Layers not visible in Motion's Top Camera view

Small problem with the Camera View in Motion


Hello Everyone,


I have what I believe will (hopefully) be a quick fix with the way my Camera View looks in the Canvas. I have played with everything I can and I just can't seem to duplicate what I am seeing in the tutorial. (Yes Fox, if you are there - I am back to trying to figure out the dang camera again! haha)


Anyways, the tutorial view shows the layers while in the Top Camera view. My Camera Top view does not. I think it would be very helpful to see the layers as in the tutorial view. As I said, I played with everything I could but just cannot seem to make them appear. Any suggestions?

Posted on Mar 21, 2026 6:45 PM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Mar 21, 2026 8:48 PM

Okay... it looks like you downloaded and are using Simon's project. At the very beginning of the video, he's talks about the position of the circle which is at Z = 0. He then briefly mentions the rectangles are arranged with different "zed" positions at about 35 seconds into the video. That's English (British) speak for Z positions and there is an extremely brief shot of one of the rectangle's Z-position.


AFAICT, Simon doesn't actually cover what the actual shape positions are in "Zed Space". (As far as I got  — and, I don't have the patience to endure the entire length of this particular video.)


I don't know how all your shapes were reset to Z = 0 position. The group looks like it's 3D, the Camera is in the right place, but in your top screenshot, the rectangles in the Canvas look like they are in Layer Order and NOT arranged in 3D space... so if 3D (and the camera are working) that would mean all Z positions are zero. However, if they're all the same Size, then the camera should be showing their offsets in the Top View. Set the Camera to Active Camera and rotate it on the Y axis to see if they all align with the circle or if they are displaced in space.



Simon has some of the best tutorials for Motion, especially for the "artistic" projects that he pulls off — they are generally amazing. A lot of the effects he pulls off are well worth the effort to learn.


However, Simon drives me a little crazy sometimes with his videos... he'll go off in one direction for a couple minutes, then do something like: "I wanted to show you this before I continue on... " but then go back to some previous point before continuing to the end requiring a lot of undoing to get back to the previous point. When you're trying to follow along with his tutorials, use Pause ***a lot*** before turning your attention to your project because you might miss something.




11 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Mar 21, 2026 8:48 PM in response to Creator_needs_help

Okay... it looks like you downloaded and are using Simon's project. At the very beginning of the video, he's talks about the position of the circle which is at Z = 0. He then briefly mentions the rectangles are arranged with different "zed" positions at about 35 seconds into the video. That's English (British) speak for Z positions and there is an extremely brief shot of one of the rectangle's Z-position.


AFAICT, Simon doesn't actually cover what the actual shape positions are in "Zed Space". (As far as I got  — and, I don't have the patience to endure the entire length of this particular video.)


I don't know how all your shapes were reset to Z = 0 position. The group looks like it's 3D, the Camera is in the right place, but in your top screenshot, the rectangles in the Canvas look like they are in Layer Order and NOT arranged in 3D space... so if 3D (and the camera are working) that would mean all Z positions are zero. However, if they're all the same Size, then the camera should be showing their offsets in the Top View. Set the Camera to Active Camera and rotate it on the Y axis to see if they all align with the circle or if they are displaced in space.



Simon has some of the best tutorials for Motion, especially for the "artistic" projects that he pulls off — they are generally amazing. A lot of the effects he pulls off are well worth the effort to learn.


However, Simon drives me a little crazy sometimes with his videos... he'll go off in one direction for a couple minutes, then do something like: "I wanted to show you this before I continue on... " but then go back to some previous point before continuing to the end requiring a lot of undoing to get back to the previous point. When you're trying to follow along with his tutorials, use Pause ***a lot*** before turning your attention to your project because you might miss something.




Mar 21, 2026 7:17 PM in response to Creator_needs_help

It appears you created all the layers, created the Camera and set the View to Top... but didn't adjust the Z position of the various shapes (you can see them all aligned at the focal plane of the camera — you can see shorter highlighted line segments along the edge of the focal plane.


Check the Z positions of the other shapes or more simply, select the shape in the layers list and use the Blue Arrow on the 3D position control in the canvas to drag the shape into it's 3D space position. You'll see those "line segments" appear in their Z-positions separately from the Camera "view outline".






Mar 21, 2026 7:44 PM in response to fox_m

Hey Fox! :)

Ok, so fairly simple directions and it worked. I can see the line showing the Layer in the Canvas. However, it changes the position of the shape and that's not exactly what I want...or at least what the tutorial is showing.


That's the problem with some of these tutorials...I don't necessarily think it's the creator's fault - they can't see the set up of everyone's "view". But following these directions step by step I should see exactly what the creator's screen shows...and yet it doesn't. So, it makes this all very confusing. Or I'm just extremely dense when it comes to the Camera thing.

Mar 22, 2026 11:33 AM in response to fox_m

Ok first of all...I was so amazed that you even wanted the link to the video that uh, no of course not - please do not watch the entire thing and I'm glad you didn't! lol


I didn't use his project...so that may even be part of the problem. I tried to create it myself because I couldn't get his download to work.


So. I'm going to study what you've said and see if I can find where things went wrong. And thank you for the advice on Simon's tutorials. I too, think his stuff is pretty amazing and I see things I never, ever would have dreamed possible (yours too btw). So for that alone, sometimes it's worth the confusion. :). Have a great week and seriously, thank you as always!

Mar 22, 2026 11:39 AM in response to fox_m

Ok first of all, I was so amazed that you even wanted to check out the link that uh no, do not watch the whole video and I'm glad you didn't! lol


I did not use his project, I tried to build it on my own because I couldn't download his. That may be part of the problem. I am going to study what you've said and try to figure out what happened. At least I have something to go on now.


Thank you for the advice on Simon's tutorials. I too find his work pretty amazing (yours too btw) and it's worth it to me even just to watch them just because I see things that I never dreamed could be possible. Have a great week Fox and a serious thank you as always!

Layers not visible in Motion's Top Camera view

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple Account.