Patrick Sheffield

Q: Motion 5 - some background...

Shortly after Motion 4 was released, I was invited to give a presentation to the Motion engineers on how I use Motion, what I do with it and what I'd like for the future...

 

For enhancements, I made these requests:

 

  1. Color Blend Mode
  2. Adjust Levels filter in the HUD
  3. Pulse Wave Shape (for the oscillate parameter behavior)
  4. Import Vector Artwork (form EPS/PDF/AI documents)
  5. 3D Text/Shapes with 3D extrusion/bevel
  6. 3D Primitives that could be texture mapped
  7. Replicator enhancement - map portions of an image to each element of a replicator
  8. 3D Particle Enhancements - ground floor, deformable emitter shape, reverse emitter, particle reflector, adjustable particle physics, grayscale guide maps
  9. Parameter behavior based on image characteristics - average/peak/low of defined area of an image
  10. Camera filters - take any filter and stick it, like a pane of smart glass, in front of a camera
  11. Object lights - allow any object to emit light
  12. Ability to link and publish multiple parameters to templates

 

Of these, only #12 appears to have made it into Motion 5 in the form of Publishing and Rigs.

 

I've played with Publishing and Rigs and they are pretty awesome.

 

Patrick

Octo 3 GHz Intel, Mac OS X (10.5.6), 5 GB RAM, ATI x1900, Decklink HD Extreme

Posted on Jun 23, 2011 9:36 PM

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Q: Motion 5 - some background...

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  • Helpful answers

  • by Scot Walker,

    Scot Walker Scot Walker Jul 15, 2011 11:21 AM in response to Patrick Sheffield
    Level 3 (524 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jul 15, 2011 11:21 AM in response to Patrick Sheffield

    Thanks for that, Patrick. Nice list!

     

    Do you recommend upgrading to Motion 5 yet, since it replaces Motion 4? Or is it buggy and needs more time to bake?

     

    Thanks!!

     

    Scot

  • by Jim Cookman,

    Jim Cookman Jim Cookman Jul 15, 2011 11:38 AM in response to Patrick Sheffield
    Level 7 (23,435 points)
    Jul 15, 2011 11:38 AM in response to Patrick Sheffield

    Sheesh.  Ask arguably the best of the best motion users to present on what's missing, and then ignore 98% of what was requested.  Go Apple!

  • by Scot Walker,

    Scot Walker Scot Walker Jul 15, 2011 11:45 AM in response to Jim Cookman
    Level 3 (524 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jul 15, 2011 11:45 AM in response to Jim Cookman

    They were probably wanting him to say things like "Facebook integration", "Full screen", "iPad version"

  • by Mr Pi,

    Mr Pi Mr Pi Jul 15, 2011 12:42 PM in response to Jim Cookman
    Level 2 (279 points)
    Jul 15, 2011 12:42 PM in response to Jim Cookman

    Tehe

     

    Scot, you should look on this page to see if it's worth the upgrade:

     

    http://www.apple.com/finalcutpro/motion/

    "What's new" , makes me laugh. All those 'amazing' new features.

     

    If you do get FCPX then it's essential. Otherwise, don't bother. There's nothing new enough to make the difference. Plus, it doesn't work with FCP7 very well.

     

    Pi

  • by Patrick Sheffield,

    Patrick Sheffield Patrick Sheffield Jul 17, 2011 12:02 AM in response to Jim Cookman
    Level 7 (29,175 points)
    Jul 17, 2011 12:02 AM in response to Jim Cookman

    Oh - I forgot - I asked for a better keyer... I said - Even iMovie has DVMattePro...

     

    Looks like they listened and wrote a pretty good keyer. (Let's hope they didn't get the idea for the iMovification of FCP from my iMovie mention ).

     

    As to whether to purchase it?

     

    Elsewhere I wrote this:

     

    Motion 5 appears to be slower than Mo4. If you don't have FCX, there is little reason to upgrade as you won't be able to "round trip" as you can with FCP and Mo4. Also Motion 5 can only open 1 project at a time, you don't get Finder "Quickview", you can't open the Motion projects in Quicktime, certain plugins (that I found useful) are no longer available, you don't have support for external monitoring or digital cinema desktop, and you can't break your user interface up and spread it across multiple monitors.

     

    That said, if you have FCX, then you really should have Motion 5 as it is the effects interface for FCX.

     

    Finally, it really isn't an "upgrade" per se... if you purchase Motion 5, you still have access to Motion 4. However, unless you have Motion 4 already running, FCP's "Send to Motion..." will incorrectly invoke Motion 5.

     

    If you have FCX, then, yes, you should get Mo5. If not and you have Mo4, I wouldn't bother as Publishing and Rigs only work with FCX, not FCP. Also, the filters you lose are Edge Work, Vectorize, and Movement Blur...

  • by Mr Pi,

    Mr Pi Mr Pi Jul 17, 2011 4:32 AM in response to Patrick Sheffield
    Level 2 (279 points)
    Jul 17, 2011 4:32 AM in response to Patrick Sheffield

    Hey Patrick,

    You should have asked for switches on motion blur too, I know I did. That one winds me up.

    Pi

  • by Leslie Bell,

    Leslie Bell Leslie Bell Sep 2, 2014 12:52 PM in response to Patrick Sheffield
    Level 2 (340 points)
    Sep 2, 2014 12:52 PM in response to Patrick Sheffield

    I sure could use 11. Or light-emitting textures/materials. For that matter, backlighting that just works.