New but hey – this software needs some tweaks

[Chris Gormlie]

I’ve never thought of motion as an alternative or replacement to AE. I use both frequently and both excel in their own way.

Motion is integrated into FCP in a way that AE cannot. As a tool it is perfect for templates/dropzones and using right in the FCP timeline. It is also the tool I will jump into for quick and simple motion graphics. It’s replicator function for example is much more manageable than AE’s options.

I will use AE for the more complex jobs especially anything that dictates a lot of pre-comping or close-contact with 3DS or C4D. I also prefer it for composting work.

I’ve not encountered many crashing issues with Motion, certainly not to the extent to which you seem to be suffering.

As I say, in my opinion they are not tools to be seen as alternatives, but complimentary to each other.

[David Bogie]

John,

You will never hear from Apple.
Crashing in Motion can be traced to several things and you have provided no information that might help us debug that with you.

Open the manual, do the tutorials, look all over the Net for Motion help sites and advanced tutorials, and search for “comparing After Effects and Motion.” It’s a popular (and largely pointless) discussion topic because Motion will never replace After Effects any more than Xcel will ever replace Word.

If you use FCP, you will want to become fluent with Motion for certain things. But if you enjoy using After Effects, you may never learn to like Motion. I certainly don’t and I’ve been trying to get some love for Motion for many years.

bogiesan

[Stephen Smith]

[John] Motion only supports one composition per project?

Motion treats a group like AE does pre-comp. You can ad lots of groups to a project.

Lone Peak Productions

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[John Mitchell]

Not sure about groups – that really does come down to not knowing the software well enough. Still I can’t understand the lack of support for multiple timelines – just seems basic to me. I was trying to do something simple which was the same project with a different text element in each one (35 of them). Because it was based on an 30fps HD template and my final output was 4×3 cropped PAL I ended up saving the project each time with the different text element, renaming them as .movs and bringing them into AE to render.
I’m interested in what approach others might have taken to the above job remembering the final target is Avid and not FCP.

The only crash I got yesterday was accessing the help file (which incidentally is so basic as to be almost useless. For example I tried to search for frame rate and fps and got nothing!) and I got another one when I opened one of my templates – I think I might have a couple of projects open at the same time and not realised it. Anyway the screen went white in the viewer area and the program crashed.

Previously when modifying a template I got lots of crashes – couldn’t tell you now what I was specifically doing at the time, sorry.

BTW I never imagined Motion as a replacement for AE, same as I never see BorisRED as a replacement for AE, just programs to help. But IMO Motion lacks some basic functionality like changing frame rates on projects, and supporting multiple timelines. Motion has some nice templates too – not too cheesy 🙂

[Arnie Schlissel]

[John Mitchell] “Still I can’t understand the lack of support for multiple timelines – just seems basic to me.”

You can open multiple Motion projects, each it’s own timeline. You can copy & paste between the projects (try that in AE!).

[John Mitchell] “Not sure about groups – that really does come down to not knowing the software well enough.”

Lean about groups, or you will never be able to do anything interesting in Motion. If you understand precomposing in AE, you will understand groups. Motion’s grouping is much more elegant, refined, straightforward & powerful than AE’s precomposing.

Arnie
Post production is not an afterthought!
https://www.arniepix.com/

[John Mitchell]

Thanks Arnie – kinda misses the point though. If you try opening 30 projects in Motion see what happens. Then try to track which one your in and copying and pasting. Then try adding everything to one render queue with the same setttings.

I had to redo all my AE stuff that I did yesterday because it was corrupted (not sure why, there were weird things going on like yellow frames). So I bit the bullet and put the thrity odd motion projects into compressor to render them all out in HD and convert them to 4×3 cropped SD later in AE.

What a nightmare – Apart from being unbelievabley slow to work with (click and wait…..)Compressor must have crashed a dozen times (including those weird yellow half frames at times), when trying to add settings to multiple files. So I started adding one by one and saving – first settings then destinations. After another couple of crashes I at least got it programmed and rendering.

Can’t say I have a lot of love for Apple at the moment..

[Noah Kadner]

So why not just stick with AE? If you do good work with a tool, no one is going to force you to try another. Anyone who knows both AE and Motion will tell you neither is the other and you can easily make your way using a combination of the two or just one depending on what is is you’re doing.

Noah

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[Walter Biscardi]

[Noah Kadner] “So why not just stick with AE? If you do good work with a tool, no one is going to force you to try another. Anyone who knows both AE and Motion will tell you neither is the other and you can easily make your way using a combination of the two or just one depending on what is is you’re doing.”

This is precisely what we do here. I’ve been using After Effects since it was CoSA and Motion is a great complement to AE. Certainly does not replace it, nor is it fully designed to replace it. Shake would be the AE replacement.

I tend to do a lot of titles, particles and quick motion type stuff in Motion and the more complex stuff in AE.

Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Editor, Colorist, Director, Writer, Consultant, Author.
Credits include multiple Emmy, Telly, Aurora and Peabody Awards.
Biscardi Creative Media

Creative Cow Forum Host:
Apple Final Cut Pro, Apple Motion, Apple Color, AJA Kona, Business & Marketing, Maxx Digital.

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[John Mitchell]

Noah “So why not just stick with AE? If you do good work with a tool, no one is going to force you to try another. Anyone who knows both AE and Motion will tell you neither is the other and you can easily make your way using a combination of the two or just one depending on what is is you’re doing.”

Noah – I never said they were the same program. I’m forced to use Motion as this job was started in another studio and the templates must match.

Even if I wasn’t I don’t dislike what Motion does and I can appreciate it has a place within my workflow. I’m looking for constructive suggestions on how to improve my workflow. I had 30 odd templated graphics to do that began life in the wrong format (16×9 HD) and wrong frame rate. My question was why can’t I change these things easily in Motion and how do others address shortcomings like the need to render out multiple individual timelines. Some people have said investigate groups and I’ll definitely do that, I don’t need to be spoon fed all the way.

However I don’t think suggesting that I abandon a program because I know AE is very constructive. I’m sure my first trips into AE were similarly daunting.

[John Mitchell]

Walter – that would be exactly my plan.