Save an animation curve

Save an animation curve

After you apply keyframed animation to an object, you can save its curve to the Library and then apply your custom animation to an object in any project. Animation curves saved in the Library appear with a custom icon.

Custom curve icon in Library

Note: Items saved to the Library appear in the Finder with a .molo extension (“Motion Library object”). These items cannot be opened from the Finder.

If you create animation that uses multiple curves and you want to save the cumulative effect of the animation, you can save all curves as one item in the Library.

Although you can save animation curves into the Content category of the Library, it’s generally recommended that you save items you use frequently in the Favorites category—some Motion Library categories contain so many items that using the Favorites or Favorites Menu categories can save you search time. In the Favorites category, you can create additional folders to organize custom items.

You can also create folders in existing categories, including Favorites, Favorites Menu, or Content. Folders created in the Content category appear in the Library sidebar. Folders created in subcategories, such as Basic Motion, appear in the Library stack and not the sidebar. For more information on creating folders in the Library, see Save custom behaviors.

Animation curves saved to the Favorites Menu category can be applied to objects using the Favorites menu.

Save an animation curve to the Library

  1. Open the Library and select the Favorites or Favorites Menu category.

  2. Drag the name of the parameter animation curve to save from the parameter list in the Keyframe Editor into the stack at the bottom of the Library.

The saved animation curve is placed in the /Users/username/Library/Application Support/Motion/Library/Favorites folder or the /Users/username/Library/Application Support/Motion/Library/Favorites Menu folder.

Note: If you drag an animation curve to another subcategory, such as the Glow (Filters) subcategory, the curve is placed in the Content category, which becomes active.

Save multiple animation curves to the Library

  1. Open the Library and select the Content, Favorites, or Favorites Menu category.

  2. In the parameter list of the Keyframe Editor, select the animation curves you want to save and drag them to the stack, holding down the mouse button.

  3. When the drop menu appears, choose “All in one file” or “Multiple files.”

    “All in one file” saves the animation curves together, listed as one item in the Library. “Multiple files” saves the curves as individual items in the Library.

Note: When you Control-click an animation curve icon in the Library stack, the Edit Description shortcut menu item becomes available. This is a handy tool for entering custom notes about an item saved in the Library. After you choose Edit Description, enter your notes in the text field, then click OK.

For information on naming items saved to the Library, saving multiple items of different types to the Library, as well as creating and organizing folders in the Library, see Save custom objects to the Library.