4

Using Media in the Library
Motion ships with a collection of media and effects that you can use in your projects. The
Library shares many controls and window panes with the File Browser. Both tabs are
designed for the navigation of media that you want to add to your project. In general,
all the controls work identically to those found in the File Browser, but the organization
of listed media is different.
Categories
Subcategories
The Library sidebar consists of a two-column pane. The left column displays all the
categories of media and effects that are available in the Library. When you select a
category, subcategories appear in the right column. Selecting a subcategory displays all
the media or effects objects within the subcategory in the Library stack below.
Library Categories
The Library contains many different types of categories, as described in the next sections.
Behaviors and Filters
Behaviors and filters are applied directly to objects that have already been added to your
project. They do not exist on their own. Instead, they must be attached to an object to
have an effect. Both behaviors and filters can be customized after they’ve been added to
a project, and customized versions can be stored in the Library for future use.
For more information about behaviors, see Using Behaviors. For more information about
filters, see Using Filters.
Image Units (Filters)
The Image Units category appears in the Motion Library if you are running Mac OS X 10.5
or later. Motion supports the operating system’s Core Image Units (filters).
Generators
Generators are user-customizable computer-generated objects that can be used to create
a variety of graphic elements. When you add a generator to your project, it automatically
adapts to the frame size and frame rate of the project. Generators also have infinite
duration, so they can play as long as necessary.
259Chapter 6 Creating and Managing Projects