Most professional video editors for Mac set you back hundreds of dollars. That's why it's surprising that Apple's Motion features professional quality editing power for less than $50.

Packed with editing features

The other problem with professional special effects video editing packages (such as Adobe After Effects) is that they are usually quite complex to learn and use. Motion treads a very fine line between packing lots of power, but also being easy enough to pick up without weeks of tuition of practice. Although it isn't exactly After Effects, it's not far off but at a fraction of the cost and a much gentler learning curve.
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Motion is incredibly feature rich for such an economical package. It doesn't offer as much power as After Effects, but it's not far off. The number of features is enormous but includes Smart Motion Templates for instant effects, 2D and 3D modelling, Text Animation plus direct exporting to YouTube and Vimeo. The entire list is exhaustive though and covers just about all the major features you need in a special effects package.

Surprisingly easy to use

The Motion interface is a single-window interface with a familiar look and feel to anyone that's worked with a major image editing application such as Photoshop. It makes it very easy to customize Final Cut Pro titles, Smart Motion Templates make it easy to add special effects and even 2D/3D modelling isn't too complicated. To apply a special effect, just choose from one of the 230 different behaviors.

An excellent alternative to After Effects

For those that can't afford After Effects or don't want the steep learning curve that comes with it, Motion is definitely worth trying.