Add new reflection maps?

Hello, Apple Motion hive mind.

It's been a while since I've been here!

I'm working with Motions 3D text but I'm not happy with the Environment controls inbuilt reflection maps. Have any of you lovely people found a way to add custom panoramas to Motions' somewhat limited library? There's no actual option for this, just the inbuilt maps or custom gradient so I guess it would be a bit of a hack. I don't want to use mO2 or go to after Effects for this as that will defeat the whole exercise.

Any ideas?

Thanks, everyone.

If you're talking about applying Paint > Reflective Paint, you might find better results with Finish > Custom Specular, although it takes a bit of work because the parameters might be a little confusing. There's Intensity Image, Shininess Image and Specular Color Image (after setting Specular Color to Image).

Try sticking with Intensity and Specular Color Image with the same reflection image - you'll have to make sure you exactly match the Position and Scale parameters for each.

Here's an example of Finish > Custom Specular in use:
fcpxtemplates.com/wp-content/uploads/201...s_andBodyDisplay.jpg

HTH

Thanks for the reply sc_ fox.

I'm ok with the controls, I'm trying to add to that list of Maps where currently we only have Colorful, Field, Lightbox, Parking Lot, Rooftop, Softbox Above, Spotlights, Squares, and Woods. The only other option is gradient and none of these are cutting it for what I've been working on. I figured they are going to be stored somewhere and I might be able to add some custom maps to the library.

Thanks.

I would suggest that you back up Motion, then dig into the Application resources and find that set of reflection maps. Pick one and duplicate it, rename it. Then go back into Motion and see if the added duplicate Map is listed in the options. If so, you can copy it out of Motion and find an app that will save a reflection in the exact same format (I am not familiar with any - I didn't get that far...) [Maybe Blender?]

If you can duplicate and replace the resource files, you will have to do the same in Final Cut (I believe) since the same options are available in Final Cut and I just figure FCP uses its "local" resources when rendering Motion files.

I know it's a real PITA to deal with Custom Specular, but it's probably the best route to go IF you plan to publish your efforts as templates for other users to have access to.

If you do figure out how to add the resources to Motion/FCP, PLEASE let me know how you did it!

Best of luck!

Just had a quick look. These aren't individual files - each environment map is built using 36 individual files in a containing folder. These folders are located here:

Motion / Contents / Frameworks / Ozone.framework / Versions / A / Resources / EnvironmentMap

Enter at your own risk!