Apple Motion 5.1.1 - Manual (Page 219)

Chapter 7 Basic compositing 219
Change the anchor point of a layer in the Canvas
1 Choose the Anchor Point tool from the 2D tools pop-up menu in the toolbar.
In the Canvas, the layer’s anchor point appears as a round target surrounded with three colored
arrows representing the X, Y, and Z coordinate axes. For more information on coordinate axes, see
Use 3D onscreen controls on page 910.
2 Do one of the following:
•
Drag the white circle to move the anchor point vertically or horizontally.
•
Drag an arrow to move the anchor point along the corresponding axis.
As you drag the anchor point, a line stretches from the default position of the anchor point
to its new position. Additionally, the status bar shows you the anchor point’s new coordinates
and the delta (amount of change) between the anchor point’s new and old positions.
Note: If the anchor point is close to the center or edges of the layer, and both Snapping and
Dynamic Guides are turned on, the anchor point snaps to that location.
Use the Drop Shadow tool
The Drop Shadow tool activates onscreen controls that can be used to change the blur, angle,
and distance of a layer’s drop shadow.
Drag the onscreen handles to change the blur parameters.
Default drop shadow
(before adjusting with the Drop Shadow tool)
After adjusting blur, angle, and distance
Adjust the drop shadow of a layer in the Canvas
1 Choose the Drop Shadow tool from the 2D tools pop-up menu in the toolbar.
2 In the Canvas, drag a corner handle to adjust the blur of the drop shadow.
3 To adjust the distance and angle of the drop shadow, drag inside the shadow’s bounding box.
For more information on working with drop shadows, see Drop shadows overview on page 244.
Use the Distort tool
The Distort tool lets you reposition a layer’s corner points independently, and slant or shear its
midsection points horizontally or vertically.
Distort a layer in the Canvas
1 Choose the Distort tool from the 2D tools pop-up menu in the toolbar.
67% resize factor