Book Image

Apple Motion 5 Cookbook

By : Nicholas Harauz
Book Image

Apple Motion 5 Cookbook

By: Nicholas Harauz

Overview of this book

Let's face it, people like images that move. Whether you see images on a moving billboard, walk into a bank with an LCD screen, watch TV, or surf the Web, motion graphics are everywhere. With an even greater demand to integrate motion graphics in just about every type of video or interactive content there is, this book will help you get there with Motion 5. It's all about creating eye-catching titles, transitions, and effects!"Apple Motion 5 Cookbook" contains exercises for the beginner and seasoned motion graphics user. You will learn how to navigate Motion's interface and quickly grasp the tools available to you while creating sophisticated and sleek animations in both 2D and 3D environments. Not forgetting visual effects, we will also explore motion tracking and green screen techniques that will help you composite like a pro. Let's launch the application, grab a cup of coffee, and get started on this exciting journey!The exercises will take you right from creating your very first Motion project through to export. You will learn how to navigate quickly and efficiently through Motion's complex interface and toolsets so that you can focus oncreating your masterpiece!You will learn how to create a new project and import material into that project from the File Browser and Motion's vast and rich content library. From there, you will learn to manipulate and animate these source files using Motion's behaviors, classic keyframing techniques, adding filters, and master the built-in tools such as particle systems that will knock your socks off! Last but not least, you will export your projects to a variety of different formats including DVD, as a Final Cut Pro generator, and the Web.The "Apple Motion 5 Cookbook" contains downloadable content for each chapter and is packed with screenshots and illustrations. After reading this book, you'll be creating motion graphics and visual effects in no time!
Table of Contents (20 chapters)
Apple Motion 5 Cookbook
Credits
About the Author
Acknowledgement
About the Reviewers
www.PacktPub.com
Preface
Index

Changing the layer order


In 2D projects, layer order matters. Let's say we had a project with three backgrounds. The background that would appear at the top of the layer stack is what we will see. The other two layers would be invisible.

How to do it...

  1. From this chapter's exercise files, open the 01_05 project.

  2. There are three gradient layers in this project but in the Canvas we only see the You can see me layer. Select this layer and drag it underneath the I'm hidden too layer without releasing the mouse. Make sure you see a blue line with an icon and not the plus symbol, as shown in the following screenshot. If you do, drag with your mouse slightly to the right and then release your mouse.

  3. Notice that you can now see the I'm hidden layer being displayed. Select the I'm hidden too layer and drag it above the I'm hidden layer.

  4. The I'm hidden too layer should now be seen.

There's more...

We can easily move layers in the Layers tab using shortcuts.

Moving layers with shortcuts

Sometimes when you drag elements in the Layers tab, you may accidently create a group instead of moving a layer. By using the keyboard shortcuts Command + [ and Command + ], we can easily move a layer up and down in a group.

See also

  • The Groups versus layers recipe