View menu

View menu

The View menu contains commands for controlling the Motion interface. Most of these items affect the Canvas, but some also apply to the Timeline and other areas of the interface.

  • Zoom In: Zooms into the Canvas. (Command–Equal Sign)

  • Zoom Out: Zooms out of the Canvas. (Command-Hyphen)

  • Zoom Level: This submenu lets you set a specific zoom level, including a Fit in Window option. (Shift-Z)

  • Zoom Time View: Opens a submenu of the following commands for zooming the contents of the Timeline:

    • To Project: Zooms your Timeline so the entire duration of the project fills the window.

    • To Play Range: Zooms your Timeline so the area between the project In and Out points fills the window.

  • Correct for Aspect Ratio: Adjusts the display of the Canvas to simulate the nonsquare pixels that appear on a TV monitor.

  • Show Full View Area: Turns on or off the display of layers that extend beyond the edges of the Canvas. Areas that extend beyond the edges of the Canvas appear semitransparent. (Shift-V)

  • Use Drop Zones: Turns drop zones on and off.

  • Save View Defaults: Saves the current state of all overlay settings (rulers, safe zones, animation paths, 3D overlays, and so on) as the default state for new projects. See Custom Canvas view options.

  • 3D View: Opens a submenu of camera view options in a 3D project. This menu is identical to the Camera pop-up menu in the upper-left corner of the Canvas. See 3D compositing overview. The submenu contains the following options:

    • Active Camera: Shows the view from the active camera. Cameras added to your project appear in this list as Camera, Camera 1, Camera 2, and so on. (Control-A)

    • Perspective: Shows the perspective camera view.

    • Front: Shows the front camera view.

    • Back: Shows the back camera view (the view from the back of the scene).

    • Left: Shows the left camera view (the view from the left of the scene).

    • Right: Shows the right camera view (the view from the right of the scene).

    • Top: Shows the top camera view (the view from the top of the scene).

    • Bottom: Shows the bottom camera view (the view from the bottom of the scene).

    • Next Camera: When the Canvas is active, this command changes your view to the next scene camera based on camera order in the Layers list. (Control-C)

    • Select Active Camera: Selects the “active” camera in the project—the topmost camera in the Layers list when there are multiple cameras existing at the same frame in time). (Control-Option-C)

    • Reset View: Resets the camera view to its default orientation. (Control-R)

    • Fit Objects into View: Reframes the current camera to fit the selected objects into the Canvas. (F)

    • Frame Object: Frames the selected objects in the active view. If no objects are selected, Frame Object resets the reference camera to view all objects in the scene. See 3D view tools. (Shift-Command-F)

    • Focus on Object: Used when a camera has depth of field turned on. Adjusts the camera’s Focus Offset to the selected object. See Depth of field overview. (Control-F)

  • Channels: Opens a submenu of options to set which color and transparency channels are displayed in the Canvas This menu is identical to the Channels pop-up menu above the Canvas. The submenu contains the following options:

    • Color: Shows the image just as it would appear on a video monitor. Visible layers appear in natural color and transparent areas reveal the background color as set in the Project Properties. This is black by default. (Shift-C)

    • Transparent: Shows the background area of the Canvas as transparent. A checkerboard pattern appears by default where no images block the background. (Shift-T)

    • Alpha Overlay: Displays the image in normal color, but adds a red highlight over transparent areas of the image. (Option-Shift-T)

    • RGB Only: Displays the normal mix of red, green, and blue channels but transparent areas (including semitransparent areas) are treated as opaque. (Option-Shift-C)

    • Red: Sets the Canvas to display only the red channel as a range of black to white. (Shift-R)

    • Green: Sets the Canvas to display only the green channel as a range of black to white. (Shift-G)

    • Blue: Sets the Canvas to display only the blue channel as a range of black to white. (Shift-B)

    • Alpha: Sets the Canvas to display the alpha (transparency) channel of the layers in the Canvas. (Shift-A)

    • Inverted Alpha: Sets the Canvas to display an inverted view of the alpha (transparency) channel. (Option-Shift-A)

    • Toggle Current & Alpha: Switches back and forth between viewing the current state and just the alpha channel. (V)

    • Overexposure: Displays the overexposed areas of the composition. Luminosity values above 1.0 (out of gamut) are indicated by a red-and-white crosshatch pattern. Values above 2.0 (super-out of gamut) appear solid red. You can use the Broadcast Safe filter to limit the range of luminance or chrominance in an image to the broadcast legal limit. (Option-Shift-O)

  • Resolution: Opens a submenu of options for playback quality and visual quality in the Canvas. Choosing a lower resolution option improves playback performance. The submenu includes the following options:

    • Dynamic: Reduces the quality of the image displayed in the Canvas during playback or scrubbing in the Timeline or mini-Timeline, allowing for faster feedback. Also reduces the quality of an image as it is actively modified in the Canvas. After playback or scrubbing is stopped or the modification is completed in the Canvas, the image quality is restored (based on the Quality and Resolution settings for the project).

    • Full (Shift-Q), Half, or Quarter: Sets image quality. Each lower setting further degrades the image.

  • Quality: Opens a submenu of display mode settings for objects in the Canvas, such as text and images:

    • Draft: Renders objects in the Canvas at a lower quality to allow optimal project interactivity. There’s no anti-aliasing.

    • Normal: Renders objects in the Canvas at a medium quality (the default setting). Shapes are anti-aliased, but 3D intersections are not.

    • Best: Renders objects in the Canvas at best quality, which includes higher-quality image resampling, anti-aliased intersections, and anti-aliased particle edges. This option slows down project interactivity.

