Apple Event: May 7th at 7 am PT
In previous years I've imported a multi-page PDFs and used the Page Number slider under Properties to switch pages without issues. Although now Motion still shows the proper pages in the timeline, all pages revert to page #1 once I render either through Motion or Compressor. Is this a new bug or am I overlooking something? Thanks.
Mac Pro, OS X 10.11
Yeah - this appears to be a bug. Although if I'm using a new Motion document, applying a PDF, duplicating the PDF and displaying individual pages, it renders out just fine. However, if I try to animate the pages using the keyframed Page Number slider, Motion doesn't advance the pages (and page changes do not render). If I open an older Motion project with a multi-page PDF file, it stays on Page 1. I cannot change the page, cannot keyframe the page number, etc... it's just frozen. If I get a *fresh* copy of the original PDF, I can change pages.
I am able to render out separate pages from a PDF file (in a newly created project - Motion 5.4.2), at least from Motion itself. [So, is your project a little older than the current version of Motion? If you have only just created a new project, I don't know what the difference is. It might have something to do with which app created the PDF or some other variation of similar sort.]
You can report the problem with Provide Motion Feedback from the Motion menu.
There is a work-around if you need to animate page changes.
Duplicate the PDF for the number of pages you need. For each instance, set the (sequential) page number.
Starting at the beginning of the project, select the first page layer, type the O key to set an out point.
Assuming your pages are stacked from lower (page number) to higher, type the up-arrow, then the right arrow (make sure the playhead is advancing!), then type I, O to set in/outs for one frame. Continue this process until all pages are one frame long and starting on subsequent frames. Select all the page layers and create a new Group (Command-G). The group should be only as long as the timing of all the pages in the group.
Type K to create a Clone of the Group. The clone should be exactly as long as the group. [Make sure the group visibility is turned off.]
Type L to create a Replicator.
Turn *OFF* Play Frames.
You can use a Sequence Replicator to animate through the pages or use the Source Start Frame parameter to change pages (with the Number of Points set to 1).
The details of the setup of the Replicator will depend on how you need to be able to change the pages under animation.
This seems to work even after quitting Motion and reopening the project.
Here's a demo - it shows 3 of 12 pages in the PDF rendered out plus the replicator used to sequence through 10 of the pages at the bottom. Yeah - this appears to be a bug. Although if I'm using a new Motion document, applying a PDF, duplicating the PDF and displaying individual pages, it renders out just fine. However, if I try to animate the pages using the keyframed Page Number slider, Motion doesn't advance the pages (and page changes do not render). If I open an older Motion project with a multi-page PDF file, it stays on Page 1. I cannot change the page, cannot keyframe the page number, etc... it's just frozen. If I get a *fresh* copy of the original PDF, I can change pages.
I am able to render out separate pages from a PDF file (in a newly created project - Motion 5.4.2), at least from Motion itself. [So, is your project a little older than the current version of Motion? If you have only just created a new project, I don't know what the difference is. It might have something to do with which app created the PDF or some other variation of similar sort.]
You can report the problem with Provide Motion Feedback from the Motion menu.
There is a work-around if you need to animate page changes.
Duplicate the PDF for the number of pages you need. For each instance, set the (sequential) page number.
Starting at the beginning of the project, select the first page layer, type the O key to set an out point.
Assuming your pages are stacked from lower (page number) to higher, type the up-arrow, then the right arrow (make sure the playhead is advancing!), then type I, O to set in/outs for one frame. Continue this process until all pages are one frame long and starting on subsequent frames. Select all the page layers and create a new Group (Command-G). The group should be only as long as the timing of all the pages in the group.
Type K to create a Clone of the Group. The clone should be exactly as long as the group. [Make sure the group visibility is turned off.]
Type L to create a Replicator.
Turn *OFF* Play Frames.
You can use a Sequence Replicator to animate through the pages or use the Source Start Frame parameter to change pages (with the Number of Points set to 1).
The details of the setup of the Replicator will depend on how you need to be able to change the pages under animation.
This seems to work even after quitting Motion and reopening the project.
Here's a demo - it shows 3 of 12 pages in the PDF rendered out plus the replicator used to sequence through 10 of the pages at the bottom:
Yeah - this appears to be a bug. Although if I'm using a new Motion document, applying a PDF, duplicating the PDF and displaying individual pages, it renders out just fine. However, if I try to animate the pages using the keyframed Page Number slider, Motion doesn't advance the pages (and page changes do not render). If I open an older Motion project with a multi-page PDF file, it stays on Page 1. I cannot change the page, cannot keyframe the page number, etc... it's just frozen. If I get a *fresh* copy of the original PDF, I can change pages.
