Drop zones overview

Drop zones are placeholder graphics where template users can drag images or video to customize the project. When you modify one of the built-in composition templates that come with Motion, or create a composition template from scratch, you can add drop zone layers. A drop zone layer appears (in the Canvas and in the Layers list) as a rectangle with a downward arrow in its center. In the Canvas, the drop zone’s layer name appears in the center of the graphic. Any media item (image or footage) dragged into the region defined by the drop zone replaces the drop zone placeholder graphic.

Canvas showing a QuickTime movie being dragged onto a drop zone

Note: If there are multiple overlapping drop zones in the Canvas, the topmost one has priority when you drag an item over the zone. You can force all drop zones to appear by using the expose feature. For more information, see Control and expose drop zones.

Adding a drop zone to a Final Cut Pro X template in Motion enables Final Cut Pro users to easily assign media to an editing project. For more information about creating templates for use in Final Cut Pro, see Final Cut Pro templates overview.