Apple Motion 2 - Manual (Page 144)

144 Chapter 2 Creating and Managing Projects
The General Tab
The General tab allows you to define the most essential properties of the project you’re
creating. By choosing different parameters, you can accommodate nearly any video or
film format you need to output to. These properties are the default settings used when
you export your project to create the final output file.
Preset: The Preset pop-up menu appears at the top of the General tab. You can choose
an existing preset to base your new preset on, changing any necessary parameters to
better suit your needs.
Width and Height: Define both the size of the Canvas and the default output
resolution of your project. Frame size is usually defined by the video format you plan
on outputting to. For example, NTSC DV format video is 720 x 480, whereas PAL DV
format video has a frame size of 720 x 576.
Bit Depth: Sets the bit depth of the project to one of the following:
• 8-Bit (Integer)
• 16-Bit Float
• 32-Bit Float
Note: When working in float space, you can quickly change the preview in the Canvas
to 8 bit to speed your workflow, by turning off Preview Float Bit Depth in the View pop-
up menu. The View pop-up menu is located in the upper-right corner of the Canvas
(below the Timing icon). This setting does not modify the actual output of the project.
About Bit Depth
When working with images, an increase in bits-per-pixel for those images means more
color information becomes available. A one-bit-per-pixel bitmap image is comprised of
purely black or white image pixels (no shades of gray).
01112.book Page 144 Sunday, March 13, 2005 10:36 PM