About importing media into Motion
In Motion, you can use video compressed with nearly any video codec. However, it’s best to use high-quality codecs with a minimum of compression. Codecs that highly compress files, such as MPEG-4, are less suitable for creating high-quality work.
Motion processes color in the RGB color space. Any clips that were captured or recompressed using a Y’CBCR-aware codec, such as DV, the Apple ProRes family, or Uncompressed 8-bit 4:2:2, are converted to the RGB color space when used in a Motion project. Clips exported from Motion using a Y’CBCR codec are converted back into the Y’CBCR color space.
Alpha channels
Not all codecs support alpha channels. Alpha channels are useful if you’re delivering an effects shot for use in someone else’s composition. If you’re required to export a composition using a codec with no alpha channel support, you must export the alpha channel as a separate grayscale media file.
Music and photos
You can import music and photo files from the Music and Photos categories in the Motion Library. When you add music and photo files via the Library, you can browse for files using the playlist and photo album features. See Add music and photo files.
Project settings
You must adjust your Motion project settings when you import the following types of media:
360° video: To be properly projected, imported 360° video must be contained within a 360° environment (in the Layers list). See Create 360° projects and Add 360° video to a project.
Wide-gamut HDR video: To be properly displayed, your project’s color-processing and render color space settings must be set appropriately. See Set the color processing method.
Cinematic mode video: To be properly displayed and processed, your project’s color-processing and render color space settings must be set appropriately. See Intro to Cinematic mode video.
Interlaced video: Video shot on older devices may contain fields. To be properly displayed, you may need to adjust the clip’s field order. See Field Order in Source media controls.
For a complete list of file formats supported by Motion, see Supported media formats.
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