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Filed under: Motion Graphics •

Motion + MIDI

Matching MIDI Movement to Motion

Motion scales the typical 0-127 range of a MIDI Continuous Controller to an internal value range of 0-1. However, not all parameters have the same range of values - for example, opacity goes from 0 to 100, while there are 360 degrees to a single rotation, and 1920 pixels to go across the width of a hi-def frame. Therefore, Motion allows you to set a Scale for each MIDI Behavior which is then multiplied by its value.

Edit the Scale values of MIDI Behaviors to optimize how the parameter responds to your MIDI controller. Set angles to a negative Scale so Motion rotates in the same direction as most MIDI controllers.

Say you assigned a MIDI controller to an object’s X Scale parameter. A MIDI value of 1 (rotating its knob fully clockwise, or pushing a slider all the way up) results in adding 100% to X Scale’s initial value. To get MIDI and the parameter to interact in the desired way, first set the physical control to its minimum, and set the Motion property to its desired minimum or “at rest” value (such as 0% for Scale). Then increase the physical control to its maximum (yielding a Value of 1 inside Motion), and edit the MIDI Behavior’s Scale (not to be confused with an object’s Scale) to get the desired maximum parameter value.

Something that may drive you crazy is Rotation in Motion. Increasing the Motion property results in an object rotating counterclockwise. However, you usually need to rotate a MIDI controller clockwise to increase its value, which means MIDI and Motion appear to work in opposite directions. To cure this, enter a negative value for the MIDI Behavior’s Scale.

Remembering Configurations

After you get comfortable controlling Motion with MIDI, you may find yourself regularly setting up particular configurations. I personally like using MIDI to control sections of Motion that have multiple parameters which can otherwise be tedious to tweak in the Inspector, such as Particle Emitters and the new Replicator. Others may like using physical MIDI controllers to more interactively adjust color correction Filters, such as Color Balance.

To avoid assigning a bunch of MIDI controllers every time you use one of these modules, set it up once - with clearly renamed MIDI Behaviors - and save it as a Favorite. To do this, open both the Layers tab in the Project pane (F5 or Command+4) and the Library tab in the Utility window (Command+2). In the Layers tab, select the Filter, Emitter, Replicator, et cetera as well as its associated MIDI Behaviors, and drag them over the Favorites Menu folder icon. If you have more than one type of item selected, hover there until the choices Multiple Files and All in one File Appear; the latter will group them together. To rename your new Favorite, select it in the Name panel of the Library tab, wait until it highlights, type in your new name, and hit Return. To later apply this Favorite to a new object, select the object in the Layers tab, and use the Favorites menu along the top.

When saving a Favorite, make sure you grab all of the elements you need - such as a Replicator, its cell (the source object), and the MIDI Behaviors applied to the Replicator and cell - and drag them to the Favorites Menu icon. If you have more than one item, you will have the option to save them All in one File.

You can also save just the MIDI Behaviors so that you can apply them to an already-applied Filter, Emitter, and so forth. However, make sure you select the correct item in the Layers window before doing so, or else all of the MIDI “Apply To” wirings will be cleared out.

Be careful when saving Favorites for Emitters and the Replicator. Some parameters belong to the Emitter or Replicator itself, while others belong to the Emitter or Replicator’s “cell” (the object being emitted or replicated). It is probably safest to save a Favorite using an Emitter or Replicator with a dummy cell (which can be any simple object), apply this Favorite, and then replace the cell by dragging your desired object over the dummy cell.

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Yes, I agree - the music industry has all of these control surfaces (including very sophisticated transport control, including memory locations and the such, through MIDI Machine Control); it’s quite surprising - and a little disappointing - that more programs haven’t followed Motion’s lead here.

Posted by Chris Meyer  on  03/12  at  10:01 PM

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