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Is anyone using Motion?
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[Bret Williams] “I don’t really know a lot of people using it. But if not, who are all these companies dedicated to Motion/FCP X selling to? Ripple, MotionVFX, Pixel Film Studios, and countless others seem to be doing pretty well for themselves.”
They’re selling to FCP X users, not Motion users. Motion is a necessary wrapper for FCP X plug-ins but there is barely any market at all for Motion specific plug-ins … as far as I know.
Simon Ubsdell
tokyo-uk.com -
Maybe not plugins, with the exceptions of mObject, but Ripple is selling huge training courses in Motion and MoitonVFX is completely Motion templates now, with plugins that work for both. You really can’t use a template right in FCP X without making some changes in motion or just using it in motion.
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[Bret Williams] “Maybe not plugins, with the exceptions of mObject”
mObject is a plug-in for FCP X that you can also use in Motion, but I bet that they sell 1000 units to FCP X-only customers to every one that they sell to someone who will only use it in Motion.
[Bret Williams] “Ripple is selling huge training courses in Motion”
Fair enough, Mark Spencer must feel there’s enough of a market there.
[Bret Williams] “MoitonVFX is completely Motion templates now, with plugins that work for both.”
Again, I would guess that their market is massively more FCP X than Motion exclusive.
[Bret Williams] “You really can’t use a template right in FCP X without making some changes in motion or just using it in motion.”
You’re a relatively rare Motion power user, I think.
Simon Ubsdell
tokyo-uk.com -
I use it quite a bit and really like it.
I remember when X came out and the reviews on Apples site where pretty bad. I looked up the reviews on the new Motion and they were really good. I found that curious.
I don’t really hand anything off to anybody who would start making changes to my motion project.
I’m either the editor or someone else is.
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I think it’s a progression Oliver.
At $50 apiece, Motion and Compressor are often seen as simple “add on” products to X. But I was surprised and I think Mark Spencer was as well!) at the first Creative Summit when the number of people in the Motion sessions was as much or more than those in the general sessions.
It’s not the same as the market for AE. But that’s been growing for 20 years+.
And if you’re deeply into motion graphics, the weight of that history will be hard to ignore. I think Motion will always attract X editors who don’t want to mess with AE, rather than Motion Graphics Pros who are looking for something better/different.
On Richard Taylors Radio Show today, there was some talk about how there’s now likely 3million plus X editors working out there. Each able to add Motion for a click- even if they don’t use it rigouously. That’s plenty of market for Motion templates, enhancements, plug-ins etc world wide.
Be interesting to see how many DEDICATED AE jockeys there are out there. Not just people who use it because they use the CC suite. And is that vertical big enough to service separately – or ONLY as a suite offering? We’ll probably never know.
FWIW
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[Bill Davis] “On Richard Taylors Radio Show today, there was some talk about how there’s now likely 3million plus X editors working out there. Each able to add Motion for a click- even if they don’t use it rigouously. That’s plenty of market for Motion templates, enhancements, plug-ins etc world wide. “
I’m curious about that number, because Apple hasn’t even officially acknowledged 2 million FCPX owners yet. They announced 1 million separate installs in their 2014 news, but it’s been silence since then AFAIK. I do agree it’s possible, but I haven’t actually seen anything official. Nor have I personally encountered a growth in users around the professional community. I see about the same users as has been the case for a few years now. However, I have seen visible shifts to Adobe from other platforms in that same time frame.
– Oliver
Oliver Peters Post Production Services, LLC
Orlando, FL
http://www.oliverpeters.com -
I used it pretty heavily for probably 5 years or so exclusively for motion graphics, but eventually I reached the point where it lacked the capability to do what I wanted and needed, and so I sort of made a cold turkey switch over to Ae. I really liked Motion, and hoped it would turn into a major Ae competitor, but I eventually realized it was probably going to be more of an effects generator for FCPX and so I never looked back. After using Ae for the past 5 years, it would be almost impossible to go back, as there are workflow and functionality aspects for me that Motion either couldn’t accommodate or would make harder to pull off. I’d love to see it developed more, but I don’t think that’s what Apple has in mind for it.
At any rate, I only know of a couple people in my circles that use Motion for motion graphics creation, and a lot of that is modifying pre-existing templates. I know that when I was using it I always got odd looks and people were surprised that I was able to make what I was making with it, which is hopefully a compliment to it.
