Motion App Reviews

I was really scared about upgrading this when I saw the reviews about stability. But for whatever reason, I went for it anyway. Ive got a pretty hefty project coming up so I spent this weekend doing simple tasks to learn the ropes. Occassionally, key commands stop working and it seems like it really bogs down. I was used to seeing real time render but when an effect I created was really slow, I thought I had done something wrong, only to discover it was actually chugging out frame by slow frame. Id have to save and quite and re-open several times during the day to kill whatever was bogging it down. Im also a little disappointed in the library. Okay for $49 what was I expecting. I guess my disappointment REALLY stems from not being able to import older libraries from previous versions of FCS. Maybe theres a way to do it, but click-and-drag sure didnt work. I just need some more time to see if theres a way to import all the older libraries. Edit: Reducing my rating to two stars. I worked on my first major project in Motion and would have to shut down the program every 30 minutes. Thats not counting the beach balls Id get about every 10-15 minutes, some of which required a Force Quit and loss of work. It got to where I hit cmd-S after every single edit. This easily added hours to my day that I really didnt have. I sent every single crash report to Apple. This stability issue really needs to be fixed. I dont understand why FCP X has "autosaving" but Motion doesnt. I didnt realize this until I lost about 2 hours of work on the first crash. I was so upset I could have thrown my Mac across the room and shot it. Edit for 5.0.3: As my new title says, Im cautiously optimistic this version fixed the crashing and beach balling bugs. I worked on a small project and did not have any issues on the scale of the prior version. Edit 6/8/13: I have no explanation for what has happened, but Motion will simply not stay open any more. If I try to create a new project, it beach balls on that startup screen crashes. If Im lucky enough to get into an existing project, within 5 minutes of clicking things in the library, it beach balls and crashes. Ive sent every crash report. I have completely uninstalled the app and removed all traces of it with an uninstaller app. Three times. Ive run the repair permissions. Ive got all the major OS updates. This app is dead to me.

I was searching for a program similar to After Effects and Final Cut Pro and I was about to give up. But then I found Motion! I loved it, I was able to make school projects and short home videos. But now, everytime I try to use the Belzier tool, it "quits unexpectedly" and I have to reopen it. But then it crashes again! Please fix in new update, and if there isnt one, make one! Apple Motion is simple to use and easy to learn, but it just has a few bugs. Please fix soon.

I fell in love with this program the first time I tried it out. After a few days with it I can create stunning visual effects that I could only dream of before. I was afraid that it might have a steep learning curve but it is unbelievably easy to learn. If you are comfortable with using layers in an editing program then you will be having a blast almost instantly. I cant recommend this program enough. There is an endless amount of Motion tutorials online to watch and follow along with, you will be creating effects within minutes of running this software for the first time. It works best if you have Final Cut to go along with it, but it is not required. If you just want to make some cool effects to throw into your iMovie projects, with a little work it is great for that too. For the price of this software you cant find anything else even close to this powerful.

Remember, this isnt After Effects, nor is it comparable to After Effects, but it is amazing when you comsider that its 950 dollars cheaper!

Love, love, love the transition feature! No more making a stupid plan Template and having to time out the over layer process of a doughnut transition! You can literally create any transition - "transition" in MOTION! It can be 2d or 3d! Its great! Plus the new keyframing feature is almost like cheating! Great job Apple!

Ive been playing around with video affects for a while… (Nothing professional) and got this… Its amazing… Its UI is so much better than AEs (In my opinion) and its fairly easy to learn. 5 stars from me.

I bought this a while ago, and have used it a lot. For many months I have rendered and made short videos. But when I tried to make a 3:14 minute video, and had tons of effects, it wont let me render it all the way through. I spend hours waiting then get "error rendering frame _(frame number)__ (error -1)" every time! I worked for a month on a project and lost all my work!!! Apple, dont ignore our comments, actually do some work and fix the program. It may be only $50 but we payed for you to make a program that will work! Do it please!

I love motion 5, I have used it in most, if not all of my projects. It has a easy to use interface and you can get the hang of it really easily. For 50$ you’re getting a lot more than you paid for. I’ve also used motion in some of my school projects, (like for designing magazine covers and such) which is where would like to make a suggestion. I think Apple should add a feature at startup where you can select if you’re working with a photo or a video (or just have the option to export as a jpeg). If motion 5 had a picture editing feature that included all the same tools as the video editor I think it would have some really great potential and even be a bit of a competitor to photshop. But overall it’s a great application as is and really worth your 50$.

I can’t say enough about how awesome Motion is. I have some stability issues, but I’m also running it on a 2009 device in 4GB of RAM. I probably am getting far better functionality than I deserve. Great program!

My only real complaint about working with Motion and Final Cut Pro X is the lack of the “Send To Motion” command that was present with FCP 7 which was nice. I have not experienced any major stability issues with the current version. It is a very solid piece of software and a huge time saver. While parameters are nice for some things they are not as powerful as expressions. I do like working with Motion but it is not suited for more complex projects.

I use motion for sport cenimotography. Though I agree that the Final Cut suite has its quirks, Motion is truly amazing when it comes to sports video. Motion tracking is easier than ever, and I think that it is incredibly powerful. You can edit the coloration, sharpness, and add your own or pre-installed animations. THIS IS NOT AN ANIMATION PROGRAM. It is an effects/title program. I love it, but others have their opinions.

I Love This App :)

i use motion mostly for title and logo design. with the help of tutorials, i learned this program in a couple of hours. very intuitive if you use final cut x, but a powerful program. don’t think that because it’s easy to learn that it’s functions are limited, because you can create pretty much any title you want. great program.

Compared to it’s iMovie competitor, this is the better. More powerful chroma keyer and many more features that iMovie doesn’t have. For it’s price, it is a good editing software that works well with Final Cut Pro. You can make transitions and lower 3rds to pimp up your home videos. It has a real pride as a good and affordable video editing and creating software.

I still use Motion 4 way more than Motion 5. While 5 may be a bit more stable, I dont see a major speed difference, and the interface is much more frustrating. Keyframing is more difficult and the single-window UI is obnoxious. Customization of the panes into seperate windows is limited and cant be saved. Its still significantly faster to navigate and animate in 4.

After just giving iPhotto a scathing review, I felt like I had to swing the pendulum the other way with something. This thing is a hidden gem. I dont do motion graphics professionally (I’m a musician) but I just love using this program. The GUI is very intuitive. Crashes every once in awhile but so do most things. I wanted to start dabling in visuals, but I knew I couldn’t do that with the exorbitant $ and handcuffing schemes of AE/Adobe CC. But apparently the real time processing of Motion crushes AE’s. I’m so glad I plopped down a measley 50 bucks for this thing. Would love to see this program get developed further with true 3D, and some other things. Good job Apple!

Just purchased cause the price is right, cant wait to try it out. Keep you posted.

Motion 5 is incredibly easy to use. Its workflow setups are so much more efficient and easy to use compared to After Effects.

I love the application and its a steal for $50. It usually runs well and I have very few issues with it. Just wish it had true 3D support as well. Other than that its one of the best purchases I’ve made on the Mac App Store.

Ive never written a review for any product EVER and I must say I am completely amazed by this product. I picked up how to use it immediately after opening it. If you even wonder if you should buy this…follow your gut. Seriously…its amazing