Apple Motion 2 - Manual (Page 184)

184 Chapter 2 Creating and Managing Projects
Exchanging Media in a Project
You can exchange any object in your project with a different object in the File Browser
or Library. This breaks that object’s original source file link and creates a new link to the
file you’re exchanging. When you exchange an object’s source media, the object in your
project retains all of its Property tab parameter values (including the Position, Scale,
and Opacity parameters), selected blend mode, nested filters and behaviors, masks,
and keyframes.
The exchange operation allows you to replace objects in your project even after you’ve
modified and animated them. If you’re unhappy with a particular element of your
composition, exchange it with a new one.
Important: You can only exchange objects that are linked to media files on disk. You
cannot exchange Motion-generated objects such as particle systems, generators, or
text objects.
This operation allows you to use temporary objects in your project until the finished
object is available. For example, if you’re expecting artwork from another artist that’s
not yet available, you can use a temporary graphic with the same dimensions, and then
exchange it when the final artwork becomes available.
This operation is extremely useful for customizing projects created using templates. For
more information, see “
Customizing Projects Created With Templates ” on page 211.
Note: You can only exchange individual objects in the Layers tab. It is not possible to
exchange objects in the Media tab.
To exchange an object in your project in the Layers tab:
1 Drag an object from the File Browser onto an object in the Layers tab.
2 When the curved pointer appears, release the mouse button.
The original object in the Layers tab is replaced by the new object.
The curved pointer appears when you drag a
new object over an existing object’s thumbnail.
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