Alex: February 2010 Archives

Check out this Apple Motion tutorial on how to create a human torch.

In Motion, creating the base layer for a basic "Human Torch" effect from a subject shot on green screen is fairly straightforward – plus, it illustrates several core concepts of compositing.  There are a lot of steps in this tutorial, but each one calls on several principles that are useful on their own.
We go over the first parts of this tutorial in the video tutorial above -- if you're interested in using this approach to the effect, I suggest taking a look at the rest of this article for more ideas and suggestions.

Motion does a good job of hiding its 3D capabilities when you're working primarily in 2D.  But there's a dark side to that simplicity: you'll find that Motion provides two completely different tools to accomplish some of the same tasks in 2D and 3D.  For example, you can adjust the position, rotation, and scale of a 2D layer using the regular Select/Transform tool (the arrow tool) -- which gives you the grey circle-and-crosshair with the rotation "lollipop" that appears when you click on any regular 2D layer in your Canvas.

Even without using Motion's full 3D capabilities, though, you can manipulate those same 2D layers using the same transformation tools that apply in 3D space.  To make it even more confusing, the tool has the same name: the Select/Transform tool!  The 3D Transform Tool is the second tool from the left at the top of your Canvas window: it looks like a little atom alongside a little arrow.