Adding Text Behaviors


The last step in this project is to add a title. The look and feel of a title should fit with the look and feel of the overall project. In this case, the title should be interesting yet tasteful, with some movement that complements the other movement in the project.

Your goal in the next series of exercises is to create a title and add behaviors to it, and then change the color of the title to fit the project.

First you need to create the title using the Text tool.

NOTE

If you have not completed the previous exercises and wish to continue with the lesson from this point, close any open Motion projects and open 4-4 copy from the folder 04_backup projects in the Lesson_04 folder.


1.

Press the spacebar to pause playback if the project is playing. Then press T to select the Text tool.

2.

Click the Text tool near the upper center of the frame.

TIP

It's a good idea to create text over a solid color or empty space in the frame so it's easy to see. You can always move the text object later.

3.

Type Time Oakley with four spaces between the words.

4.

Press the Esc key to change from the Text tool to the Select/Transform tool.

5.

Move the text object to the middle of the frame so that the word Time is in the left half of the frame and Oakley is in the right half.

Trimming Text in the Mini-Timeline

The text object starts at the beginning of the project and lasts for the project's entire duration. If you remove the text from the beginning of the project, however, and let it enter later, you'll allow the viewer's attention to focus on the first watch and then on the text as it appears. Let's trim the In point of the text object so that it starts at 2 seconds (2;00).

1.

In the mini-Timeline, move the playhead to 2;00.

2.

Press I to change the In point of the region to the playhead position (2;00).

The In point at the beginning of the Time Oakley region in the mini-Timeline changes to the playhead position.

Adding Behaviors from the Toolbar

The Add Behavior button in the toolbar allows you to apply a behavior to the selected object from a pop-up menu. Let's try this method to add a Behind Camera zoom to the text object.

1.

Click the downward-pointing arrow on the Add Behavior button in the toolbar to open the Behaviors pop-up menu.

The behaviors in the pop-up menu are organized into categories just like those of the behaviors in the File Browser.

When you choose a category from the pop-up menu list, a submenu of choices appears for the selected category.

2.

From the Behavior pop-up menu, choose Text-Zoom > Behind Camera.

3.

Watch the project in the Canvas to see the Behind Camera text behavior in action. The Behind Camera effect makes the text appear to zoom onto the screen from behind the camera. Then press the spacebar to stop playback.

Changing Behavior Length in the Mini-Timeline

You can make a behavior faster or slower by changing the Out point of the behavior in the mini-Timeline. If you stretch the purple behavior region longer in the mini-Timeline, the behavior will be slower and last longer. If you make the purple behavior region shorter in the mini-Timeline, the behavior will be faster and last a shorter amount of time.

The default duration for the Behind Camera zoom is 2 seconds. Let's drag the Out point of the Behind Camera zoom toward the left to shorten it by half of a second (15 frames). The new duration will be 1 second, 15 frames, or 1;15.

As you drag an In or Out point in the mini-Timeline, a yellow tooltip appears to show you the amount of change in duration.

1.

In the mini-Timeline, drag the Out point for the Behind Camera region until the tooltip shows that the new duration is 1;15.

2.

Watch the faster Behind Camera behavior in the Canvas.

The behavior seems a little too fast. Let's extend the behavior in the other direction by a full second (30 frames)that is, the new duration will be 2 seconds, 15 frames (2;15).

3.

In the mini-Timeline, drag the Out point of the Behind Camera region until the tooltip shows that the new duration is 2;15.

4.

Watch the extended behavior in the Canvas.

That looks much better. I like the slower pace of the effect.

5.

Press Cmd-S to save your progress.

Adding Throw and Fade Behaviors to Text

This project is nearly complete. The last steps are to add Throw and Fade behaviors to the text. In this exercise, you'll apply the skills that you have already learned to add and adjust two more Basic Motion behaviors to the text.

1.

Start playback and select the text object, if it's not already selected.

2.

Click the Add Behavior button in the toolbar to open the pop-up menu.

3.

Select Basic Motion > Throw from the pop-up menu.

4.

Press D to open the Throw Dashboard, if it's not already open.

5.

Shift-drag an arrow upward in the Throw Dashboard to move the text upward in a straight line.

6.

Adjust the length of the arrow (the speed and distance) in the Dashboard so that the text ends near the top of the frame.

The last behavior you'll add is the Fade.

7.

Add the Fade In/Fade Out behavior to the text object.

By default, the Fade In/Fade Out behavior is set to a 20-frame fade-in and fade-out. The fade-out is okay, but the fade-in interferes with the Behind Camera zoom behavior. Let's change the fade-in on the Dashboard to 0 frames.

8.

In the Dashboard, drag the fade-in portion of the interface toward the left until the left edge is a straight vertical line.

9.

Watch the finished project in the Canvas.

10.

Press Cmd-S to save your progress.

Congratulations! You've finished the Basic Motion behaviors project. In the next lesson, you'll apply filters to the project to polish it up. However, right now, let's take a look at some advanced simulation behaviors.



    Apple Pro Training Series Getting Started with Motion
    Apple Pro Training Series: Getting Started With Motion
    ISBN: 0321305337
    EAN: 2147483647
    Year: 2005
    Pages: 283
    Authors: Mary Plummer

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