Apple Motion 5.1.1 - Manual (Page 211)

Chapter 7 Basic compositing 211
Switch among tools
Do one of the following:
m Click the Select/Transform tool in the toolbar, then, while holding down the mouse button,
choose a tool from the pop-up menu.
m With a layer in the Canvas selected, press Tab. Pressing Tab repeatedly cycles through the tools
in order.
Note: When pressing Tab, the 3D Transform tool is activated between the 2D Select/Transform
tool and the Anchor Point tool. For more information about 3D transforms, see
3D Transform tool
overview on page 909.
m Control-click any layer in the Canvas, then choose a tool from the shortcut menu.
The options in the shortcut menu vary depending on the type of layer selected. For example,
a shape contains shape-specific options such as Stroke, Edit Gradient, and Edit Points. Those
options do not apply to an image.
Note: Press Shift-Tab to cycle through the tools in reverse.
Move layers in the Canvas
Move layers in the Canvas overview
The simplest thing you can do to start arranging the layers in your project is to move them
around. Except for the Drop Shadow tool, all transform tools let you reposition layers, so this is
the one operation you can perform regardless of the selected tool.
The easiest way to reposition a layer is to drag it in the Canvas. If you want to make more precise
adjustments to a layer’s position, you can also change the numerical values of a layer’s X and Y
Position parameters in the Properties Inspector. For more information on layer properties, see
Parameters in the Properties Inspector on page 223.
Pressing Shift while dragging constrains movement to the X or Y axis, even when working in a
3D group.
You can move layers anywhere in the frame defined by the Canvas, but you can also drag layers
past the edge of the frame. By default, when you move a layer past the edge of the frame, it
becomes invisible, although you can still manipulate it using its bounding box. The bounding
box that indicates the position of layers located offscreen only appears when those layers
are selected.
You might need to move a layer past the edge of the frame when you plan on animating a
layer flying onscreen. Before animating it, you need to move it to a position offscreen to achieve
this effect.
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