In this lesson, we’ll look at some beginner mistakes to avoid that will slow down your progress in learning Apple Motion.

Apple Motion is a beginner friendly motion graphics software. It is quite easy to learn and understand, however, it will take years for you to fully maximize its capability.

1. Not using Sequence Text Behavior

The sequence text behavior lets you animate the different properties of a text. Instead of animating a text with just the transform properties, the sequence text behavior opens a lot of possibilities.  From animating the basic transform properties to animating individual letters, the sequence text will let you do that.

2. Text Properties

I’m not talking about the basic text properties, but the layout properties. The text layout properties provide more controls for your text, combined with the sequence text behavior, you can achieve some interesting text animations. The layout tab can make your text be on a path, change the format from horizontal to vertical, create a simple type on animation, etc.

3. Maximizing Clones

Clones, Clones and Clones, the concept of clones was really alien to me when I first started learning Motion. I know that Clones will inherit the content of a group or a layer, however I rarely used it until recently. The difference between a clone and duplicate, is that the former will inherit all the filters, animations, and data on that group. If you change the scale, rotation, position, and add more filters of the clone, the original group or layer will not be affected. 

4. Know Your Groups

This is something I did not think about when I first started learning Motion. There are two ways of groups in Motion. First is when you create a new group (CMD+SHIFT+N) and second is grouping a group of elements (CMD+SHIFT+G). The difference between this two is that the first type of grouping creates a new group with the anchor point in the center of the canvas, while the second grouping creates a group based on the elements on it and the anchor point is in the middle of the group.

5. Not using the Keyframe Editor

The keyframe editor is a very powerful tool in any motion graphics software. The keyframe editor can be accessed in the main timeline. Once the keyframe editor is available, you can create different kinds of animation curves that can change the look of your animations. But that is not the only thing the Keyframe editor can do. You can also create a loop with just two keyframes, create a continuous change in the keyframe, make a simple staggering animation, etc. 

6. Power of Behaviors

Think of Behaviors as presets that you can apply to your layers. They are very easy to use and very handy if you want to create fast animation on the go. Behaviors are quite unique because they are only available on Apple Motion. There are different types of behaviors, text behaviors,  time behaviors, parameter behaviors, etc. As a beginner, try to experiment with behaviors, especially the Sequence Text Behaviors. 

7. Masks

The concept of masks was quite an interesting topic when I first started to learn Motion. Masks basically hide or show the elements. There are two ways to mask elements in Motion, Image Masks uses an image to hide/show elements while Shape Masks use the basic shapes, custom shapes. Other than the basic difference between the two, always remember that you can also change the Mask Blend Mode, which is very useful in different kinds of situations.

8. Organize it Up

You need to organize your layers. Organization of layers in Motion is quite different from After Effects. If you import a file to Motion, it will be visible on your layers panel and once you delete the file, it will be gone. In order to organize your layers, you need to create a group where it contains elements that will be used all over again. You can turn off that group and just duplicate the layer you need. In doing so, you will not have a bunch of duplicate elements. Also don’t forget to rename your groups and layers.

9. Rig! Rig! Rig!

I did not pay attention to rigs when I first started. I only thought of doing animations immediately, however I realized that rigs are very powerful. Rigs is very useful, especially when you create templates for FCP. You can create a simple show/hide of elements, make a simple data slider, show a change in animation. Learn the basics on how to use Rigs everybody.

10. Keyboard Shortcuts

As someone who creates templates for Final Cut Pro, keyboard shortcuts really shorten the time of my work. There are some keyboard shortcuts that you really need to remember when you use Apple Motion. (T) is for Text, (CMD+SHIFT+D) for Drop Zone, (OPT+R) for Rectangle Mask, (CMD+SHIFT+M) for image mask, (CMD+SHIFT+N) for New group. These are my mostly used keyboard shortcuts. Try to familiarize yourself with the keyboard shortcuts in Motion so that your work can speed up a bit