Motion is a

software application Application software is any computer program that is intended for end-user use not computer operator, operating, system administration, administering or computer programming, programming the computer. An application (app, application program, sof ...

produced by

Apple Inc. Apple Inc. is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California, in Silicon Valley. It is best known for its consumer electronics, software, and services. Founded in 1976 as Apple Comput ...

for their

macOS macOS, previously OS X and originally Mac OS X, is a Unix, Unix-based operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple since 2001. It is the current operating system for Apple's Mac (computer), Mac computers. With ...

operating system An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware and software resources, and provides common daemon (computing), services for computer programs. Time-sharing operating systems scheduler (computing), schedule tasks for ...

. It is used to create and edit

motion graphics Motion graphics (sometimes mograph) are pieces of animation or digital footage that create the illusion of motion or rotation, and are usually combined with audio for use in multimedia projects. Motion graphics are usually displayed via electro ...

, titling for

video production Video production is the process of producing video content. It is the equivalent of filmmaking, but with video recorded either as analog signals on videotape, digitally in video tape or as computer files stored on optical discs, hard drives, SSDs, ...

and

film production Filmmaking or film production is the process by which a Film, motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, beginning with an initial story, idea, or commission. Production then continues through screen ...

, and 2D and 3D compositing for visual effects.

History

The original product, codenamed "Molokini," was previewed at a NAB event on April 19, 2004. Version 1.0 was made available on August 11, 2004. At a pre- NAB event in April 2005, Apple released Motion 2 along with new revisions of the other Pro applications, optimised for the

Power Mac G5 The Power Mac G5 is a series of personal computers designed, manufactured, and sold by Apple Computer, Inc. from 2003 to 2006 as part of the Power Mac series. When introduced, it was the most powerful computer in Apple's Macintosh lineup, a ...

and

Mac OS X 10.4 Mac OS X Tiger (version 10.4) is the 5th major release of macOS, Apple's desktop and server operating system for Mac computers. Tiger was released to the public on April 29, 2005, for US$129.95 as the successor to Mac OS X 10.3 Panther. Incl ...

. Features introduced in Motion 2: * 32-bit Rendering * Replicators * New filters * MIDI behavior * After Effects integration In January 2006 Apple stopped selling Motion as a stand-alone product. Introduced at NAB in Las Vegas on April 15, 2007, Motion 3 was included as part of the Final Cut Studio 2 suite. Features introduced in Motion 3: * 3D multiplane environment - 2.5D compositing * 3D text behaviors * Vector-based paint strokes * Point tracking and match moving * Image stabilization and SmoothCam * Synchronized Audio behavior * Dynamic retiming behaviors * Advanced Keyframe Editor - keyframe pen tool, transform box * Final Cut Pro integration - Motion 3 master templates Motion 4 was introduced on July 23, 2009. New features included: * 3D Shadows * 3D Reflections * Depth of Field * Credit Rolls * Adjust Glyph tool * Parameter Link behavior * Camera framing * Improved Sequence Text behavior, plus new presets * New text generators * New graphics generators * New filters * Multi-touch gesture support * ProRes 4444 support * Background export Motion 5 was introduced on June 21, 2011. Motion 5 was once again sold as a stand-alone product. It is available through the

Mac App Store The Mac App Store (also known as the App Store) is a digital distribution platform for macOS apps, often referred to as Mac apps, created and maintained by Apple. The platform was announced on October 20, 2010, at Apple's "Back to the Mac" eve ...

at a reduced price of $49.99. New features: * Final Cut Pro X plugin generation * Parameter rigs * New keyer * 64-bit architecture Motion 5.2 was released on April 13, 2015. New features: * 3D text * New generators * Improved shapes * Improved keyframing Motion 5.3 was released on October 27, 2016. * Wide color * Improved Link parameter behavior * New Align To behavior * Improved 3D text Motion 5.4 was released on December 14, 2017, with new features: * 360 VR motion graphics support * The ability to switch a current Motion document to be a Motion project, Final Cut Pro generator, Final Cut Pro title, Final Cut Pro effect, or Final Cut Pro transition * New Overshoot animation behavior * New filters for different photographic looks * Import, playback, and editing of

