Apple Motion is the Cheapest Way to Make Professional Promo Videos

I’m planning to make a new promo video for Inkdrop. Current one is kind of outdated because of recent updates:

I made it with After Effects CS4 and iMovie. I’d like to make new one in a different way because I don’t have a license for using the latest version of After Effects. It’s too expensive since I rarely use it. I also considered to buy Final Cut Pro X, but I suspect that there is nicer one with cheaper cost.

A requirement is simple: I want a tool that just supports transforming footages without coding. And I came across Motion, which is a powerful motion graphics tool developed by Apple. It is usually used to make complex animations that Final Cut Pro X doesn’t support, such as fluid transitions, 3D titles, and realistic effects.

Motion costs only $50, on the other hand, Final Cut Pro X costs $300. That’s promising. It looks like it has all features that I want as far as I watched some tutorial videos on YouTube. It can be used without Final Cut Pro X. I guess iMovie is adequate to combine elements for promo videos in my case.

So I bought Motion yesterday and tried it. The result? Fantastic. It’s very useful. I don’t need After Effects anymore. I could make a great logo animation in only 8 hours including time for learning, as you can see the image at the top of this article. The interface of Motion is similar with After Effects, so you won’t be confused to start using it if you have ever used tools like After Effects.

It has a timeline and a keyframe editor. You can animate parameters just like drawing bezier curves. Cool. I can’t believe it costs only $50. Obviously though, it doesn’t have exact same features as After Effects. But it’s good enough to make promo videos like Pixelmator Pro’s one:

Nothing special techniques in this video, right? It is just a composition of some screencasts of the app with 3D transformations and a dramatic music. But I guess you’ll find it beautiful and attractive. You can make it with Motion.

It’s very fun to make cool animations. Can’t wait to show you my new promo video of Inkdrop!