Drop zone controls in Motion

You can add any media object to any drop zone, but the object might not have the same dimensions as the drop zone. Motion provides controls to help ensure that the image placed in the drop zone is handled as you want—scaling, stretching, and positioning the object correctly.

The Image Inspector contains the following drop zone controls:

• Type: A pop-up menu that converts the selected layer to a drop zone; click the pop-up menu, then choose Drop Zone to convert an image layer to a drop zone.

• Source Media: An image well that appears after an image is converted into a drop zone. Drag a media item to the well from the Media list to change the current drop zone image.

• To: A pop-up menu providing an alternative method of assigning media to the drop zone. The menu contains a list of media items in your project. Select an item to assign it to the drop zone.

• Pan: Value sliders to pan the media within the drop zone. Adjust the X value slider to move the media horizontally and the Y value slider to move the media vertically.

• Scale: A slider to uniformly scale the media in the drop zone. To resize the media horizontally or vertically, click the Scale disclosure triangle and adjust the X or Y parameter.

  Note: The Pan and Scale parameters are not available until you add media to the drop zone.

• Fill Opaque: A checkbox that, when selected, fills the drop zone background with a color when the drop zone is scaled down or panned. If the Fill Opaque checkbox is not selected, the empty drop zone area remains transparent.

• Fill Color: A color control to set a color when the Fill Opaque checkbox is selected.

• Use Display Aspect Ratio: A checkbox that, when selected, resizes the drop zone according to selected Display Aspect Ratio Snapshot (in the Snapshots pane of the Project Inspector). For more information about display aspect ratios, see Add multiple aspect ratios to templates.

• Clear: A button to remove media from the drop zone, replacing it with a downward-arrow graphic.