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Talking of numbers, I thought I’d have at look at the stats for my YouTube channel (which consists almost exclusively of Motion tutorials) which now has over 10,000 subscribers.
Obviously in terms of the installed user base for Motion that’s going to be a tiny sample and to some extent self-selecting (and skewed towards those who can understand English to a sufficient level) so I’m not suggesting these figures are in any way scientific.
Anyway, here are the topline figures.
The top 10 locations in order are US, Germany, UK, France, Japan, Canada, Italy, India, Netherlands and South Korea. (Interesting that Germany is in second place despite the language issue.)
The US represents only 33% of the total which is perhaps surprising.
The demographic is consistently around 90% male.
The age ranges differ considerably between different territories, but in the US they break down as follows:
13-17 -5.8%
18-24 – 14%
25-34 – 27%
35-44 – 25%
45-54 – 18%
55-64 – 6.4%
65+ = 3.8%The US has easily the highest proportion of under 18 year olds and, speaking anecdotally, many of these seem to have mastered Motion to a surprisingly high level.
25-34 seems to be the peak age group across most territories – this group is perhaps the likeliest to be using Motion in a work situation, though I would say again anecdotally that at least half of the adult users of Motion that I have come across on the channel are not video professionals and the number may well be a lot higher.
One of the most frequent comments is to express surprise at discovering what Motion can actually do. (Jason echoes this lower down this thread.) It would seem that Motion suffers from a perception problem generally and Apple don’t seem to want to do much to correct this inasmuch as they market it exclusively as an adjunct to FCP X.
One other thing that I’d note is that of those 10,000+ subscribers only one that I know of is a regular here on the COW – not quite sure what that means but it may mean something.
Simon Ubsdell
tokyo-uk.com -
I am a long time Motion fan. I used it to re-create broadcast templates originally created in AE so that promo editors didn’t have to book in time with designers in the Promo departments of Channel [V] and Disney Channel in Australia. At the time we were using FCP Studio.
I understand that AE is far more capable from a certain point onwards but Motion is far more accessible, better value and a sheer pleasure to use right up to that point where they veer off into their respective strengths.
The thing is that so many people would be better off using Motion given what they actually use AE for. They under-estimate Motion’s capabilities and over-estimate their need for AE’s high end strengths. The result is this phenomenon of “Oh wow! I didn’t know Motion could do that…” which is a combination of Motion’s surprising power and their own over-estimation of what their own needs actually are. It’s this whole “Industry standard” thing. I wonder how relevant it will remain the more things fragment?
Maybe instead of a “Professional vs Non-professional” paradigm we now have a “Specialised Professional vs Non-specialised Professional vs Non-professional”
For the Non-specialised Professional Motion is a powerful, affordable and effective motion GFX tool. I know that use it daily – and I know that I’m no specialist and I don’t want to be. And there’s probably a lot of non-specialised professionals out there just like myself. I imagine that trend is only going to continue.
The twist I think is how Motion works with FCPX as a Plugin and effects tool. There’s nothing quite like it. In that sense it’s even more advanced and than AE is to Premiere.
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[Doug Suiter] “The thing is that so many people would be better off using Motion given what they actually use AE for. They under-estimate Motion’s capabilities and over-estimate their need for AE’s high end strengths. The result is this phenomenon of “Oh wow! I didn’t know Motion could do that…” which is a combination of Motion’s surprising power and their own over-estimation of what their own needs actually are.”
Although I hesitate to prejudge the complexity of other people’s workflows, my feeling is that this is very probably right on the money.
However, I have to reiterate that Apple really, really don’t help the perception of Motion. Here’s the headline text on the product page:
“An interface designed especially for editors. Smart templates for making changes on the fly during editing. And easy-to-use motion graphics tools for creating eye-catching titles, transitions and effects. Motion is the perfect companion to Final Cut Pro.”
Note the emphasis on this being a tool for editors – not motion graphics artists.
Note that it is a companion to Final Cut Pro – not a product in its own right.
Note that its only suggested uses are for titles, transitions and effects. (Amazing!)
Talk about limiting your market!
If the company selling the product are happy to belittle it to this degree, it’s small wonder that it’s not taken as seriously as it might be.
Simon Ubsdell
tokyo-uk.com
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