… for Apple Motion

Tip #1305: Groups Do More Than Organize

Larry Jordan – LarryJordan.com

Use Groups to animate or modify multiple elements at once.

A group, in Apple Motion, is a folder that holds elements, behaviors and filters. But a Group does more than simply hold stuff.

Every Motion project requires at least one group, where we store all the elements in a project. At a minimum, we can use one, or more, groups to store and organize our elements. For example, I often organize groups as:

• Text
• Foreground
• Mid-ground
• Background

NOTE: The stacking order of groups makes a difference. Foreground is on top, background is on the bottom.

But, what makes groups much more than simple organizational tools is that we can apply behaviors and effects to a group. These settings then affect all the elements contained in that group. This is a great way to animate multiple elements at once.

EXTRA CREDIT

Select a group, then go to Inspector > Properties to change Transform, Blending or Drop Shadow settings, the same as if we were adjusting an individual element.