2
Table Of Contents
- Motion User Manual
- Contents
- Motion 2 Documentation and Resources
- Getting To Know Motion
- Creating and Managing Projects
- Creating New Projects
- Managing Projects
- Editing Project Properties
- Browsing Media Files in Motion
- File Types Supported by Motion
- Adding Media to Your Project
- Managing Objects in Your Project
- Deleting Objects From a Project
- Exchanging Media in a Project
- Object Media Tab Parameters
- Using Media in the Library
- Organizing Layers and Objects in Motion
- The Background of Your Project
- Selecting Objects and Layers in the Layers Tab
- Reorganizing Objects in the Layers Tab
- Nesting Layers Inside Other Layers
- Grouping and Ungrouping Objects
- Showing and Hiding Layers and Objects
- Fixing the Size of a Layer
- Locking Layers and Objects
- Collapsing and Uncollapsing Layer Hierarchies
- Renaming Layers
- Searching for Layers and Objects
- Sorting Layers and Objects in the Media Tab
- Customizing and Creating New Templates
- Basic Compositing
- Using the Timeline
- Using Behaviors
- Keyframes and Curves
- Using Text
- Working With Particles
- The Anatomy of a Particle System
- Using Particle Systems
- Creating Graphics and Animations for Particle Systems
- Advanced Particle System Controls
- Animating Objects in Particle Systems
- Using Behaviors With Particle Systems
- Applying Filters to Particle Systems
- Particle System Examples
- Saving Custom Particle Effects to the Library
- Using the Replicator
- The Difference Between the Replicator and a Particle System
- The Anatomy of the Replicator
- Using the Replicator
- Advanced Replicator Controls
- Animating Replicator Parameters
- Using the Sequence Replicator Behavior
- Using Behaviors With Replicators
- Applying Filters to Replicators
- Saving Custom Replicators to the Library
- Using Filters
- About Filters
- Working With Filters
- An Introduction to Filters
- Working With Filters
- Enabling, Renaming, and Locking Filters
- Copying, Pasting, and Moving Filters
- Reordering Filters
- Changing Filter Timing
- Blur Filters
- A Fun Effect That Can Be Used With All the Blur Filters
- Border Filters
- Color Correction Filters
- Distortion Filters
- Glow Filters
- Keying Filters
- Matte Filters
- Sharpen Filters
- Stylize Filters
- Tiling Filters
- Working With Third-Party Filters
- Working With Generators
- Using Shapes and Masks
- Working With Audio
- Exporting Motion Projects
- Keyboard Shortcuts
- Video and File Formats
- Supported File Formats
- Standard Definition vs. High Definition Video Formats
- Popular Video Codecs for File Exchange
- What Is Field Order?
- Using Square or Nonsquare Pixels When Creating Graphics
- Differences in Color Between Computer and Video Graphics
- Using Fonts and Creating Line Art for Video
- Scaling Imported High-Resolution Graphics
- Creating Graphics for HD Projects
- Integration With Final Cut Pro
- Using Gestures
- Index
Chapter 2 Creating and Managing Projects 173
Audio Files
You can import different audio file formats into your project, including but not limited
to: WAV, AIFF, .cdda, MP3, and AAC. Although Motion is not necessarily intended to be
a full-featured audio editing and mixing environment such as GarageBand, Soundtrack
Pro, or Logic, you can import music clips, dialogue, and sound effects to use in your
projects. If you import a QuickTime file with mono or stereo tracks of audio, the video
appears in the Timeline, while the audio appears in the Audio Editor.
More About Alpha Channels
Ordinary video clips and image files have three channels of information, one each for
the red, green, and blue channels. Many video and image file formats also support an
alpha channel, which contains additional information that defines areas of
transparency. An alpha channel is a grayscale channel, where white represents areas
of 100 percent opacity (solid), gray regions represent partially opaque areas, and
black represents 0 percent opacity (transparent).
When you import a QuickTime movie or an image file into your project, its alpha
channel is immediately recognized by Motion. The alpha channel is then used to
composite that object against any other objects that are behind it.
There are two different ways of embedding alpha channel information into files, and
Motion attempts to automatically determine which type of alpha channel a particular
object uses:
• Straight: Straight alpha channels are kept completely separate from the red, green,
and blue channels of an image. Media files using straight alpha channels appear
perfectly fine when used in a composition, but they may look odd when viewed in
another application. Translucent effects such as volumetric lighting, or lens flares in
a computer generated image, may appear distorted until the clip is used in a
composition.
• Premultiplied: This type of alpha channel is multiplied with the clip’s red, green,
and blue channels. As a result, objects with premultiplied alpha channels always
look correct, even with translucent lighting effects, because the entire image is
precomposited against a solid color. Most commonly, premultiplied alpha channels
are multiplied against black or white, but Motion can also resolve alpha channels
that have been premultiplied against other colors.
The only time it really matters which kind of alpha channel an object has is when
Motion doesn’t correctly determine it. If an object’s alpha channel has been set to
Straight in the Media tab when it’s really premultiplied, it may appear fringed with
the premultiplied color around its edges. If this happens, you can select the
problematic clip in the Media tab of the Project pane, and change its Alpha Type
parameter in the Media tab of the Inspector.
01112.book Page 173 Sunday, March 13, 2005 10:36 PM