Apple announced at SIGGRAPH 2004 it has begun shipping Motion, the revolutionary new application that delivers high-performance, realtime motion graphics design. Motion offers the creative freedom and power for artists to deliver stunning, professional quality results, quickly and intuitively, with realtime previews, procedural behavior animation and integration with both Final Cut Pro(R) HD and DVD Studio Pro(R) 3, all at a breakthrough price of $299.
"Motion grabbed the spotlight, along with the best of show awards, at the National Association of Broadcasters convention," said Rob Schoeben, Apple's vp of applications marketing. "With its revolutionary technology, breakthrough ease-of-use and low $299 price tag, Motion will do for motion graphics what Final Cut Pro did for non-linear editing bring the ability to create pro-quality results to the broader market."
"With its realtime functionality and Behaviors, Motion allows designers to work at the speed they think," said Mike Goedecke, founder/cd of Belief, a Santa Monica, California based broadcast design and production studio. "Motion has changed the way we work, enabling us to try new ideas, be more creative and wow clients faster."
Motion introduces Behaviors that use procedural animation techniques to create natural simulations or multi-faceted interaction between multiple objects. Behaviors provide users with the ability to automatically generate simple or sophisticated fluid motion effects easily and make modifications spontaneously, without dealing with the complexity or overhead of keyframes. Users familiar with keyframes can use Motion's Keyframe Editor to plot precise parameter values at specific frames.
Motion also features an advanced particle engine that enables artists to apply realistic particle presets, such as smoke, sparkles and fire to any animation, with instant previewing of multiple filters and particle effects. Using Motion, a graphic element on the screen can be turned into a particle and then modified to create unlimited, customized special effects.
With its breakthrough user interface, Motion gives artists the freedom to spend less time managing windows and palettes and more time creating. Motion's "Dashboards" give users contextual, semi-transparent floating palettes that provide the tools and slider parameters for objects being animated on screen. Behaviors are applied with a graphical control that appears on the Dashboard, making it interactive to experiment with different animations. Motion also includes 25 "Gestures" that enable users to focus on the creative process, rather than search for keyboard commands or menu items. With Motion's Project Pane, users have may quickly view and manage all layers, filters, Behaviors, masks and objects within a project at once.
Motion is fully integrated with Apple's professional applications, including Final Cut Pro HD, the latest version of Apple's Emmy award-winning editing software; DVD Studio Pro 3, a professional DVD authoring application; Shake 3.5, the latest version of Apple's industry-leading compositing and visual effects software; Soundtrack, the innovative music composition tool; and Logic Pro 6, the standard in computer-based music production.
Motion is available now through the Apple Store (www.apple.com), Apple's retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers for a suggested retail price of $299. Full system requirements and more information on Motion can be found at www.apple.com/motion.
Apple ignited the personal computer revolution in the 1970s with the Apple II and reinvented the personal computer in the 1980s with the Macintosh. Apple continues to lead the industry in innovation with its award- winning desktop and notebook computers, OS X operating system, and iLife and professional applications. Apple is also spearheading the digital music revolution with its iPod portable music players and iTunes online music store.
