Apple Motion 2 - Manual (Page 835)

Chapter 12 Using Shapes and Masks 835
By default, B-Spline shapes have no corners. While this is the default behavior, you can
adjust the amount of curvature at each individual B-Spline control point. This allows
you to create sharper curves using fewer control points, even creating corners at a
single point, if necessary.
The easiest way to adjust B-Spline point curvature is by switching among three preset
degrees of curvature.
To switch a B-Spline control point among three degrees of curvature:
m Command-click one or more selected B-Spline control points to switch them among
three progressively sharper amounts of curvature.
You can also adjust B-Spline control points along a sliding scale.
To adjust the amount of curvature in a B-Spline control point:
m Command-drag one or more selected B-Spline control points to make their curves
progressively sharper.
• Dragging to the right makes the curve progressively sharper.
• Dragging to the left makes the curve progressively looser.
If you later decide you don’t like the B-Spline curve adjustment you made, you can
always reset the degree of curvature by Command-clicking the point until it’s back to
the default curvature amount.
Illustrating Using the Shape Tools
You can use the shape tools to create anything from simple graphic elements to
complex multi-shape illustrations. You can create lines or filled objects, manipulate
their edge and fill characteristics, and combine and reorder the shapes into nested
groups to produce complicated designs.
Although you can import vector artwork as PDF files, creating shapes and illustrations
directly in your project gives you more options for integrating the result with the rest
of your composition. Additionally, you can animate illustrations created directly within
Motion using behaviors or keyframes, since each piece of the illustration is an
individual object with its own animateable parameters. You can also apply filters
directly to objects within a project for even more creative possibilities.
01112.book Page 835 Sunday, March 13, 2005 10:36 PM