5.5

143Motion User Guide
Drop Shadow parameters
An activation checkbox that turns the drop shadow of a layer on and off. When selected,
additional controls become available:
• Color: Color controls that set the drop shadow’s color. The default color is black.
• Opacity: A slider that sets the drop shadow’s transparency.
• Blur: A slider that specifies the drop shadow’s softness.
• Distance: A slider that sets how close or far a layer’s drop shadow is to the layer. The
farther away a drop shadow is, the more distance there appears to be between the layer
and anything behind it in the composition.
• Angle: A dial that lets you change the direction of the drop shadow. Changing the Angle
of the drop shadow changes the apparent direction of the light casting the shadow.
• Fixed Source: A checkbox that, when selected, renders the drop shadow as if cast by a
fixed light source, regardless of camera or text movement.
Four Corner parameters
An activation checkbox that turns distorting on and off. If a layer is distorted and this
checkbox is deselected, the layer resumes its original shape, although the distorted
coordinates are maintained. Reselecting the checkbox reenables the distortion effect
specified by the Four Corner coordinate parameters.
When the Four Corner checkbox is selected, value sliders to modify the X and Y
coordinates of the layer’s four corner points (Bottom Left, Bottom Right, Top Right, and
Top Left) become available. You can also control these parameters visually in the canvas
using the Distort tool. See Transform tools in Motion.
Crop parameters
An activation checkbox that turns cropping on and off. If a layer is cropped and this
checkbox is deselected, the layer resumes its original size, although the cropping values
are maintained. Reselecting the checkbox reenables the cropping effect specified by the
crop parameters.
When the Crop checkbox is selected, value sliders to modify the layer’s four edges (Left,
Right, Bottom, and Top) become available. You can also control these parameters visually
in the canvas using the Crop tool. See Crop a layer in Motion.
Timing parameters
Value sliders to control all aspects of clip retiming. See Intro to retiming media in the
Motion Timeline.
Lighting parameters
The Lighting parameter controls appear only when the parent group is set to 3D.
• Shading: A pop-up menu that sets how a layer responds to lights in the scene. There
are three options:
• Inherited: The layer uses the shading value of its parent.
• On: The layer can be lit.
• Off: The layer ignores lights.