Motion Mangler

I'm working on my first project for Motion - Motion Mangler. It's top secret - not telling you what it does yet, but it looks like it's going to be cool if you have to churn out Motion animation in a broadcast environment.

Hopefully I'll have something to show in a few days, but the fact that .motn files are xml based means that we can do some really funky stuff.

Graeme

Fantastic, Graeme!
Let us know how it goes, and if you need any help testing it...
All the best!

I just figured out yesterday that what I wanted to do was possible. Motion Mangler is a special request, that I'll turn into a commercial product as soon as it's tested in the field, so to speak, and we know is useful. I reckon if you're working in a broadcast environment, it could be fantastic...

Graeme

If only I knew what Mangler means, I would have a suspicion of what it will do!

A Mangle was an old device for drying laundry by pressing out the water between heavy rollers.

In this case, the world mangle refers to mixing something up - warp and stretch etc. but not with images, but instead with the XML based .motn files, to do something useful for people who have to churn out lots of them.....

Graeme

Thanks for the explanation, Graeme.

We here in America define mangle as to ruin or spoil through ineptitude or ignorance: "That person really knows how to mangle code."

:-)

mike

Yes, and I'm going to Mangle Motion XML files like you've never seen before....

However, you'll not get spoiled results, but new Motion Files based upon the master file and the Excell / data file you provide....

Graeme

That's right your hand could get seriously spoiled (mangled) if you didn't let go of the clothes before it reached the rollers. We all witnessed perfectly good audio & video files mangled by folks who didn't realise the appropriate time to let go.

Dave

The plan is to automate the use of Motion animation as templates where you need to be able to change the animated text for each and every animation easily. The currently working alpha takes in a master Motion .motn file, and a tab delimited text file that contains the name of the text field and the new text that has to go into it. This document could be easily created from a database or spreadsheet. On running the Motion Mangler, it will generate multiple new motion files, each with the data from one of the records in the text document. I can see how this would save hours in a busy news graphics department. Motion Mangler is a command line app as well as a full cocoa GUI, so if you're into broadcast automation, you'd be able to use scripting to mangle files.

Next to be done is to finish the GUI so that it will generate a tab delimited file prototype for you, ready to edit in a text editor, or view and edit with a simple built in editor.

Graeme - www.nattress.com - Motion Mangler - coming soon!

Sounds good !

[www.creativecow.net]

I'm looking for anyone who is, or wants to, use Motion in a news environment so that I can see about importing files to generate the Motion animations from your template. Any takers??

Graeme

man·gle1     P   Pronunciation Key  (mnggl)
tr.v. man·gled, man·gling, man·gles

1. To mutilate or disfigure by battering, hacking, cutting, or tearing. See Synonyms at batter1.

2. To ruin or spoil through ineptitude or ignorance: mangle a speech

"Mangler" may be an inappropriate name for what you are using it for according to these definitions...what do you think?

- Joe

To put it simply, it hacks Motion files, which makes the defn fit in my books, and it's funny. Just like hacking has a special computer meaning, I don't see any reason why I can't use the word Mangle in such a computer sense for a program that search and replaces and changes text in the Motion file.

If anyone is at IBC, go to the Apple booth and ask Peter Wiggins if he's show you the alpha version he has, and what it can do.

Graeme

Graeme,

Your the Developer...I just make pretty pictures for a living. You can name it "Motion Lotion" for all I care...as long as it works and it's affordable

- Joe

At least I don't intend to get into "Make your Motion wokflow smooth with new - Syrup of Figs - for Motion."

But Motion Lotion is hilarious!!!

As for working.... It's beginning to... Just got to sort out some memory allocation issues in cocoa, and then I can finish off the GUI.

Graeme