DMTS Review - Inside Motion 2

When Apple released Motion last year the immediate reaction was "It's not After Effects". Well, they were right, it's not but to under value it's use would be to under sell it. With Motion 2 now available we can see the motion graphics application getting stronger. DMTS' Inside Motion 2 can teach you how to get the most out of this deceptively simplistic application.

I've been a big fan of Motion since it came out and welcome the new additions to the upgrade. With this DMTS tutorial you get a play by play as are taken through an actual project to see the functionality of some of the new features. Back to After Effects for a moment. A new feature in Motion 2 is the integration with the industry standard motion graphics application. You can now easily "round trip", jump from application to application while updating your project, with After Effects like you can do with the other members of the Apple video family. Another addition to how Motion 2 has brought it's A game with this integration is it's ability to use 16 and 32-bit color space when working with motion graphics. This will come in very handy when it deals with broadcast quality content including the use of more robust material such as HD.

The DVD includes a great tutorial on the use of Replicators. If you have worked with Motion before you know what Particle Emitters are. They are basically pre-built generators of particle objects known as cells to create customizable backgrounds and animated objects. Replicators would be considered the cousin of the Particle Emitter. You can take any object and replicate it to do anything you want. They are just as customizable and also come pre-built.

The filters and generators that have been added in this new version are really exciting. You can see where Apple is going with this. They are trying to advance what seems like a simple program to the next level. The 3D Illusion and Extract filters are where you see this jump happen. Even though this filter is not true 3D it is a great tool to add to your palette. The Extract filter extends this simulated 3D effect by taking an object and extracting it to give it the illusion that it's being pulled right out of it's background.

Motion 2 can be utilized to create motion graphics for quick turnaround projects. If you want to put the time in you can really push the limits of this application and come up with some interesting results. This is why I find these training DVD's such a good place to start. Sure, you can find things and explore which you should do anyway but you will get so much more out of your application if you master the ins and outs from the get go and here is a good place to start. I would suggest if you don't have any prior experience with Motion to check out the full set not just the update to familiarize yourself with the interface