Just making sure before I buy: Apple Motion wil be completely compatible with iMovie for video editing? FCPX is a little too much money for me right now..
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Motion+iMovie?
- Thread starter Supernerd
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depends what you mean by compatible.
I use both iMovie and Motion.
You have to export from Motion as a clip and then import the clip into iMovie.
It works but it's not the best way to do.
I don't do video editing for a living so it suits me until I get FCPX
I use both iMovie and Motion.
You have to export from Motion as a clip and then import the clip into iMovie.
It works but it's not the best way to do.
I don't do video editing for a living so it suits me until I get FCPX
True, you can do it this way but you won't get any of the editing options etc.
So if you make a fancy title, for example, you need to export it as a video clip and then import into imovie as a clip - not as an effect.
With FCPX you can import it as an effect, so when you add it to your project you can still make changes, edit text, and so on.
All that means is I have to re-edit it in motion if I don't like it, and export another clip. For me, that's all I need. I knew it wasn't going to be streamlined. Anything else I should know?
Well, you can use Motion for two purposes: Its main purpose and its "can also do this quite well" purpose. Its main purpose it to create nice-looking and easily editable titles, generators and presets for Final Cut Pro X. This part will not work with iMovie. At all.
But the second part it is surprisingly capable in is compositing and visual effects. If you want to play with greenscreen keying, masking tools, compositing modes, muzzle flashes and other visual effects (like a cheaper Adobe After Effects replacement), it will work as well (or bad) with iMovie as it does with Final Cut Pro X. You will in both programs have to export the clips you want to deal with in Motion, do your magic, and then export back.
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Yes, one more thing: You will notice a lot more than in iMovie if you have a crappy or usable graphics card. iMovie hardly does anything on the GPU, Motion does a lot. I noticed that it works way smoother on my iMac than on my MBP although the latter is superior in all hardware except the GPU.
But the second part it is surprisingly capable in is compositing and visual effects. If you want to play with greenscreen keying, masking tools, compositing modes, muzzle flashes and other visual effects (like a cheaper Adobe After Effects replacement), it will work as well (or bad) with iMovie as it does with Final Cut Pro X. You will in both programs have to export the clips you want to deal with in Motion, do your magic, and then export back.
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Yes, one more thing: You will notice a lot more than in iMovie if you have a crappy or usable graphics card. iMovie hardly does anything on the GPU, Motion does a lot. I noticed that it works way smoother on my iMac than on my MBP although the latter is superior in all hardware except the GPU.
Well, I will miss the titles, but the compositing software is actually the major reason why I am interested in Motion. I plan to purchase it as an alternative to the devilishly expensive After Effects, but really the only thing I am probably going to end up doing with it on my upcoming short film is color grading. Thank you @floh for making up my mind. The workflow sounds extremely complicated, but for the price, it looks more than worth it. Thanks, and happy not-end-of-the-world and merry Christmas, and if the world does end, god bless you.
Judging by your needs, yes, Motion will be good enough.
It may not have as complicated a workflow as people are saying; you may be able to:
Now, I'm not entirely sure if this is how iMovie works. I think it may import files, create a proxy, and work from there. So perhaps it won't create new proxies every time a file gets updated, and this workflow won't work...meaning you'll need to keep importing things again.
This works in FCP7/Premiere Pro. I deleted iMovie so I can't try it out.
Nevertheless, it sounds like Motion will do your needs.
It may not have as complicated a workflow as people are saying; you may be able to:
- Export something from Motion
- Import to iMovie
- Feel it's not good enough, so go back to Motion and edit it a bit
- Export it again, overwriting the previous file
- iMovie should then reload the file and you will see the changed file
Now, I'm not entirely sure if this is how iMovie works. I think it may import files, create a proxy, and work from there. So perhaps it won't create new proxies every time a file gets updated, and this workflow won't work...meaning you'll need to keep importing things again.
This works in FCP7/Premiere Pro. I deleted iMovie so I can't try it out.
Nevertheless, it sounds like Motion will do your needs.