5.1.1

Chapter 16 Text 613
Set preferences for text
Before you start a project, set your text creation preferences. You can set Motion to create text
at either the current frame (the frame where the playhead is positioned at the time you add the
text) or at the start of the project. By default, layers are created at the current frame. You can also
specify a default duration for a created layer.
Set layer creation and duration preferences
1 Choose Motion > Preferences (or press Command-Comma).
2 Click the Project icon.
The Project Preferences pane is displayed.
3 In the Still Images & Layers section, set the Default Layer Duration preference:
•
To create text that is the length of the project, select “Use project duration” (the default
setting). This means that if you are working in a 300-frame project and you create text, the
duration of the text (in the Timeline) is 300 frames.
Note: If Create Layers At is set to “Current frame” and you create text at frame 50, the text
spans frame 50 to frame 300.
•
To create text of a specic duration, select “Use custom duration.” Next, enter a value in the
text eld, then choose Frames or Seconds from the pop-up menu.
All layers you create will span the entered duration.
4 Set the Create Layers At preference:
•
To create text at the current location of the playhead, select “Current frame.”
•
To create text at the start of the project, select “Start of project.” With this preference, all text is
created at the beginning of the project, regardless of the playhead location.
Create text
Add text in the Canvas
In Motion, you create text in the Canvas using the Text tool. After selecting the Text tool in the
toolbar, click once in the Canvas and begin typing at the insertion point. Alternatively, you can
type text in the Text Inspector, or drag or import a text le into the Motion workspace. After you
add text to a project, you can apply lters to create special eects, or behaviors or keyframes to
animate the text.
Add text in the Canvas
1 In the Layers list, select the group to add a text layer to.
Note: If no group is selected, the text is added to the last selected group (the underscored group
in the Layers list).
2 In the toolbar, click the Text tool (or press T).
3 Click in the Canvas.
The cursor ashes in the Canvas at the insertion point. Before you enter text, an empty text
object is added to the project and the Text HUD appears.
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