Appearance preferences affect visual elements of the Motion interface.
Timeline
Timebar Display: A pop-up menu that sets the Timeline display. There are three options:
Name: Displays bars in the Timeline track area by object name.
Name Plus Thumbnail: Displays bars in the Timeline track area by name and with a thumbnail image representing the first frame of the object. This setting is the default. Only layers (shapes, images, image sequences, text, and so on) display a thumbnail. Objects such as cameras, lights, and behaviors do not display a thumbnail.
Filmstrip: Displays bars in the Timeline as a continuous strip of frames. The name text does not appear. Only layers (shapes, images, image sequences, text, and so on) display a continuous strip of frames. Objects such as cameras, lights, and behaviors do not display frames.
Canvas
Full View Opacity: A slider that controls the opacity of the part of a layer that extends beyond the edge of the Canvas into the background. When set to 100%, the layer is transparent. When set to 0%, the layer is fully opaque. This setting takes effect when Show Full View Area is enabled in the View menu.
Thumbnail Preview
Background: A pop-up menu that sets the background for thumbnail previews in the Layers list when layers are partially transparent (contain an alpha channel). There are two options:
Checkerboard: Displays a checkerboard pattern where transparent pixels appear.
Color: Displays a solid color where transparent pixels appear.
Background color control: When Background is set to Color, this color control lets you select a new background color from the OS X Colors window or from the Motion pop-up color palette.
Status Bar
These controls set the information that’s displayed in the status bar (above the Canvas).
Dynamic Tool Info: A checkbox that enables the display of transform information in the status bar when you actively adjust an object using the onscreen controls. When rotating an object in the Canvas, for example, the original rotation value and the current degree of change are displayed in the status bar.
Color: A checkbox that enables display of pixel color value in the status bar when you move the pointer in the Canvas. Colors are displayed in the format chosen in the Display Color As pop-up menu (described below).
Coordinates: A checkbox that enables display of the X and Y coordinates of the current pointer position.
Frame rate (only during playback): A checkbox that enables display of playback frame rate. Nothing is displayed unless the project is playing.
Display Color As: A pop-up menu that sets the style of color data display (when the Color checkbox is selected). Menu items include the following:
RGB: Displays the red, green, blue, and alpha values of each pixel in ranges of 0–1, although super-white values can exceed the 0–1 value range.
RGB (Percent): Displays the red, green, blue, and alpha values of each pixel in ranges (percentages) of 1–100.
HSV: Displays the color as hue, saturation, and value (brightness), where hue is a percentage from 1–360, and saturation and value are ranged from 1–100 degrees. Alpha is also displayed in a range of 1–100 degrees.