Adding a generator – Apple Motion 2 User Manual
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Chapter 11
Working With Generators
Like all other objects in Motion, generators can be moved, rotated, duplicated, copied
and pasted, and animated. Generators can be reordered and set to different blend
modes. Also, like other objects, you can apply behaviors to generators and apply
Parameter behaviors to the parameters of a generator. You can also apply filters to
generators, or use a generator as the source for a particle cell.
The following sections discuss adding a generator to a project, the different types of
generators, modifying and animating a generator, and saving a modified generator to
the Library. Applying a Parameter behavior to a generator is also discussed. Two
generators are used in the following examples: the Checkerboard and the Star
generators. All generators are modified, animated, and saved in the same manner. The
best way to see what generators can do is to simply experiment with their various
parameters.
Adding a Generator
This section provides a quick introduction to adding a generator to a project. For a
description of each generator, see “
To add a generator to a project:
1
In the Library, click the Generators category.
2
In the stack, click a generator.
The generator preview appears in the Preview area. If the generator is animated, such
as Swirly, the generator plays in the Preview area. You can click the Play/Pause button
to stop playback of the generator preview.
3
Drag the generator to your project. Like all other objects, you can add the generator to
your project by dragging it to the Canvas, the Layers tab, or the Timeline.
The generator and its Dashboard (press D) appear in your project. The Dashboard
contains a subset of the complete controls that appear in the Generator tab of the
Inspector.
Note: Generators that are added to a project are not added to the Media tab. The
Media tab only includes media files that are imported into Motion, such as image
sequences, Photoshop files, and audio files.
4
Click Play (or press the Space bar).
Play/Pause button
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