Learn Motion 3 on the Fast Track

Since it's introduction, Motion has revolutionized the approach to creating 2D animated motion graphics and effects commonly seen in title sequences, show opens, bumpers, commercials, dvd menus and more. With the recent introduction of Motion 3, Apple has propelled the application into a whole new stratosphere of creative potential by giving users the ability to animate, design and create in a 3D environment, work with vector-based painting tools, and retime video clips with amazing results.

We created this tutorial with a singular goal - to get you up to speed in Motion 3 faster than you thought possible, and do so in a manner that will give you a fluid command of the feature-rich tool set that Motion 3 offers. For anyone desiring to achieve results from Motion 3 with a minimal amount of time invested, this tutorial was designed for you. Presented in 12 easy-to-follow lessons, Apple-certified master trainer Mark Spencer will walk you through the application in the context of creating the kinds of bread-and-butter projects your clients will be requesting on a regular basis.

A Practical Approach to Learning Motion

Our tutorial approach is to not only teach you how to use the tools, but when to use them in the context of creating real-world projects. The projects themselves are focused around common motion graphics tasks such as chroma keying, motion tracking, painting, creating dvd motion menus and animating corporate logos to name a few. As you go through each lesson you will be introduced to some of Motion's more exciting features such as particle emitters, replicators, masks, generators, text and audio behaviors and much more. And you'll do all this by working with both 2D and 3D elements to create truly stunning visuals.

For full descriptions of each lesson, see the table of contents below.

3D without Intimidation

If you thought Motion 2 was powerful, wait until you dive into the world of Motion 3. The "3" actually refers to the version number, but it's also the number referring to a world that exists in a 3-plane environment - otherwise known as 3D. Our Tutorial doesn't just show you Motion's incredible 3D toolset, but actually guides you, step-by-step in the best way to use them, even if you've never used a 3D application before. Some of you might even be saying, "but wait, I've never even used a 2D application before..." That's ok. Motion is comfortable working with either 2D or 3D elements and our goal is to get you comfortable working in 2D before moving you into the 3D world.

Create Stunning 2D and 3D Motion Graphics

Below is an image from Mark's lesson on 3D Photo animation. Taking the "Ken Burns" effect to the next level, you will learn how to create depth and alter perspective on your still photographs. This one lesson is worth the price of the entire tutorial!

Put some "Motion" in your menus.

Motion was born to create DVD menus. Perhaps that's why they are often referred to as Motion menus. With its amazing paint tools, audio behaviors, loop point markers and more, you will learn how Motion is the perfect companion to DVD Studio Pro.

Keys to a good Key

Pulling a good key is never without its challenges and this lesson is as practical as it gets. In lesson 9 on Keying, you will learn techniques to achieve good green or blue screen keys. Tools in Mark's arsenal of Motion weapons are the Primatte Keyer, the B-Spline tool to create Garbage and Holdout mattes, spill suppressors and more.

Follow that Bus...

Just in case you fell off the turnip bus, Motion 3 now has trackers that will help you avoid tedious keyframing. In lesson 11 you will learn how to track a graphic on a moving object using the "Match Move" Behavior, as well as other really cool Tracking behaviors.

Create Animated Corporate Logos

Who hasn't been asked to create and/or animate a logo for a client? In lesson 4 you will deconstruct a logo Mark created for one of his corporate clients. This is the perfect lesson to "get your head around" working with keyframes in Motion.

Create Animated Lower Thirds

Lower thirds are the mainstay of documentaries, new programs and reality shows. With Motion's built in Library of Text Behaviors, Shapes, Gradients and Masks, the possibilities for creating compelling lower thirds is virtually limitless. In lesson 3, Mark places a cornucopia of options on your table with regard to creating, modifying, animating and saving lower thirds in Motion.

Time Travel

Changing the speed of a video clip is something every editor and motion graphics artist will need to do. In Lesson 10 Mark focuses on the various ways you can retime your video clips both with keyframes and with behaviors.

These are just a few of the "real world" projects you will create using Motion 3, but there is more. A lot more. The one thing you'll discover about Motion is, it's just fun to play with. And in the spirit of that fun we present "Motion 3 Fast Forward".

Who is this Tutorial for?

Editors, producers, (well maybe not producers), Final Cut Pro editors who have been putting off learning it, print designers, After Effects artists who want to know what all the hub-bub's about, Flame or Inferno artists who want to know why they are getting less work, photographers and musicians who still haven't figured out there is no money in what they do, and bus drivers. Basically anyone who wants to get on the fast track to learning Motion.

What's on this DVD-ROM?

There are 12 lessons on the disc. Each lesson can be viewed as a stand-alone module. You don't need to start from the beginning; just jump to the lesson that interests you and begin watching. (However, if you are new to Motion, we recommend starting from the begriming). All the project files and media are included on the disc in case you want to follow along in your own copy of Motion 3.

Table of Contents

The Motion Interface

Compositing

Creating Lower Thirds

Building an Animated Corporate Logo

Introduction to 3D

3D Photo Animation (ala Ken Burns in 3D space)

3D Camera Animation

The Wonderful World of Particles

Keying

Retiming

Motion Tracking

Building a DVD Motion Menu

System Requirements