… for Apple Motion

Tip #1840: Don’t Accept the Defaults

Larry Jordan – LarryJordan.com

Replicators can create fascinating effects, once you change the default settings.

One of the less understood effects in Motion are Replicators. These create animated patterns over time. The problem is that when you look at them, they are pretty ugly. That’s because the default settings are set to: “Bland.”

Here’s an example.

• Go to Library > Replicators and drag Arcs 3 into the Viewer.
• Twirl down the main Group.
• Twirl down the Arcs 3 group.
• Select the Arcs element.
• Go to Inspector > Properties and change Color to Over Pattern.
• Click the small rectangles icon (red arrow in screen shot) to reveal a menu and choose any color pattern. My pattern was Burnt Ember.
• Select the group containing the replicator and apply Filters > Blur > Soft Focus

You just created a nice animated background for text or video inserts.

EXTRA CREDIT

For extra interest:

• Rotate the group containing the replicator.
• Enlarge the group containing the replicator so it fills more of the frame
• Experiment with other blurs.