I am able to render out separate pages from a PDF file (in a newly created project - Motion 5.4.2), at least from Motion itself. [So, is your project a little older than the current version of Motion? If you have only just created a new project, I don't know what the difference is. It might have something to do with which app created the PDF or some other variation of similar sort.]
You can report the problem with Provide Motion Feedback from the Motion menu.
There is a work-around if you need to animate page changes.
Duplicate the PDF for the number of pages you need. For each instance, set the (sequential) page number.
Starting at the beginning of the project, select the first page layer, type the O key to set an out point.
Assuming your pages are stacked from lower (page number) to higher, type the up-arrow, then the right arrow (make sure the playhead is advancing!), then type I, O to set in/outs for one frame. Continue this process until all pages are one frame long and starting on subsequent frames. Select all the page layers and create a new Group (Command-G). The group should be only as long as the timing of all the pages in the group.
Type K to create a Clone of the Group. The clone should be exactly as long as the group. [Make sure the group visibility is turned off.]
Type L to create a Replicator.
Turn *OFF* Play Frames.
You can use a Sequence Replicator to animate through the pages or use the Source Start Frame parameter to change pages (with the Number of Points set to 1).
The details of the setup of the Replicator will depend on how you need to be able to change the pages under animation.
This seems to work even after quitting Motion and reopening the project.
Here's a demo - it shows 3 of 12 pages in the PDF rendered out plus the replicator used to sequence through 10 of the pages at the bottom. Yeah - this appears to be a bug. Although if I'm using a new Motion document, applying a PDF, duplicating the PDF and displaying individual pages, it renders out just fine. However, if I try to animate the pages using the keyframed Page Number slider, Motion doesn't advance the pages (and page changes do not render). If I open an older Motion project with a multi-page PDF file, it stays on Page 1. I cannot change the page, cannot keyframe the page number, etc... it's just frozen. If I get a *fresh* copy of the original PDF, I can change pages.
I am able to render out separate pages from a PDF file (in a newly created project - Motion 5.4.2), at least from Motion itself. [So, is your project a little older than the current version of Motion? If you have only just created a new project, I don't know what the difference is. It might have something to do with which app created the PDF or some other variation of similar sort.]
You can report the problem with Provide Motion Feedback from the Motion menu.
There is a work-around if you need to animate page changes.
Duplicate the PDF for the number of pages you need. For each instance, set the (sequential) page number.
Starting at the beginning of the project, select the first page layer, type the O key to set an out point.
Assuming your pages are stacked from lower (page number) to higher, type the up-arrow, then the right arrow (make sure the playhead is advancing!), then type I, O to set in/outs for one frame. Continue this process until all pages are one frame long and starting on subsequent frames. Select all the page layers and create a new Group (Command-G). The group should be only as long as the timing of all the pages in the group.
Type K to create a Clone of the Group. The clone should be exactly as long as the group. [Make sure the group visibility is turned off.]
Type L to create a Replicator.
Turn *OFF* Play Frames.
You can use a Sequence Replicator to animate through the pages or use the Source Start Frame parameter to change pages (with the Number of Points set to 1).
The details of the setup of the Replicator will depend on how you need to be able to change the pages under animation.
This seems to work even after quitting Motion and reopening the project.
Here's a demo - it shows 3 of 12 pages in the PDF rendered out plus the replicator used to sequence through 10 of the pages at the bottom:
Thanks for your reply fox_m. My project actually does use duplicate layers from 1 PDF presentation, with each layer set at a different page number under Properties. This process (separate layers per page) worked as expected for the past 2 years. The project I'm now having issues with is actually a reused file from previous years--although most elements except for fades are updated with new PDF data, movies and sounds. So yes, it could be that Motion 5.4.2 dislikes that I'm using an old Motion file somehow. The odd thing is the PDF layers change correctly in the timeline. Only export renders stick to pg 1, no matter the render quality I set nor if I render using Motion or Compressor.
At home just now I experimented with creating a new PDF in a new Motion project. As you mentioned, keyframing a single PDF layer doesn't work (both in timeline and render). But since using separate layers for each page worked for me before, I also created several PDFs with varying compression settings (JPEG and zip, using InDesign CC19) and, low and behold, it worked.
So I'll try reserving the PDF when I'm back in the office. If that doesn't work I'll have to convert the PDF into separate PNGs--time consuming and slightly annoying but guaranteed to work.
Multiple page pdfs