HEVC High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC), also known as H.265 and MPEG-H Part 2, is a video compression standard designed as part of the MPEG-H project as a successor to the widely used Advanced Video Coding (AVC, H.264, or MPEG-4 Part 10). In co ...

video clips and HEIF photos. * Faster optical flow analysis Motion 5.4.1 was released on April 9, 2018. New feature: * ProRes RAW * Bug fixes Motion 5.4.2 was released on November 15, 2018. New features: * Advanced color grading * Comic filter * Tiny Planet filter - for displaying 360° spherical video in non-360° projects * Bug fixes - including use of Core Text engine for improved display of non-roman text Motion 5.4.3 was released on March 21, 2019. New feature: * Post-macOS Mojave media compatibility checker Motion 5.4.4 was released on October 7, 2019. * New Metal-based processing engine improves playback and accelerates graphics tasks including rendering, compositing, real-time effects, exporting, and more * Enhances graphics performance with support for multiple GPUs including Radeon Pro Vega II and Radeon Pro Vega II Duo on Mac Pro * Optimizes CPU performance with support for up to 28 CPU cores on Mac Pro * Accelerates ProRes and ProRes RAW playback when using the Afterburner card on Mac Pro * View, composite, grade, and deliver stunning HDR video on Pro Display XDR * View High Dynamic Range video tone-mapped to compatible Standard Dynamic Range displays when using Motion on macOS Catalina * Improved load balancing of graphics processing across multiple GPUs Motion 5.4.6 was released on August 25, 2020. 3D object support * Add 3D objects as elements in Title, Generator, Effect and Transition templates * Animate a 3D object's position, rotation, and scale using keyframes * Use behaviors to easily add realistic and complex animations to 3D objects * Use 3D objects with tools like replicators, emitters, lights or cameras * Use a collection of 60 premade 3D objects in the Motion library * Import USDZ objects from third-party websites and developers * Adjust 3D object environment lighting in the project inspector Motion 5.5.1 was released on March 4, 2021. * Adds a new Auto-Shrink option to the Text Layout tab of the Inspector to automatically reduce text size to fit in a paragraph, scroll, or crawl layout * Includes UI refinements for macOS Big Sur * Includes stability and reliability improvements See also a release history in context with the rest of Final Cut Studio.

Features

Features of Motion include the ability to create custom particle effects (as well as using pre-built ones) and to add filters, effects and animations in real time. Motion has the ability to address up to 32 GB of

RAM Ram, ram, or RAM most commonly refers to: * A male sheep * Random-access memory, computer memory * Ram Trucks, US, since 2009 ** List of vehicles named Dodge Ram, trucks and vans ** Ram Pickup, produced by Ram Trucks Ram, ram, or RAM may also ref ...

and GPU acceleration at

8-bit In computer architecture, 8-bit integers or other data units are those that are 8 bits wide (1 octet). Also, 8-bit central processing unit (CPU) and arithmetic logic unit (ALU) architectures are those that are based on registers or data bu ...

16-bit 16-bit microcomputers are microcomputers that use 16-bit microprocessors. A 16-bit register can store 216 different values. The range of integer values that can be stored in 16 bits depends on the integer representation used. With the two ...

and

32-bit In computer architecture, 32-bit computing refers to computer systems with a processor, memory, and other major system components that operate on data in a maximum of 32- bit units. Compared to smaller bit widths, 32-bit computers can perform la ...

float

color depth Color depth, also known as bit depth, is either the number of bits used to indicate the color of a single pixel, or the number of bits used for each color component of a single pixel. When referring to a pixel, the concept can be defined as bit ...

s. Motion 2 can also integrate with a

MIDI Musical Instrument Digital Interface (; MIDI) is an American-Japanese technical standard that describes a communication protocol, digital interface, and electrical connectors that connect a wide variety of electronic musical instruments, ...

keyboard, so that parameters can be controlled by keys or faders; this opens up the possibility of real time parameter input into Motion. In addition Motion 3 now allows for complete 2D and 3D compositing in a multiplane environment.

