Apple Motion 4 - Manual (Page 236)

The image is scaled—the equivalent of using the Transform tool to scale down the
image in the Canvas while pressing Shift. To observe that the image is merely
transformed and has not changed resolution, select the image file in the Media tab of
the Project pane, and then open the Media tab in the Inspector. The Fixed Width and
Fixed Height parameters display the resolution of the original file.
The image is scaled to fit the largest X or Y value of the image to that of the Canvas.
• Down-Res to Canvas Size: This setting changes the resolution of the imported image
so that the image fits the project size while maintaining its aspect ratio.
Note: The Down-Res to Canvas Size option is the best choice for optimizing your process
time. When you use Scale to Canvas Size, Motion must calculate the scale at each frame.
In the following example, a 757 x 1140 JPEG image is imported into an NTSC Broadcast
SD project with Down-Res to Canvas Size selected in Preferences.
236 Chapter 6 Creating and Managing Projects