Spin – Apple Motion 5.1.1 User Manual

Page 328

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Chapter 9

Behaviors

328

In the following example, a graphic of an airplane is shown traveling a spiral motion path. On
its own, the orientation of the graphic doesn’t change, because only the Position parameter
is affected.

If you add the Snap Alignment to Motion behavior to the airplane graphic, the Rotation
parameter is affected so the graphic points in the direction of motion, without the need for
additional keyframing.

Parameters in the Inspector

Rotation Axis: A pop-up menu that lets you rotate the object around the X, Y, or Z axis. You can
also choose All to rotate the object around all three axes. The default rotation axis is Z. All uses
the acceleration direction as “up,” like a roller coaster.

Axis: A pop-up menu that lets you specify whether the object aligns to its horizontal or
vertical axis.

Invert Axis: A checkbox that flips the object so it faces the proper direction. Select this
checkbox if the object is aligning on the correct axis, but appears backwards.

End Offset: A slider that offsets the end of the behavior’s effect relative to the last frame of its
position in the Timeline, in frames. For example, if End Offset is set to 60, the object actively
snaps to the direction of the path until 60 frames before the end of behavior in the Timeline.

Spin

The Spin behavior animates the rotation of an object, spinning it around a single axis. Using the
Custom axis controls, the rotation does not have to occur on a principle axis (X, Y, or Z). If you
trim the end of the Spin behavior to be shorter than the duration of the object to which it is
applied, it remains at the angle of the last frame of the behavior, as long as there are no other
behaviors or keyframes affecting that object’s Rotation parameter.

Uses for Spin are fairly obvious, but another way to use the Spin behavior is with objects that
have an off-center anchor point. Because objects rotate around the anchor point, if you change
an object’s anchor point before you apply a Spin behavior to it, you can change the look of the
motion you create. For more information on changing an object’s anchor point, see

Use the

Anchor Point tool

on page 217.

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