[Andy Neil]

Well, it sounds as if you’re having some problems with the program aside from just an issue with the spin behavior.

The simple answer is that there is a button in the HUD that will switch the behavior from 2D to 3D.

As far as it scaling the layer out of control…that sounds like some other problem.

Andy

https://www.timesavertutorials.com

[Andy Neil]

Motion is codec agnostic. In other words, it doesn’t care about the codec until it comes time to export the project. What you do, is match the particular frame size you need, and then export out in pro res. If you’re working in HD, I suggest the Broadcast HD presets for 720 or 1080.

Andy

https://www.timesavertutorials.com

[Andy Neil]

Though I’m sure it’s no consolation, in the future you can adjust the timing of one drop zone and then duplicate it for all your other drop zones and it keeps the loop setting.

No help now, I know…

Andy

https://www.timesavertutorials.com

[Andy Neil]

Rotoscoping can be done in Motion. It’s essentially the same technique you use in photoshop. Take the bezier mask tool (OPT+B) and click around the hand to mask it out. Then, turn on the record keyframes button and advance to the next frame in your video, and move the keyframes so that the hand stays masked out.

It’s more involved than I’m making it sound, but hopefully you’ll get the idea.

Andy

https://www.timesavertutorials.com

[Andy Neil]

I’m not familiar with the specific effect you’re talking about, but you can place a bunch of images in a 3D circle by clever use of the replicator. The images themselves remain 2D, but they can be placed in 3D space.

Of course if you need them to orbit another object, then you’ll need to do it with an even more clever use of the particle emitter which can arrange objects in global 3D. Something alas, that the replicator cannot do.

Andy

https://www.timesavertutorials.com

[Andy Neil]

Also, I would return that keyer you bought if it’s not better than FCP’s. There is a cheap keyer that works really well called DV Matte Pro. Don’t let the “DV” throw you, it works great with HD video too. It’s just that it was designed for keying poor quality DV footage.

It costs less than what you paid, and best of all, works in BOTH Motion AND FCP.

Now, if you apply it in FCP, it still won’t travel to Motion if you send the clip, but at least if you know you’ll be in Motion for this clip, you can key it exactly the same in Motion as you can in FCP.

Andy

I’m not associated with DV Matte Pro. I just hate the standard Motion keyer and found that this works much better for not much extra.

https://www.timesavertutorials.com

[Andy Neil]

Welcome to the wonderful world of rotoscoping. You need to animate a mask over his hand each time it crosses over the screen. Still tedious, but compared to Photoshop, you can at least let Motion help you with the inbetween animations.

Still probably take a while.

Andy

https://www.timesavertutorials.com

[Andy Neil]

What happens if you slow down the move? Sometimes if the movement in frame is an odd factor of the frame rate of the project, it doesn’t play well.

I might also add a very slight motion blur. 16 samples and a shutter of 90 or less.

Andy

https://www.timesavertutorials.com

[Andy Neil]

There’s kind of a cheaty way to do it. Create your two shapes. Make them the exact same color. Scale the second one down so it’s completely obscured by the first one. Then keyframe the scale of the 2nd one so that it obscures the first one. If you time it well, you can also animate the 1st shape to shrink as the boundries of the 2nd shape start to appear.

Hope that makes sense.

Andy

https://www.timesavertutorials.com

[Andy Neil]

There are plenty.

Maya
Cinema 4D
Poser
Lightwave
3D Studio Max
Blender

Those are just the ones I know off the top of my head.

Andy

https://www.timesavertutorials.com