Is there a way to create and distribute simple motion GFX templates in Smoke 2013?

One of the fundamental disappointments we have in all other applications outside of FCP, it the ease of deploying animated lower thirds on the timeline.

The way Apple Motion allows you to "publish" an animated lower third (or any motion GFX package) so that you have an editable text string inside of FCP is so helpful to our shop. This means editors don't have to crack open AE or another package; they just drag and drop the motion GFX clip that is always in the Effects Tab > Master Templates onto their timeline and edit the text to fit the show. Total no brainer.

This was one of the largest drawbacks we had with jumping on Premiere since with Adobe you have to crack open AE to work with motion GFX -- even on the simplest repetitive lower thirds animations.

It there a simple way to save and deploy animated lower thirds or other motion GFX templates in Smoke?

And what about installing such templates across a network of machines? (Like if you have a series and multiple editors that need these motion GFX packages on their machines too.)

Thanks in advance.

And it is easy to simply edit the text -- say swap one name for another -- without having to step too deep into another set of modules or submenus? In FCP it is literally a double click of the title on your timeline, typing the text in the source viewer and pressing "enter". You don't have to do anything else -- the animation is there and just works so you don't need any GFX guy to lay these in on your show if it was setup right in Motion.

Also, you could open up a ConnectFX created lower third clip from another editors project (saved on your network somewhere) and save this lower third on your machine as part of your user profile? I guess that is how you would deploy a bunch of lower third templates for different shows on different machines?

Thanks again.

You can also use Action (which is a 3D environment within Connect FX that includes 3D Text) to create more complex Motion Graphics. You will be able to copy the Connect FX setup from one segment to the other just as Brian described afterward.

Frédéric Warren

Flame / Smoke Senior User Experience Designer
Autodesk Media & Entertainment

Sounds good guys ...I hear a market developing. Right now...if someone can start a business---creating animated lower third template and graphic openings etc. Just like they did for Motion. http://www.motionvfx.com/

I see that can become a big revenue stream. With web commercials and local cable commercials really growing in each market.

I can really see someone creating motion graphic template from 3ds Studio Max or Maya etc. So can can be integrated into Smoke.
Although I can create motion graphic for myself. It's starting to be very time consuming.