- Stopping the Animation with Keyframes
- Generating a Better Hand
- Generating Random Seeds
- Animating a Single Card
- Creating the Ace of Spades
- Adjusting the Anchor Point
- Rotating Groups in 3D
- Animating the Ace of Spades
- Changing Keyframe Interpolation
- Adding and Animating a Camera
- Animating the Card to Flip Over
- Anchor Point to the Rescue
- Compositing a Graphic into the Animation
- The Awesome Match Transformation Trick
Tracking Particle Emitters to Video
- Looking at the Project Contents
- Tracking Video
- Tracking Behaviors
- The 2-Step Tracking Process
- Using the Analyze Motion Behavior
- Setting the Tracker
- Adjusting the Tracker Settings
- Building a Write-On Emitter
- Using the Match Move Behavior
- Tracking the Emitter
- Changing the Emitter Blend Modes
- Creating Sparks
- Using the Gravity Simulation Behavior
- Using the Edge Collision Behavior
- Retiming Video and Particles
- Creating Reflections for Particles
- Creating a Virtual Surface for Reflections
- Enabling Reflections
- Making 3D Sparks
Minimum System Requirements for Viewing Tutorials (Mac)
- Mac OS X version 10.5 or Higher
- 2 GHz Intel Core Duo Processor or Better
- 1 GB or more of RAM
- 16 MB of VRAM
- iTunes 9 or later
- QuickTime 7.6.6 or later
- DVD ROM drive for Burning Backups
- 1280 x 800 screen size or better
Minimum System Requirements for Viewing Tutorials (Win)
- 32 Bit Editions of Windows XP Service Pack 2 or Vista
- 32 Bit Editions of Windows Vista or Windows 7
- 2 GHz Intel Core Duo Processor or Better
- 1 GB or more of RAM (2 GB Recommended)
- DirectX 9.0 Compatible Video Card with 32MB of VRAM
- QuickTime Compatible Audio Card
- iTunes 9 or later
- QuickTime 7.6.6 or later
- Supported DVD-R Drive for Burning Backups
- 1280 x 800 screen size or better
