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Filed under: Motion Graphics •

Motion + MIDI

sidebar: What is Motion?

At the 2004 NAB show, Apple introduced a new 2D motion graphics and compositing application called Motion. It took advantage of the high-powered OpenGL cards and chips in modern computers to allow users to edit parameters while the video previewed in real time (or as fast as the computer could process it). Another important feature was enabling the user to control video by applying and tweaking a number of “behaviors” without having to explicitly keyframe every action. Underneath this shiny exterior, Motion also features very powerful text animation and particle engines, including a large variety of factory presets to use as starting points or for instant gratification.

Motion integrates very tightly with Apple’s editing package Final Cut Pro, and also renders QuickTime movies for use in other editing and compositing systems. Indeed, although many devout users of alternate motion graphics packages such as Adobe’s After Effects are reluctant to switch their religions, Motion has proven useful for quickly creating complex elements which can then be imported into the environment they are more comfortable with. Motion 2 has extended this by allowing a Motion project to be treated as a “live” movie which Motion renders on demand in the background, allowing the user to then tweak the Motion project without having to re-render the element.

Motion is a Mac-only application. However, just as many Mac-based studios have at least one Windows workstation sitting in a corner to take advantage of non-Mac software, a Windows shop might consider setting up a Mac workstation to run Final Cut Studio just to get access to Motion and its nifty audio counterpart, Soundrack Pro))).

What is MIDI?

The Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI for short) was created in the early 80s to allow electronic instruments such as synthesizers and drum machines to talk to each other, making it easier to layer and coordinate multi-part musical performances. MIDI also opened the way for computers to control musical instruments through software-based “sequencers,” meaning an entire studio of instruments could be controlled from one place.

The MIDI language supports a wide variety of messages to be sent between instruments. The most common messages are for notes (what note or key has been depressed or released), continuous controllers (conveying slider or knob adjustments for specific parameters), and timing.

By today’s standards, the physical MIDI interface looks a bit old-fashioned. MIDI requires one cable to send commands to another instrument, and a second cable to receive commands back. The MIDI cable itself uses 5-pin DIN connectors, is generally limited to 50’ runs, and does not supply power to attached devices. Computers rarely have MIDI interfaces built in, requiring some form of external MIDI interface. There is a wide variety of USB or FireWire to MIDI adaptors available for as little as $50; they are also often built into external audio interfaces.

As MIDI has been around for well over 20 years now, a wide variety of “MIDI control surfaces” - user interfaces to send MIDI messages - have been created (some examples are shown on the previous page). Many have piano-like keyboards or percussive strike pads, but others (such as the Behringer BCR2000 pictured left - view on Amazon) come festooned with knobs and sliders which can send MIDI Continuous Controller messages. These are the ones that interest us the most, as Motion allows you to connect these MIDI messages to numeric parameters inside the program.

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