In the second half of the Motion^R 5 video training from macProVideo entitled Creating Final Cut FX Templates, Ben Balser introduces design principles for text, color and balance for motion graphics. He also combines everything you have learned into a final animation project.

Balser begins this section by discussing the principles of text design, including color, placement, font selection and styling. I liked his demonstration about how to use a drop shadow to make text more readable on the screen. He also demonstrates how to use tracking, kerning and line spacing.

For the Text Design Workshop, Balser begins with a new Final Cut Title template in Motion and gives his audience a step-by-step walkthrough for creating an animated title. He demonstrates how to add animation to the point size, position and tracking of the text. Then he publishes the project with a customizable widget for Final Cut Pro^R.

Balser's next topic is color design basics. He begins with a discussion of the basic color wheel and the position of warm and cold colors on the wheel. Next he demonstrates how to make a color selection tool in Motion and publishes the tool for use in Final Cut Pro. As he builds this tool, he discusses the basics of complementary, analogous and triadic colors and their positions on the color wheel.

Next Balser demonstrates how to rig the color selection tool for use in Final Cut Pro, using the opacity parameter to toggle between the arrow pointers for the three color harmonies. After publishing to Final Cut Pro, he demonstrates how to use the tool as an overlay on a video clip. He discusses his choice for a color scheme for a lower third and how each color harmony makes a different emotional statement. Returning to Motion, he uses the color selection tool again when creating an animated title.

In the Balancing and Lines Workshops, Balser returns to Motion to create a complex animated scene and reviews everything you have learned about color theory, balance and the Motion tool set. Balser finishes the training by discussing where to find your templates on your hard drive, compress them into a zip file and share them to the web.

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https://www.macprovideo.com/tutorials/motion-application

Disclosure: I was given free access to the video training for the purpose of this review article. The opinions are completely my own based on my experience.