Motion Quick Tip - Radar

Andy Neil

©2011 CreativeCOW.net. All rights reserved.

Learn how to make a radar sweep graphic entirely in Motion and animate it with behaviors. This tutorial shows off tricks involving replicators and parameter behaviors.

Comments

•

Re: Motion Quick Tip - Radar
by Thom Brooks

Hello, this was a great tutorial, thank you for creating it.

I'd like to play with some more advanced behaviors to take this to the next level, but I'm quickly getting stumped.

First, I wondered how hard it would be to make each blip light up as the radar sweep passed over it, rather than all at once. Since they're placed randomly by the replicator, each instance of the blip would need to know where the sweep was so it could adjust the phase parameter of its oscillator accordingly, right? (Is this a parameter I can 'publish'? Or is there some way to 'rig' this? Sorry, you can probably tell I'm very green because I don't understand the terminology yet.) Or, I was looking at the Sequence Replicator behavior and trying to figure out if, instead of the Oscillator, I could use it somehow to control opacity of each blip as the behavior affected the group - maybe in some way corresponding to the movement of the radar sweep going around?

Second, I wondered about using the Numbers generator, to randomize some of the parameters of the text we put below the underscore - i.e. to create random coordinates / velocities for the 'planes'? Could these be animated, perhaps even to correspond with movement of each blip onscreen? The really cool (or accurate?) thing to do would be to only update the blips in short, jerky bits, as if they were only 'scanned' once per rotation...

Or maybe also the File generator, to use a huge list of pre-generated identifiers to randomly fill in the top line above each underscore and make different 'flight numbers.' For those, I'd only want it to pick new ones if I hit the 'Generate random seed' button, not to animate changing flight number identifiers!

I have lots of ideas like this, so as I'm trying to learn the capabilities (and limitations) of the software, it is very helpful to get suggestions for next steps. Thanks!

•

Re: Motion Quick Tip - Radar
by Lee Berger

Wow! I learned a lot of new techniques in this tutorial. I need to watch it again so they sink in. Replicators and parameter behaviors are something I'm just beginning to appreciate after years of using Motion. Thanks for taking the time and effort.

Lee Berger
http://www.leebergermedia.com

•

link to my radar project file
by Josh Paulson

2325_radarscanning.motn.zip

It's almost identical except for I didn't make the mask around the edge. I like it spilling off a bit.

An editor's work is never complete. It is only abandoned when time has been exhausted. - paraphrase from Leo da Vinci

•

Re: link to my radar project file
by Andy Neil

Well done. Looks great.

Andy

http://www.timesavertutorials.com

•

Re: Motion Quick Tip - Radar
by Josh Paulson

Bad ass. I particularly liked the tip on the sawtooth oscillation parameter. Very helpful techniques all around. I just made mine and will drop it in the archives. Thanks a bunch for making this tutorial!

An editor's work is never complete. It is only abandoned when time has been exhausted. - paraphrase from Leo da Vinci

Related Articles / Tutorials:

Apple Motion

Motion Quick Tip - Motion Library: Generators
Play Video
This tutorial series takes a look at the Motion Library of content that comes bundled with Motion. First up: Generators. Andy will take a look at some of the lesser used generators and show you how to incorporate them into your project.

Tutorial, Video Tutorial

Apple Motion

Motion Quick Tip - Motion Library: Image Units
Play Video
Continuing my series on exploring the Motion library of content, we look into Image Units. Discover what they are, and what hidden effects can be created with them.

Tutorial, Video Tutorial

Apple Motion

Learn Apple's Motion: Lesson 9 - The Canvas Part 4: Lights
Play Video
In this lesson, Kevin P McAuliffe continues his look at the Canvas by talking about creating lights, and the ins and outs of figuring out and adjusting their parameters. He also starts out the lesson by creating basic geometrics inside of Motion 5 to work with, to create realistic lighting effects in no time flat.

Tutorial, Video Tutorial

Apple Motion

Learn Apple's Motion: Lesson 8 - The Canvas Part 3 & The HUD
Play Video
In this lesson, Kevin P McAuliffe continues his look at the canvas, and talks about the most important tool in your Motion 5 work, and that is the HUD (Heads Up Display). He also discusses Camera basics, and how to get the best positioning in your scenes by using Motion's viewports.

Tutorial, Video Tutorial

Apple Motion

Learn Apple's Motion: Lesson 7 - The Canvas Part 2
Play Video
In this lesson, Kevin P McAuliffe continues his tour of the canvas by looking at the transport controls inside of Motion 5, and the tutorial takes a turn to look at keyframing with the introduction of the "Record Keyframes" button that is tucked in right beside the Play button.

Tutorial, Video Tutorial

Apple Motion

Learn Apple's Motion: Lesson 6 - The Canvas Part 1
Play Video
In this lesson, Kevin P McAuliffe talks about the canvas, and all the drop down menus you find along the top of the window. Understanding these drop downs, and the parameters inside will not only give you a better understanding of the application, but it will speed up your overall workflow as well.

Tutorial, Video Tutorial

Apple Motion

Learn Apple's Motion: Lesson 5 - Media and Audio Tabs
Play Video
In this lesson, Kevin P McAuliffe talks about the Media tab and Audio tabs, and with the help of a couple of "out of the box" mini lessons, you'll learn not only how to import layered PSD files into Motion, but you'll also learn of a fantastic FREE online stock music library, just waiting for you to explore.

Tutorial, Video Tutorial

Apple Motion

Learn Apple's Motion: Lesson 3 - The Layers Tab
Play Video
In this lesson, Kevin P McAuliffe talks about the layers tab, but more specifically he talks about groups, which is how you will organize and animated your elements inside of Motion 5. Thinking through how you do things before you get started is exceptionally important, and Kevin walks you though creating a simple animation, and how thinking it through with groups will save you a ton of time.

Tutorial, Video Tutorial

Apple Motion

Learn Apple's Motion: Lesson 4 - The Toolbar
Play Video
In this lesson, Kevin P McAuliffe walks you through all the tools in the toolbar, talks about their ins and outs, and gives you a firm understanding of the basics you need to know to get your job done as quick as possible.

Tutorial, Video Tutorial

Apple Motion

Learn Apple's Motion: Lesson 1 - Project Browser
Play Video
In this first lesson in a new series on Apple's Motion 5, Kevin P McAuliffe shows you how to set up your Motion 5 project properly, so your projects parameters match the main clip you will be working with. This step of your compositing is critical, as a misstep here, will lead to disaster down the road.

Tutorial, Video Tutorial

MORE