Apple Motion 4 - Manual (Page 317)

Click the disclosure triangle to display four crop parameters. Each slider defines the number
of pixels to be cropped from each of the object’s four sides, relative to the outer edge of
the bounding box that surrounds it. These parameters are similar to the crop parameters
that appear when an object is selected in the Media tab, except that cropping an object
in the Layers tab only crops the currently selected instance of that object in your project.
Duplicates of that object remain untouched. If you want to crop all instances of the object
simultaneously, use the Crop parameter on the object in the Media tab. For more
information, see
Controls in the Media Tab of the Inspector .
Timing: These parameters control all aspects of clip retiming. For more information, see
Retiming .
Making Clone Layers
In a motion graphics project, sometimes it is necessary to reuse a complex object in other
parts of the project multiple times. Although you can duplicate or cut and paste any
object, if you update the original, none of the changes you make are applied to the copies.
It can become a tedious and difficult management task. If you find yourself applying the
same filters and masks to more than one copy of an object, you should take advantage
of the Make Clone Layer command. Making clone layers has the additional benefit of
improving project playback and rendering performance.
You can make clone layers out of layers, groups, particle systems, text, shapes, and
replicators.
To create a clone layer
Do one of the following:
µ
Select the object from which you wish to make a clone layer, then choose Object > Make
Clone Layer (or press K).
µ
Control-click an object in the Canvas, then choose Make Clone Layer from the shortcut
menu.
µ
Control-click an object in the Layers tab or Timeline layers list, then choose Make Clone
Layer from the shortcut menu.
317 Chapter 7 Basic Compositing