Apple Motion 4 - Manual (Page 40)

When you Control-click the icon, the Edit Description option becomes available. This is
a handy tool that allows you to enter custom notes about an item saved in the Library.
Once you choose Edit Description, enter your notes in the text field and click OK.
Inspector
Every effect and element in Motion, from behaviors to particle systems to gradients, is
controlled by a collection of parameters that modify the various attributes for that effect.
For example, a Blur filter has an amount slider that controls how much blur is applied.
Some parameters are controlled with sliders, some with dials or pop-up menus. In fact,
there are thousands of parameters using many types of controls. All of them are accessed
in the Inspector. For more information on Inspector controls, see
Generic Inspector
Controls .
Important: The Inspector is contextual—what appears in the Inspector is based on the
selected object. An object must be selected for parameters to appear in the Inspector.
Even objects without applied effects have many parameters that you can modify to alter
the nature of the object and how it behaves in your project. These include an object’s
scale, opacity, and position onscreen, as well as more obscure attributes such as a clip’s
pixel aspect ratio or field order.
The Inspector consists of four tabs, each of which contains a set of parameters for the
selected object. The first three tabs, Properties, Behaviors, and Filters, are present for any
selected object. The fourth tab, generically called the Object tab, changes its name and
contents depending on the type of object selected.
Inspector Preview Area
The Preview area contains a visual preview of the selected object and a Play button to
show the multiple frames of moving footage. The Inspector Preview is almost identical
to the File Browser and Library Preview areas, but it has no Apply or Import button.
Properties
This tab contains controls for setting basic attributes of the selected object, such as
Transform controls (position, scale, rotation, and so on), Blending controls (opacity, blend
mode, and so on), Shadows controls, Four Corner controls, Crop controls, and controls
for designating the object’s In and Out points.
40 Chapter 2 The Motion Interface