How do the Gradient tools in Motion actually... work?

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Level 1

18 points

How do the Gradient tools in Motion actually... work?

Change the direction of a shape’s gradient

1. In Motion, with the shape selected and the Inspector open, click the Gradient disclosure triangle to show the gradient editor.

2. Use the Start and End value sliders to change the direction of the gradient.

This is the official "documentation" provided by Apple for editing a gradient. I absolutely hate people who hop onto online forums and rant... but... WOW... I have been literally stunned by the chutzpah that Apple has when it comes to their documentation on Motion.

All I want to do, is create a background layer that is a continuous linear gradient from color A on the left... fading into Color B on the right. Then I'd like to be able to rotate the gradient until it looks like I want it.... anywhere from 33 - 45 degrees. This is accomplished in Microsoft's PowerPoint in 2-3 clicks.

What is up with the "Start: X + Y" and "End X + Y"? The Apple documentation says... "Use the Start and End value sliders to change the direction of the gradient." After playing around with these values through several attempts, I am usually able to somehow... kind of... accomplish what I was thinking, but if I had to explain it to someone, I'd be at a loss. Push this one, which changes that, Then pull this one, which changes that, but kind of affects what you did before... to push that again... and then... pull that... but only until THIS... then... yeah... I dunno. Apple's documentation is like reading the User Guide for an F-35 fighter jet, and it says... "Use the stick and pedals to control the direction of the plane."

Super apologies to all you guys. I've just been given a monumental task for work that involves me becoming a Motion Graphics wizard in record time, and the documentation to complexity ratio of Apple Motion is killing me.

Posted on Mar 21, 2023 9:43 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Luis Sequeira1

Level 9

73,164 points

Mar 21, 2023 10:23 AM in response to Dolmetscher

The start and end are X-Y coordinates - normalized to an interval between -100 and 100.

So X goes from left (-100) to right (100)

Y goes from bottom (-100) to top (100).

So if you want a gradient to go from the top left set Start to (-100,100) and to go to the bottom right set End to (100,-100). For example:

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Answer 2

fox_m

Level 6

13,250 points

Mar 21, 2023 11:03 AM in response to Dolmetscher

What's up with the gradient tool is that it actually has an OnScreen Control:

which allows you to customize the appearance right on the Shape in the Canvas. If you double click on the connecting line, it will produce a new Color Tag (as many as you like). You can option drag tags to duplicate them. The triangle shapes are the end points and the solid white tab (at this point, in this image) is the Opacity control for that part of the gradient. [Optionally Right-Click or Control-Click the gradient tool to access the menu of options. The gradient menu starts with Add Color Tag - if you miss the gradient line you'll get a regular popup menu that starts with Transform.]

The gradient goes from one point to the other - then continues on infinitely at the same color values past those points (in either direction) so you don't "run out of color".

You can turn on the OSC by selecting the Adjust Item tool from the tool menu or right-click on the shape and select Edit Gradient from the popup.

Start/End X and Start/End Y are relative to the center of the shape. To "go through the center" always make sure that the Start and End Values are exactly opposite each other.

For a precision "rotation" of the gradient, you'll need to rotate the whole shape ("through the anchor point" which is typically centered by default). You may have to use a larger than necessary shape with a Mask of the shape to make it look like only the gradient is rotating.

[This is technically not a gradient. Radial gradients like this aren't possible with the gradient tool. This gradient is built with a replicator and a 3º wedge shape - 120 objects - color over pattern (gradient) — masked with a circle.]

I was a Photoshop user for a l-o-o-o-o-o-ng time (since nearly its beginning — for about 15 years). When I started using Motion, for the most part I stopped using Ps (almost immediately — the Ps Killer for me was subscriptions...) I don't miss it one bit. I do a lot of my own artwork in Motion - not just video stuff. The user interfaces are slightly different, but relax and try to "see" what in Motion is just like Photoshop. You may also find that there are some things in Motion you really wish you had in Ps... and didn't know it. About the only thing you don't get in Motion is a Freehand Brush tool. You won't miss it... after awhile.

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Answer 3

fox_m

Level 6

13,250 points

Mar 22, 2023 2:40 PM in response to Dolmetscher

I did make this general tutorial if you're interested in getting started building custom models in Motion using 3D Text:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8sWCzsu1Jg

However, my "views" on YouTube dropped off precipitously when I started getting into modelling with Motion 3D Text. I tried to generate interest — but there just hasn't been enough to warrant making tutorials. I think there might have been 4 people on the *entire planet* beside myself who were interested in modelling with Motion 3D Text.Most of the information you need is already posted in this forum and on https://fcp.co/forum/6-motion-5.

BTW — I call the character Oculucaeruleis (Blue-eyed — pronounced Oh-kooloo´-kyer-oo´lay-iss). At some point I added arms and hands (mac cursors...LOL).

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