In a previous tutorial, we created a layered Photoshop image that we used in our Motion 5 Parallax effect. But we can use this same layered image to create a 2D layered project with spooky fog. In this tutorial, we will import the image into a new Motion 5 document.

The layer order in the Photoshop^R image is very important, as it determines the layer order in Motion^R. If you have any layer styles applied, such as the red glowing eyes in the crow, you will want to rasterize the layer style before importing into Motion. After rasterizing the layer style and merging it with the crow layer, our Motion ready sample image for this tutorial has three layers including the background layer and one layer for each gravestone.

The Photoshop layer order for the imported image is the following.

Large Gravestone and Crow
Small Gravestone
Background

The image background layer is the same size as the screen size for our Motion intro trailer, which is 1920 x 1080 pixels. Of course, this is not necessary as you can set a background layer in Motion. However, the background in this sample image is part of the overall scene we are creating.

This scene for a Halloween themed intro trailer is a graveyard and as we will be using Motion’s particle system to create animated fog in the scene, it’s important that each gravestone is one its own layer. In that way, we can add a fog layer in front of each gravestone and the background layer.

Why not just have one layer of fog? In nature, fog doesn’t cover the entire ground but is thicker in lower areas. Using several layers of particle fog with different parameter settings will result in a more realistic animation.

Here is the order of the layers that we will be creating in Motion. As you can see, we will be adding three fog and one text layers.

Text
Fog 1
Large Gravestone and Crow
Fog 2
Small Gravestone
Fog 3
Background

1. Start a new project using the Broadcast HD 1080 Preset. Keep the default Frame Rate. Set the Duration of 10 seconds because we have a 10 second placeholder (Motion Drop Zone) in our product trailer template.
   
   
2. Rename the Project layer to “Graveyard 2014” or the name of your project.
   
   
3. Click File - Import to import the Photoshop image. In the Pick Layer to Import dialog box, select All Layers and click OK.
   
   Motion will create a new group layer and add the image to this new layer. As you can see, the Photoshop layers have been added under the image layer, with the same layer names as in the original image.
   
   
4. Rename the new group layer to “Scene 1” and delete the default Group layer, which is now below the Scene 1 layer.
   
   

Now we are ready to add the particle system fog layers.

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