What's the best way to get started using motion?

I've used basic motion out of FCP 5 and I've started reading the manual, but I'm a bit intimidated by the new interface. What's the best way to start using motion?

I'm primarily interested in bringing in a trailer and creating an opening and closing title section.

Shall I bring the trailer in with all its clips intact or shall I bring it in as a one piece QT movie clip?

Since Motion is a compositing tool, like After Effects, you start with some pieces that you want to bring together.

You may choose to use a clip off the Final Cut Pro timeline or just import that same clip in Motion. Titling can be done effectively in Motion or use Live Type and import the title into Motion.

Like I said, it's a compositing tool. It will do what you tell it to.

:-)

With Motion & LiveType 2 you should place In & Outs on the individual portions of the timeline that you want to add titles or graphic effects to & work on these segments separately.

Dave

Okay, so I can export QT movie with the ins and outs from FCP timeline and then open them up in Motion.

I've been trying to learn via the manual. When I drag a scene from the hard drive, Motion allows me to position it in the viewer but the scene is a short interval of the whole scene. How do I increase the capacity of Motion to allow the full scene to be placed in the viewer.

Also, as I'm adding scenes to the viewer, the images keep stacking up over each other and playing in turns, with the sound overlapping. I need to figure out how to do overlays and skrims, etc. Any tips will be appreciated.

I think you'd be well served to get a book and/or dvd on Motion to get up to speed on these basics - full list of resources at applemotion.net. The DMTS series i n particular is very good and covers Motion 2 features.
Mark

""How do I increase the capacity of Motion to allow the full scene to be placed in the viewer.""

When Motion starts, it asks you for the size of the project in Frames. Since compositing tools are supposed to be small in frame sizes, this is the default.

Compositing is not for bringing in 1 hour clips. Not that it can't be done, but a compositor is not for that. It is for focusing on a small segment of a larger project, by adding additional footage over existing footage.

I hope that makes sense to you. It a workflow issue and understand that a NonLinear Editor is generally not a compositing tool, however the makeup of Final Cut Pro is such that it can be used as a compositing tool. Utilizing the right tool for the job ususally cause it all to come out better.

Thanks, John. So I need to set the size of the project in frames. For example I want to add an opening title to my trailer and, therefore, the project should include the entire first scene. I'm assuming this is right. Then when I'm finished creating the title as a super over the shot, for example, I can export the Motion project as a clip for insertion into my trailer. Is this the way it's done?

And is it a good idea to create the whole trailer in Motion by importing all the scenes of the trailer into a Motion project?

As mentioned in my last post, it is BEST not to include a whole clip in the project because of the real time playback and RAM necessary to accomplish it. If you choose to open up a 2 minute clip, just be prepared to take a "hit" on playout capabilities. Either click to select a clip on the FCP timeline and "send to Motion" or set In-Out points on the timeline and "send to Motion"

Apple suggest the workflow of doing the editing in Final Cut Pro and the compositing in either Motion or Shake(if it requires film output). You would still bring it all back into FCP to finish it.

Available in the lafcpug store

[www.lafcpug.org]

Thanks, Mike, I'm checking it out.

John, that's really important. I'm glad you told me. So compositing should be done in Motion -- WOW! I bet there's more control and better results. I must learn motion then.

Thanks for the tip about using in's and out's for export to motion also, Dave. I was only using in's and out's for making QT movies.

I too put off learning motion. Then, one day a client called and we had a meeting. I thought to myself....self you can do this in FCP and spend hours with keyframes. In fact, I did a demo in FCP for the client. Then I decided to try Motion on the second go-round. It took a few tries and changing the way I thought about keyframes and letting go of being way too anal about a few things... I've come to enjoy using Motion. I'm not an expert yet, but I do know it is worth learning. I was able to knock out a composite of about 50 items in a 2 second sequence in a day and a half with lots of particles, movement and cool timing. I'm seriously looking forward to my next Motion project. Just devote time. Eddie Merycx of Tour de France fame was once asked what he did to train for the tour. He simply said, I ride lots. Sit down with Motion and do the same.