What would you like in next version?

Since this forum has been so quiet lately, maybe we can try heating things up a little:
What would you guys like to see in the next version, which luckily could be as close as NAB?
Since dreaming is free, here's my list:

* 3D space, with cameras, lights and some GPU supported volumetric primitives and distortions (bend, twist, wind, etc.)

* 3D particles with 3D particle behaviors! Cinema 4D does that in a very easy to use way.

* Parameter behaviors than can read values from other parameters. For example, the rotation value for this object is the negated scale value of another object. In a word, the power of AE expressions with Motion's ease and idiosincracy.

* Simple motion tracking. Just good enough for motion graphics use.

* Simple rotoscoping/animated paint tools.

* A software renderer that kicks in when you are doing something that's beyond the power of your graphics card (or when CPU rendering would be faster than GPU rendering).

* Text tool path options can use existing shapes/masks, instead of only using specific text paths.

* Animated strokes for shapes. Amazing they forgot this one, isn't it?

* Per object Motion Blur. Let's even make it better than AE's. You not only can turn it on or off for each object, but you can also specify a different intensity for each object if you want (taken from Cinema 4D, I'm not THAT creative!)

What do you think?



Adolfo Rozenfeld
Buenos Aires - Argentina
www.adolforozenfeld.com

I'm with you on expressions

Peter

Great list, Adolfo - I would add:
RAM previews that actually play in realtime
Mark

Absolutely, Mark!



Adolfo Rozenfeld
Buenos Aires - Argentina
www.adolforozenfeld.com

Yes, great list. I think the move to 3D space with cool lighting and virtual camera bells and whistles is pretty much what everyone wants/expects to happen. And yes, for sure some paint functionality on transparent layers would be excellent.

Whatever. Imho the developers have done a great job so far. As long as Motion always retains its very intuitive ease of use and without getting too tweaky, twirly, twitchy, fumbly like AE, I'm more than satisfied.

Clay

The other thing I'd love is a really good color correction filter, ala Color Finesse, because you can't send color corrected clips from FCP to Motion.

"Whatever. Imho the developers have done a great job so far. As long as Motion always retains its very intuitive ease of use and without getting too tweaky, twirly, twitchy, fumbly like AE, I'm more than satisfied"

Well, Clay, it's an interesting subject and I'm glad you brought it.
I agree they did a great job so far.
But... if Motion wants to be a tool for motion graphics professionals too (and not only a tool for people with motion graphics needs), my opinion is that you will want in-depth control over things. And that means introducing some degree of complexity. One way of doing it would be providing two levels of complexity for certain tools, where advanced users can open the more profound options when they need them. Actually, Motion works like that today for many things and it succeeds at "hiding" that complexity for users who don't want it.

One thing is the genius of making hard things simple (like Motion does many times) and other things is: they are simple because they don't provide too many options (which also happens in Motion, at least compared with AE or Combustion). I believe the success of AE is related to the feeling of depth and unlimited power it provides to its' users. I really like that feeling. But probably I'm not representative of the average user: i am using Motion and AE all the time, and I couldn't imagine giving up one of them.



Adolfo Rozenfeld
Buenos Aires - Argentina
www.adolforozenfeld.com

Oh yeah, don't want to give the wrong impression, I'm a big AE fan too, but from an editor's point of view, I just don't have the time to keep pace with it much less get into all the intricacies. I use it mostly for more complex titling, wire removal, a bit of painting and retouching, artifact removal, that kind of thing. Very low end in AE terms, I'm afraid.

Motion on the other hand, as you point out, keeps things simple without too steep a learning curve. In today's mulit-functional environment most editors have to acquire at least some proficiency in graphics design. Motion has made that transition much more accessible. And editors who got into Motion at the beginning are in an excellent position to grow along with it. Assuming that the upgrade options are more or less unlimited, the decision for the developers to make is how many new features to add at what pace so as not to lose the inherent ease of use, and at the same time bring the app to new levels.

Maybe there will be an FCP Express / FCP Studio kind of split. Something like Motion 2D included with FCP Express or iLife, and Motion 3D Pro within Stuido.

And yes, most definetly a proper color correction tool plus the ability to use plugins like DFT55mm. I could lose most of the cc filters presently included if given something like color finesse or 3-way and with a proper cc interface.

Clay

There are still lots of bugs in Motion. Just yesterday, I used the keyframe editor to ramp down my music. Then I needed to export as a QT movies. The ramp down didn't export - the music just got chopped off when it should've ramped down. I was able to confirm with a buddy that this is an existing bug.

How bout a feature of just fixing 50% of the existing bugs!

CHL

Alot more Templates:



Lloyd Adair

Is the primary use of expressions for Parameter Linking? Or are you asking to type in whatever expression you feel like?

And Lloyd, do you want full completed templates or just more presets like particles, text behaviors etc..

thanks

dion

Yes, expressions so I can link layers etc but with maths so X in one layer could be -0.5X in another for example.

I'm working on some templates!!!

Peter

ps Nice to know you are reading!

Mighty Mouse scrolling timeline like FCP

Peter

Hey, Dion! Great to see you here.

"Is the primary use of expressions for Parameter Linking? Or are you asking to type in whatever expression you feel like?"

Ideally, it would be great if you could have both. Withmath operations like Peter said (completely agree), but also the with ability to apply parameter behaviors to the sampled values. For example, take position from another property's (or another object's) value and then apply a negate or a wriggle parameter behavior/expression! That would be super cool!.

Also, since asking is free, it could be great too having a range mapping option, the ability to adapt the useful range from one property to the useful range of another (as rotation goes from 0 to 360, map it to opacity's 0 to 100 range). Finally, as far as expressions go, the ability to make the audio information drive visual parameters (like Trapcode's Sound Keys) would be really at home in Motion, wouldn't it?

All the best!



Adolfo Rozenfeld
Buenos Aires - Argentina
www.adolforozenfeld.com

I would vote for an 'audio to parameter' option that sync'd various aspects of an audio clip (volume, frequency) with a parameter of a behaviour, in a similar way to the current MIDI implementation.

...or does Motion do this already and I just missed it?

:-)

Dave

Maybe im missing this somewhere but a Paste Attributes feature(ala FCP) would be nice. Although i might just be missing it.

Example, im using replicator to make a line of footprints, i made the left and i want the right to be exactly the same but i can;t replace the footage of a copied replicator using the right version of the footprint. The replace media feature won;t work for the replicator and i can't change the source media in the inspector.

I'd like to make a particle or replicator settings copy/paste-able like with FCP clips...

As well as the 3d/camera/etc features listed above...

You should be able to replace the source object that the replicator used - first add the new object to the layers tab, then drag it over the original source object until you get the hooked arrow and release. Do this to a copy of the replicator to leave the original intact.
Mark

Absolute first for me would be Footage Interpretation, like AE, so I could work with footage originated on film as well as video. It bothers me that Apple thinks motion should be a simple DVD menu design tool (based on the templates included with the software). 3D work space, but I'm sure this is coming. And I don't know if Apple would do this, as it might cut into some Shake sales, but I'd like to see some node based compositing.

It could be worth noting that everyone in this thread voted 3D with cameras as a wanted feature. No excepctions. The second one seems expressions, or some sort of capability to link parameters and perform simple math operations between them. Particularly, the ability to use audio information to drive animation was named several times. Houston? I mean, Cupertino?



Adolfo Rozenfeld
Buenos Aires - Argentina
www.adolforozenfeld.com