|
From:Apple , Apple Computer ,
|
See Product Page
|
User Rating: Amazon Sales Rank:#9455 |
| |
1 of 2 customers found the following review helpful:
 Powerful software for those who don't whine, 2005-04-23
I read the below reviews and feel compelled to clarify some important points regarding this software. 1) This is powerful software that allows you to create professional quality effects. You can add explosions, multiply objects in a scene and basically let your imagination run wild. 2) I bought the apple motion instructional book (with dvdrom) and it makes learning motion simple and fun. By the end of the 1st chapter you're animating cg butterflies, i.e. making one butterfly turn into 5 and fly exactly how you would like. 3) I'm new to mac and bought an imac G5 1.8 ghz with 1 gb ram and a 64mb video card (very low end). I could use motion, but the real time rendering was slow. Confused about what I just said? Let me explain. Motion allows you to see what changes you are making immediately so that you can fine tune your effects. Do you want to make a butterfly fly a bit faster? It's easy because the movie is playing in real time allowing you to find the perfect speed without having to render each attempt. If you have a slow computer, the real time frame rate slows down. My imac slowed the frame rate from 24fps to 5 fps. However, I still saw the changes and could print to video at 24fps. 4.) Upgrade if you want faster frame rates. I decided to upgrade. I bought a dual 2.0 G5, 1.5GB, 256MB nvidia video card (super fast). Now the frame rate is at 22 to 24 fps in realtime!
Bottom line, if you want to create amazing effects in your movie, buy this. If you MUST see the pre-rendered changes at 24fps, spend about 5 grand on a new computer, otherwise, live with the 5 fps. But whatever you do, don't complain that your movie sucks because you could only see 10 fps in realtime. Chances are your creativity needs a tune up more than your Mac.
3 of 3 customers found the following review helpful:
 Groundbreaking idea, burdensome requirements, 2005-03-01
I played with Motion at an Apple store and was so impresssed, I immediately/spontaneously bought it. I'm running it on a first generation 2 Ghz dual processor G5 with 2 gigs of RAM and a Radeon 9600 graphic card and it is slow and sometimes doesn't render "on the fly" at all. So now I have to get a faster ($600) "recommended" video card and all will be nice according to Apple. I've purchased the highest end Apple products since the Apple II and now I am annoyed. Hey Apple, if you write software that runs slowly on your fastest professional machine - DON'T RELEASE IT!!! I must have spent $10,000 in the last year and a half on Apple products and NOW I'm burnt out. I'll stick to After Effects (which can't do what Motion does without hours of keyframing) and eliminate my "on the fly" expectations.
1 of 2 customers found the following review helpful:
 You may hate it instead of loving it., 2005-02-25
If you are used to Adobe After Effects, then be prepared for a rude surprise. The interface for Motion is nothing like that of AE. If you are used to Discreet products such as *flame, *flint, *effect or *edit, then it will make more sense. I am running it on a dual 2ghz G5 w/3GB of RAM and it is still not "real time" enough for my liking. Take it for a test drive before purchasing if you can.
Be warned!
3 of 3 customers found the following review helpful:
It's the Motion that counts, 2004-12-03
Motion can be described as real time motion graphic design software. Motion allows the user to create professional looking titles, DVD menu items, and other visualizations to their video and DVD projects. Motion is part of Apple's Production Bundle and it is intended to be used in conjunction with Final Cut Pro and/or DVD Studio Pro. Motion can best be compared to Adobe After Effects.
Installation was a snap. The box contained an Install disk and a Motion Content disk. After imputing the DVD install disk I received a message stating that the software had launched an auto check for required hardware. From then on it was pretty standard procedure, load software, reboot, and load the Motion Content disk.
The welcome menu gives you the options to take a tour, start with a tutorial, use a pre-designed template, or start a new project. I choose a new project and was prompted to select a project preset. This preset selects the type of format your project will be saved as. You can choose any ware from multimedia-small (used for low-date rate CD-ROM and use a 160x120 resolution)to DVCPRO HD 1080i50 (used for high-definition DVCPRO material and use a 1440x1080 resolution). I chose the NTSC Broadcast SD (used for NTSC standard definition broadcast TV projects and uses a 720x486 resolution). NTSC is an acronym for National Television System Committee, which devised the NTSC television broadcast system in 1953. NTSC is also commonly used to refer to one type of television signal that can be recorded on various tape formats such as VHS, 3/4" U-matic and Betacam.
Motion has two basic windows, the Utility Window and the Canvas. The utility window has three tabs, the File Broswers, the Library and the Inspector. The File Browser is used import media files. The Library contains hundreds of effects, particle emitters, behaviors and more. The inspector is composed of several more menus that select effects and processes.
The Canvas is the main workspace. It contains the main viewing area, toolbar, and transport controls.
Creating a project is fairly easy. You can either choose one of the 37 project templates or create your own project. Start by inserting text, a still image or a video clip. Select an effect and literally drop it on canvas. Once the effect is inserted a dashboard will appear which allows you to customize the effect. One of the main strengths to Motion is that all of the effects you can create are done in real time. Meaning once you drop in an effect you can view immediately.
Behaviors can be inserted in the same drag and drop fashion. There are basic motion behaviors like fades, motion paths and scaling effects. There are simulation behaviors like gravity and repel; text animations such as roles and crawls. Once applied they can be converted to keyframes.
Being fairly new to video editing and graphic creation I have learned that speed is a necessity. Motion is fast and the playback is instantaneous. I used a dual 2 GHz G5 with 512 MB of RAM and experienced no problems. Apple recommends that the user have a Dual 2GHz Power Mac G5 with 2GB of RAM or more. I enjoy using Motion and would recommend it for anyone who uses Final Cut Pro or DVD Studio Pro. It would be a great addition to any video editor or graphic design specialist. Due to the software requirements I wouldn't recommend it to everyone even though it is fairly easy to use. Final Cut Pro or DVD Studio Pro are expensive programs and buying all of them can be spendy and unnecessary for the occasional home movie producer.
5 of 5 customers found the following review helpful:
Amazing !, 2004-11-09
Amazingly quick and simple to use... especially considering the complexity of the operations it does. You probably want to use it in conjuction with the entire PRODUCTION SUITE as well as ILLUSTRATOR and PHOTOSHOP (check out the ADOBE CREATIVE SUITE.)
Within 2 days of purchasing I managed to produce a relatively complex animated title sequence scene... most features are "common sense" enough that once you get the flow you can pretty much figure things out for yourself (especially if you've used FINAL CUT) before.
Turns everything from titling to animated graphic interaction into pie - - The LIVE FONTS (not sure if they're included) and particle emitters are great... Its really funny, because they day after I finished my title sequence (to a Jazz instructional video I'm doing) I rented a DVD and went to the video rental store and actually recognized some of the effects and features from the program in use.
In summary : Top of the line professional quality video software... only so simple that almost anyone can begin to master it in almost no time !
|
|
|