    • Custom: Lets you set additional controls to customize render quality. Choosing Custom opens the Advanced Quality Options dialog. See Advanced Quality settings.

    Tip: When working in your project, work in Draft or Normal for better interactivity. When you’re ready to export your project, use Best or Custom.

  • Render Options: Opens a submenu to enable or disable rendering settings that may impact playback speed. The submenu contains the following options: Lighting (Option-L), Shadows (Control-Option-S), Reflections (Control-Option-R), Depth of Field (Control-Option-D), Motion Blur (Option-M), Field Rendering (Option-F), Frame Blending (Control-Option-B).

  • Show Overlays: Turns the display of all overlays on and off in the Canvas. This setting must be on to view any other overlay items (rulers, grids, guides, and so on). (Command-Slash)

  • Show Rulers: Turns display of rulers in the Canvas on and off. (Shift-Command-R)

  • Overlays: Opens a submenu to enable or disable various indicators, guides, and grids in the Canvas. The submenu contains the following options:

    • Grid: Turns the display of a grid on and off. You can customize the grid in the Canvas pane of Motion Preferences. (Command-Apostrophe)

    • Guides: Turns the display of guides on and off. (Command-Semicolon)

    • Dynamic Guides: Turns dynamic guides on and off. Dynamic guides are the lines that appear when you drag one item into alignment with another layer. Press N to turn snapping on or off. (Shift-Command-Semicolon)

    • Safe Zones: Turns the display of title-safe and action-safe guides on and off. You can customize the safe zones in the Canvas pane (Zones) of Motion Preferences. (Apostrophe)

    • Film Zones: Turns the display of film-based aspect ratio guides on and off. You can customize the film zones in the Canvas pane (Zones) of Motion Preferences. (Shift-Apostrophe)

    • Handles: Turns the display of object handles in the Canvas on and off. The handles are the corner points that let you manipulate an object.

    • Lines: Turns the display of object border lines on and off.

    • Animation Path: Turns the display of keyframe animation paths—lines that show where an object moves in the Canvas—on and off.

  • Guides: Opens a submenu of commands that control the guides in the Canvas:

    • Lock Guides: Causes all guides to be fixed in their current position to prevent you from accidentally moving a guide instead of moving an object. (Option-Command-Semicolon)

    • Unlock Guides: Releases guides to be manually manipulated.

    • Clear Guides: Removes all guides from the Canvas.

    • Add Vertical Guide: Adds a moveable, vertical guide to the center of the Canvas.

    • Add Horizontal Guide: Adds a moveable, horizontal guide to the center of the Canvas.

  • Snap: Turns object snapping on and off in the Canvas and Timeline. Snapping aligns objects as you drag them. (N)

  • Show 3D Overlays: Turns all 3D overlays on and off, including the 3D view tools, 3D compass, Inset view, 3D grid, and 3D scene icons.

  • 3D Overlays: Opens a submenu of the following items that set the display of 3D overlays in the Canvas:

    • 3D View Tools: Turns the Camera menu and 3D view tools on and off.

    • Compass: Turns the 3D compass on and off. The compass shows your current orientation in 3D space.

    • Inset View: Turns on inset view—a window in the lower-right corner of the Canvas that displays a perspective or active-camera view of your project as you move objects in 3D space, helping you stay oriented.

    • 3D Grid: Turns the 3D grid on and off. The 3D grid helps you stay oriented while working in 3D space and can be used to guide the placement of objects in your project. (Shift-Command-Apostrophe)

    • 3D Scene Icons: Turns all 3D scene icons, such as lights and cameras, on and off.

  • Layers Columns: Opens a submenu to enable or disable the following controls in the Layers list of the Project pane:

    • Preview: Shows a thumbnail of the object. The group thumbnail represents the cumulative result of the composite up to that point in the project.

    • Opacity: Displays the current opacity (transparency) of the group or layer. You can adjust the slider to change the item’s opacity.

    • Blend Mode: Displays the current blend mode of the layer or group. Choose a new blend mode from the pop-up menu. See Types of blend modes.

  • Media Columns: Opens a submenu of the following commands to turn on or off the display of technical information in the Media list of the Project pane:

    • Preview: Shows a thumbnail of the media file. The thumbnail for an audio file (with no associated image) appears as a speaker icon.

    • Kind: Identifies the type of media, including QuickTime movie, still image, QuickTime audio, or PDF. See Supported media formats.

    • In Use: Indicates whether a media item is being used in your project.

    • Duration: Displays the duration of the media in frames or timecode.

    • Frame Size: Displays the native size of the image in pixels. The numbers represent width and height. This column remains blank for audio-only files.

    • Format: Displays the format of the clip. This is also sometimes referred to as a codec.

    • Depth: Displays the number of colors (bit depth) of the file. Any item listed as Millions of Colors+ indicates that the media contains an alpha channel in addition to the RGB data.

    • Video Rate: Displays the frame rate of the media.

    • Audio Rate: Displays the sample rate in the audio track, measured in kilohertz (kHz).

    • Audio Bit Depth: Displays the bit depth of the audio file.

    • File Size: Displays the overall file size of the media on disk.

    • File Created: Displays the creation date of the media.

    • File Modified: Displays the last date on which the media was modified.

  • Show/Hide Fonts: Displays or hides the OS X Fonts window for selecting fonts and font attributes. (Command-T)

  • Show/Hide Colors: Displays or hides the OS X Colors window for selecting colors. (Shift-Command-C)