HowTo fan a multipage pdf in Motion5?

First, what is it all about:



So, my neighbor Peter Müller sent me a 6 pages pdf, and like to see it as an animation, spreading like a fan. For sure, you could import and animate each individual page … no fun.

Step #1
Drag the pdf into a new Motion project. You’ll notice a rarely seen slider in its Properties, ‘Pages’ which allow to select a … page.



Apply a Ramp Behavior; keep its Start Value to 0, set its End Value to Max (in my case 5)
“WHY 5??? You said SIX pages???”
Yep, but as many Motion parameters, Ramp ‘adds’ the parameters … so, max end value for a six-pager is 5, for a 13pgs document 12…




Next… Step #2
Now, shorten the duration of that group in frames corresponding to #pgs … six pages = 6 frames long, thirteen pages = 13 frames long…




When done, Clone (shortcut ‘K’) that Layer, and make the Clone a Replikator (shortcut ‘L’).

Almost done… Step #3
Set the Number of Points to number of pages (in my example again 6) and set the Replicators Shape to Line.




Nice, but no fan and showing only pg#1 several times…

Step #4



In the lower left, Cell Controls, uncheck Play, and set Source Frame Offset to 1 - tadahh!!
Play with the Angle/Angle End degrees, animate the Lines x-parameter, … and you get a Cable-News-quality animation, the Müller-papers flying in, fan out and - adding some extra Motion Magic -a single page comes up… (duplicate the source pdf, select the page you want to see with the above mentioned slider, add the fan as an image Mask to make it appear ‘behind’ the other pages…)


Unfortunately, it is NOT possible to make this a plug-in - … or at least, I’m not able to make it, that ramping-page-selector doesn’t work (?) published … :blink:

So, just available as a HowTo… anyhow:
Enjoy movie making!

Karsten,

Wow, you are a good neighbor. This little how-to is really helpful for me in exploring exactly what all the myriad controls in Properties do. Thanks for that.

Oh, ironically, I have a neighbor named "Peter Müller" too. Can I send him your way for all his animation needs?

thinkfilm wrote: … I have a neighbor named "Peter Müller"…

hahaha! who doesn't ? … :silly:

…fact is, got the inspiration for this tut by watching MSNBC, CNN et al… , mentioning the omnipresent Bob Muller (LOVE the way, Americans pronounce Müller :lol: )
But 'Robert Müller' would have been too obvious…

Yeah, Motion has lots of hidden gems… !

One more question from my neighbor, Peter. Where are the Russian Properties located?

thinkfilm wrote: … Where are the Russian Properties located?

725 5th Ave, New York, NY 10022… '68' aka 58th floor.

// we are that close, I have to switch hats and Mod and stop that off-topic chitchat //