Apple Motion review:5 stars (Powerful software for those who don't whine) - I read the below reviews and feel compelled to clarify some important points regarding this software. 1) This is powerful software that allows you to create professional quality effects. You can add explosions, multiply objects in a scene and basically let your imagination run wild. 2) I bought the apple motion instructional book (with dvdrom) and it makes learning motion simple and fun. By the end of the 1st chapter you're animating cg butterflies, i.e. making one butterfly turn into 5 and fly exactly how you would like. 3) I'm new to mac and bought an imac G5 1.8 ghz with 1 gb ram and a 64mb video card (very low end). I could use motion, but the real time rendering was slow. Confused about what I just said? Let me explain. Motion allows you to see what changes you are making immediately so that you can fine tune your effects. Do you want to make a butterfly fly a bit faster? It's easy because the movie is playing in real time allowing you to find the perfect speed without having to render each attempt. If you have a slow computer, the real time frame rate slows down. My imac slowed the frame rate from 24fps to 5 fps. However, I still saw the changes and could print to video at 24fps. 4.) Upgrade if you want faster frame rates. I decided to upgrade. I bought a dual 2.0 G5, 1.5GB, 256MB nvidia video card (super fast). Now the frame rate is at 22 to 24 fps in realtime!

Bottom line, if you want to create amazing effects in your movie, buy this. If you MUST see the pre-rendered changes at 24fps, spend about 5 grand on a new computer, otherwise, live with the 5 fps. But whatever you do, don't complain that your movie sucks because you could only see 10 fps in realtime. Chances are your creativity needs a tune up more than your Mac.3 stars (Groundbreaking idea, burdensome requirements) - I played with Motion at an Apple store and was so impresssed, I immediately/spontaneously bought it. I'm running it on a first generation 2 Ghz dual processor G5 with 2 gigs of RAM and a Radeon 9600 graphic card and it is slow and sometimes doesn't render "on the fly" at all. So now I have to get a faster ($600) "recommended" video card and all will be nice according to Apple. I've purchased the highest end Apple products since the Apple II and now I am annoyed. Hey Apple, if you write software that runs slowly on your fastest professional machine - DON'T RELEASE IT!!! I must have spent $10,000 in the last year and a half on Apple products and NOW I'm burnt out. I'll stick to After Effects (which can't do what Motion does without hours of keyframing) and eliminate my "on the fly" expectations. 2 stars (You may hate it instead of loving it.) - If you are used to Adobe After Effects, then be prepared for a rude surprise. The interface for Motion is nothing like that of AE. If you are used to Discreet products such as *flame, *flint, *effect or *edit, then it will make more sense. I am running it on a dual 2ghz G5 w/3GB of RAM and it is still not "real time" enough for my liking. Take it for a test drive before purchasing if you can.

Be warned!
Apple Motion Features:
Computer software (programs)
Graphics
3D (3-D)
Animation (Animated)
Mac Macintosh Machintosh Apple
Video
Composting
Effects
Editing
CD
Works with Final Cut Pro, DVD Studio Pro, Adobe Photoshop, and Adobe Illustrator
Real-time motion graphics design software for easily creating motion graphics
Behaviors technique for creating animation without complex keyframing
Simple interface for unmatched onscreen interactivity and real-time feedback
Combine text, graphic, and video elements for instant gratification

Apple Motion is the CD-ROM version. The full version can be purchased by clicking on the "CLICK HERE TO ORDER" button below for around 299.00USD.