5.5

101Motion User Guide
• Properties Inspector: You can also adjust layer properties using numeric controls—
sliders, dials, value fields, and so on. These controls in the Properties Inspector let
you make the same adjustments afforded by the onscreen editing tools, but with
more precision. Adjustments made in the canvas are simultaneously updated in the
Inspector, and vice versa. For example, if you change a layer’s scale by dragging its
corner handles in the canvas, the layer’s Scale parameter is updated in the Properties
Inspector. See Transform layers in the Properties Inspector in Motion.
• HUD: Many of the numeric controls in the Properties Inspector are also available in the
HUD (heads-up display), a floating window that you can show or hide. See Transform
layers in the HUD in Motion.
Select and organize layers
Intro to the Layers list in Motion
When you add media content, the resulting element is represented in your Motion project
as a layer. Think of layers as a series of visual overlays stacked on top of each other. These
image layers combine to create the composition displayed in the canvas. Motion provides
a graphical representation of this layer hierarchy in the Layers list of the Project pane. In a
2D project, the stacking order of layers in the Layers list determines which layers appear in
front of others in the canvas.
You can modify layers by applying effects objects to them. Effects objects also appear in
the Layer’s list, under the group or layer to which they are applied.
The Layers list contains the following objects:
• Layers: The basic image objects—movie clips, still images, shapes, text, 3D objects,
particle systems, and so on—in your project that combine to create a composition.
• Effects objects: Nonimage objects that modify image layers or groups. Effects objects
include filters, behaviors, lights, cameras, and rigs. Effects objects appear in the Layers
list indented under the layer or group that they modify.
• Groups: Containers that enclose layers and effects objects. When you create a layer, it’s
placed inside a group. All image layers and effects objects—except for cameras, lights,
rigs, and the Project object—must reside in groups. Masks, behaviors, and effects can
be applied to groups or to layers. A group can also contain other groups nested inside it.
In this way, you can construct complex hierarchies of nested groups, with each nested
group subordinate to the group that contains it.
• 360° environments: Containers that enclose 360° footage and filters. 360°
environments cannot contain objects such as particles, replicators, or shapes. See Intro
to 360° video in Motion.