Instruction Manual

Chapter 6 Create and manage projects 201
Create templates
In addition to using and customizing templates that ship with Motion, you can build new
templates. Template les contain everything that ordinary projects do, including media layers,
text objects, shapes, generators, behaviors, and lters, in any combination.
You can create custom templates for commonly used shots that you regularly create. For
example, if you make titles for a news program, you can create templates for the opening title,
interstitial graphics, bumpers, and other repetitious shots.
To save a Motion project as a template
Templates are standard Motion projects that are saved in a special way.
1 Choose File > Publish Template.
A save dialog appears.
2 Enter a name for the template and choose a category from the Category pop-up menu.
The template is organized in the Project Browser under the category you assign. Create a custom
category by choosing New Category from the menu.
3 Choose New Theme from the Theme pop-up menu, enter a descriptive name in the New Theme
dialog, then click Create.
4 If you want the template project to retain media in the Media list that isn’t present in the
composition, select “Include unused media.”
5 If you want a preview of the template to appear in the Project Browser, select Save
Preview Movie.
Note: If you want to add the template to a Final Cut Pro project, select the “Publish as Final Cut
Generator” checkbox. For more information, see Final Cut Pro X templates overview on page 385.
6 Click Publish.
The template is saved in the /Users/username/Movies/Motion Templates/Compositions/ folder on
your computer.
Note: If you selected the “Publish as Final Cut Generator” checkbox, the template is saved in the /
Users/username/Movies/Motion Templates/Generators/ folder. For more information, see Publish
a standard Motion project as a Final Cut Pro X generator on page 418.
Template rules of thumb
When designing templates, there are a few useful rules of thumb:
•
Use descriptive group and layer names: Group and layer names in a template should describe
each object’s function. For example, text objects in a titling template might be named
“Main Title,” “Starring,” “Guest Star,” and so on. If you use visual elements in the template’s
composition, their layer names should describe their function—“Background Texture,”
“Divider,” and “Main Title Background,” for example. Descriptive layer names are especially
important if others use the template.
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