Motion X and MacPro???

If Apple was going to release an update to Motion, the MacPro launch would probably be the time, right? While FCPX would do a fine job of showing off the power of the MacPro, a Motion X demo would probably blow it out of the water.

What do all of you think the odds are of a major revision to Motion? I'm right at the point where I'm going to need to start using it soon, but since I had such a great experience coming into FCPX with a clean slate because I never used any other NLE, I kind of want to hold off on getting too deep with motion if a major revision of it is going to be released soon.

I don't think we'll see a FCP X level revision of Motion. The Motion 5 release was a rather dramatic release - the User Interface underwent some heavy re-design, the feature set grew and perhaps most importantly, Motion's purpose changed as well.

Whereas in previous versions Motion was a companion compositing & animation application for the Final Cut Pro ecosphere, it has now become the de facto platform for creating effects for FCP X. While they may add some features and continue to work on performance in Motion 5, I don't foresee anything drastic coming down the pike. If you're thinking of jumping in, now is probably as good a time as ever.

Ahh... I didn't realize it was updated at the same time as FCPX... Interesting how they didn't include roundtripping, I guess that's why I thought it hadn't been updated.

Yes. Motion's interface was updated to be in line with FCPX- so though features could be added to Motion, if you know this interface I think you'll be prepared for any updates to come.

Also- I wouldn't expect any more demos. Apple sneak peaked the MacPro at WWDC because its the only event where it makes sense to show off this kind of machine. Apples fall events are more consumer focused, so I can't see giving any stage time to the MacPro at an iPhone or iPad centric event. And certainly nothing FCPX related.

And it does seem that Motion should scream on that new Mac Pro. I'd expect it's code to be tuned up for the Mac Pro, also.

A Motion5.1, 'optimized for MacPro' runs into a Catch22:

• when it makes full use of The Tube, it would allow highly complex new 'things', I still phantasize of 3D-objects, shading, …
• … which would need 'hours' on non-pro machines.

so - iMotion and MotionPro?
or, 'if you want liquid-chrome-objects, get a powerful Mac; or wait a day. Or two!"

… Will be interesting, how Apple will handle that.

I can't ever see a version of Motion for the new MP that had exclusive features. That is not how Apple works. What we're talking about is tweaking it to take advantage of the dual GPUs, faster RAM, etc. Any additional functions would never be exclusive to that version, realistically.