Behaviors

As well as supporting traditional

keyframe In animation and filmmaking, a key frame (or keyframe) is a drawing or shot that defines the starting and ending points of a smooth transition. These are called ''frames'' because their position in time is measured in frames on a strip of film ...

animation, Motion introduced a system of pre-set 'behaviors' which can be combined to create realistic animations. For instance, the 'throw' behavior will move an object across the screen. Combined with the 'gravity' behavior, it will simulate a realistic arc of motion. The effects can be tweaked utilizing various parameters, varying the strength of the bounces, the amount of gravity to apply and so on. This is very different from traditional animation software, which requires the use of keyframes to determine the position of an object at any given time. Such software then automatically creates motion to fill the spaces between the keyframes. This makes it easy to know exactly where objects are on the screen at any given time, but it is considerably more difficult to create realistic animations that build up on different, conflicting forces.

The Replicator and Particle Emitters

In Version 2 a new 'replicator' function was introduced, which allows an object to be replicated to create a repeating pattern of a specified size and shape. With this tool, it is possible to create animations in which the elements of a replicated pattern move in sequence. 'Particle emitters' allow the user to set a pre-drawn shape to rapidly generate copies of itself and emit them across the screen. The direction and intensity can be adjusted, and combined with behaviors to create very complex animations quickly and easily. For example, a particle emitter used in conjunction with a star shape and the 'vortex' behavior would animate a circle of swirling stars.

The H.U.D.

Motion features a floating semi-transparent window ("heads-up display", or HUD) which displays the most commonly altered parameters of the object or effect currently selected. This allows the user to make quick adjustments without having to search through palettes and menus. However, exact numerical values cannot be entered in this window. For more precise editing, consult the Inspector window.

Tools

Motion has the following tools available for the creation or manipulation of graphics on the canvas: * Anchor point - each object has an 'anchor point' that acts as the center of rotation or enlargement. *

Shear mapping In plane geometry, a shear mapping is an affine transformation that displaces each point in a fixed direction by an amount proportional to its signed distance function, signed distance from a given straight line, line parallel (geometry), paral ...

Drop shadow In graphic design and computer graphics, a drop shadow is a visual effect consisting of a drawing element which looks like the shadow of an object, giving the impression that the object is raised above the objects behind it. The drop shadow is of ...

* Four Corner, which changes the perspective of objects. *

Crop A crop is a plant that can be grown and harvested extensively for profit or subsistence. In other words, a crop is a plant or plant product that is grown for a specific purpose such as food, Fiber, fibre, or fuel. When plants of the same spe ...

Bézier curve A Bézier curve ( , ) is a parametric equation, parametric curve used in computer graphics and related fields. A set of discrete "control points" defines a smooth, continuous curve by means of a formula. Usually the curve is intended to approxima ...

adjustment *

Rectangle In Euclidean geometry, Euclidean plane geometry, a rectangle is a Rectilinear polygon, rectilinear convex polygon or a quadrilateral with four right angles. It can also be defined as: an equiangular quadrilateral, since equiangular means that a ...

ellipse In mathematics, an ellipse is a plane curve surrounding two focus (geometry), focal points, such that for all points on the curve, the sum of the two distances to the focal points is a constant. It generalizes a circle, which is the special ty ...

, Bézier curve and

B-spline In numerical analysis, a B-spline (short for basis spline) is a type of Spline (mathematics), spline function designed to have minimal Support (mathematics), support (overlap) for a given Degree of a polynomial, degree, smoothness, and set of bre ...

creation tools. * The text tool. * Rectangle, ellipse, Bézier and B-spline masking tools (which define the part of an object that is visible). These tools can be accessed from the toolbar at the top of the screen or with keyboard commands.

Recording

Recording is used for adjusting an object over a specific amount of time by placing and manipulating keyframes. The recording button is a red dot button adjacent to the play/pause features. When the button is selected, it lights up red and the dot turns white. Any adjustments made when the button is selected are saved as keyframes. Keyframes act as placeholders that solidify an object's characteristics at a single frame (anything from position and rotation to cropping and size). Using multiple recordings, an object shall reorient itself between the two keyframes to match each set characteristics. Recording can act as an alternative to movement behaviors that allow more in-depth adjustments.

References

* Wiggins, P. (August 2004). Motion 1. ''First review of Motion

' * Lindsay, A. (November 2004). Motion. ''DV, 12'', 54 – 5

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Motion MacOS-only software made by Apple Inc. Video editing software Compositing software