Drop Zones in Apple Motion
What are Drop Zones? How do we create Drop Zones in Apple Motion? Are Drop Zones different from a group? What items or elements can we put in a Drop Zone? How to add items in a Drop Zone? These are the questions we as a beginners want to know.
That is why, in this lesson, we will talk about the basics of Drop Zones.
What is a Drop Zone
Let us first define what is a Drop Zone in Apple Motion. A Drop Zone is placeholder graphics where template users can drag images or video to customize the project. A Drop Zone area can be recognized as seen below.
Drop Zone in the composition.
In the timeline
In the Inspector and Layers Panel.
You can recognize a drop zone with its down arrow and its icon.
How to create a Drop Zone
We have learned that we can drag images into the drop zones, but first let’s learn first how to create a Drop Zone. There are three ways to create a Drop Zone, first is using the keyboard shortcut CMD + SHIFT + D, second is go to Object > New Drop Zone and lastly using the icon + on top of the canvas.
Now that we know how to create drop zones in Apple Motion, let’s answer the question “are Drop Zones different from a group”.
Are Drop Zones different from a group
Yes, a Drop Zone is different from a group. As defined earlier, drop zones are used by template users and most of it can be edited inside Final Cut Pro. While a group is only visible inside the Apple Motion environment.
Let’s have a look at this example.
This is a template inside Final Cut Pro and you can see on the right side that there are two Drop Zone’s available for us to use. The first Drop Zone is for the Logo and the second Drop Zone is for the Player.
Now let’s look at our Apple Motion environment. I created a group named Apple Motion Time Group with a cherry blossom image inside it. Let’s now go to Final Cut Pro to see our newly created group.
As you can see, the image is visible in Final Cut Pro, however we cannot add or edit the image we added on our group.
To make it much easier to understand the difference between a Drop Zone and a Group, remember this. If you want your file to be used as a template in Final Cut Pro and Apple Motion, use a drop zone, however, if you just want to animate images or videos, use a group.
What items or elements can we put in a Drop Zone?
We can put an image and a video clip. Audio cannot be put in a Drop Zone.
Are Drop Zones different from a group
Yes, a Drop Zone is different from a group. As defined earlier, drop zones are used by template users and most of it can be edited inside Final Cut Pro. While a group is only visible inside the Apple Motion environment.
Let’s have a look at this example.
This is a template inside Final Cut Pro and you can see on the right side that there are two Drop Zone’s available for us to use. The first Drop Zone is for the Logo and the second Drop Zone is for the Player.
Now let’s look at our Apple Motion environment. I created a group named Apple Motion Time Group with a cherry blossom image inside it. Let’s now go to Final Cut Pro to see our newly created group.
As you can see, the image is visible in Final Cut Pro, however we cannot add or edit the image we added on our group.
To make it much easier to understand the difference between a Drop Zone and a Group, remember this. If you want your file to be used as a template in Final Cut Pro and Apple Motion, use a drop zone, however, if you just want to animate images or videos, use a group.
How to add items in a Drop Zone?
There are a few ways to add items in a drop zone. I will show you how to add items in a Drop Zone inside Apple Motion and Final Cut Pro.
First method is to drag and drop your image or video straight to Motion.
Second method is to import your file and select it from the drop down list of the drop zone.
Third method when using Final Cut Pro
I hope you learn something from this basic lesson about Drop Zones. If you have any questions feel free to write down your thoughts.
Thank you and see you again next time.