Basic Editing in Motion
By Estelle MacDonald
Did you know you can use Motion as a basic non-linear editor? In this QuickTip, I’ll quickly run down the various editing modes and how they affect your objects in the Motion timeline.
Composite (Superimpose)
1. Open your Timing Pane, (F6) and select the Timeline or go to the timeline tracks directly (command+7).
2. Drag your object from the File Browser (command+1), Library (command+2), or Media tab (command+5) into the Timeline directly over the tracks. Don’t release your mouse because as you drag, the pointer will show you a tooltip showing the current frame number.
3. A dropdown menu will appear. Choose Composite.
Below is a screen shot of the timeline before the Composite mode is applied.
Below is a screen shot of the timeline after the Composite mode is applied.
Composite places the object in the foreground and over any other objects.
Note: If you don't hold the mouse down, then Motion will default to Composite
Insert Edits
To perform an insert edit, follow steps 1 and 2 above, only this time, choose Insert from the drop down menu.
Below is a screen shot of the timeline before the Insert edit is applied.
Below is a screen shot of the timeline after the Insert edit is applied.
Everything from the insertion point has been pushed further down the timeline.
Overwrite Edits
To perform an Overwrite edit, follow steps 1 and 2 above, only this time, choose Overwrite from the drop down menu.
Below is a screen shot of the timeline before the Overwrite edit is applied.
Below is a screen shot of the timeline after the Overwrite edit is applied.
The new object replaces the original object. In the above example the old objects contained within the Text layer (before) were overwritten by the new MVI object (after).
