How I learned to stop worrying and love Motion Graphics templates

Motion Graphics templates (.mogrt) are a new file type that we introduced in our April 2017 release. In this blog post, we’ll answer a few frequently asked questions about Motion Graphics templates and how they can make your life so much easier.

Full disclosure: I don’t spend a lot of time in After Effects. I recognize that it is extremely powerful and have often fantasized that I could make something animated and cool – and it turns out that I’m just not a motion designer.

“But wait,” you may say, “isn’t she the Product Manager for Motion Graphics templates? How does that work?”

Yes, yes I am. I actually come from a background in guerrilla filmmaking, I love storytelling and beautiful design, but honestly, I am perfectly fine with letting talented colleagues work on animating elements while I work on storytelling.

That’s why I’m super excited about Motion Graphics templates: this new file type allows me to harness the power of After Effects without having to know how to write expressions, manage multiple pre-comps, or dig into text animators! I just need to know a designer or search a stock site for .mogrt files (see where we’re going with this, Adobe Stock, wink wink), and I can edit complex motion graphics and titles within the comfort of Premiere Pro.

If, like me, you aren’t an After Effects user, Motion Graphics templates allow you to “punch above your weight” when it comes to animated graphics and titles.

If, like Victoria Nece (Product Manager for After Effects), you are a talented motion designer then the new Essential Graphics panel and Motion Graphics templates authoring capabilities in After Effects are designed to enable you to deliver flexible, customizable motion graphics, backed by the full power of After Effects – while letting you retain control over what elements of your design are changeable and which are not. Motion Graphics templates allow you to deliver flexible files to your clients or collaborators so you don’t have to dig up an Ae project every time someone discovers a typo on a lower third – they can change it themselves, while you focus on creative design. You can also generate some additional income by selling this new file type on Adobe Stock.

And if you are one of those multi-skilled folks who knows their way around both After Effects and Premiere, Motion Graphics templates (.mogrt files) allow you to create templates that include the things you’re changing the most often during editorial, without having to bounce back and forth between Premiere Pro and After Effects. (also: I’m jealous of your skills!)

Since we released Motion Graphics templates in Spring 2017, some folks have expressed confusion about how a Motion Graphics template differs from After Effects project. If you are familiar with Live Text templates, you can think of .mogrt as the evolution of that technology: we’ve added support for more adjustable parameters beyond a text field, so you can provide creative flexibility in Premiere Pro. You can think of a Motion Graphics template as a new kind of export format – it allows you to bundle up all of the complexity of an After Effects project, with all of its assets, pre-comps, expressions, and controls into a single file that is easy to use in Premiere Pro.

Our hope is that Motion Graphics templates make complex motion graphics more accessible to a greater number of video creators, while letting motion designers focus on design (and maybe on making some additional revenue). We’d love your input as we continue to grow this workflow.

Below, we answer a few FAQs:

What are Motion Graphics templates?

Motion Graphics templates are a new file type (.mogrt) that can be created in After Effects or Premiere Pro. The author of a Motion Graphics template in After Effects can make a whole range of properties available within the template, like the ability to make dynamic changes to text, color, size, layout, position, and even sound.

When the After Effects-created Motion Graphics template is opened in Premiere Pro all those properties are revealed in the Essential Graphics panel, the editor can then adjust the content in Premiere Pro without time-consuming back-and-forth between the applications.

If After Effects isn’t your tool of choice, editors working in Premiere Pro can use the Type Tool and graphics features directly in Premiere Pro to develop titles and motion graphics. These graphics can also be saved as Motion Graphics templates (.mogrt) for future reuse.

Aren’t Motion Graphics templates the same as After Effects projects?

Nope! Motion Graphics templates (.mogrt) are a new file type that allows a motion designer working in After Effects to encapsulate a complex After Effects project (.aep) into a single file with easy-to-use controls that can be consumed in Premiere Pro. An editor never has to open After Effects to work with a .mogrt file in their project. Premiere Pro comes with pre-installed Motion Graphics templates you can check out by clicking “Browse” in the Essential Graphics panel.

How do I make a Motion Graphics template?

It’s super easy to create a Motion graphics template from your composition in After Effects. In After Effects v14.2 or later, open “Essential Graphics” and select the composition you want to create a template for from the dropdown. Click on “Solo Supported Properties”, then drag the supported properties into Essential Graphics and rename them to make it clear to the person using your .mogrt what each item does. Then click “Export Motion Graphics template” and save your .mogrt to a Creative Cloud Library, or locally on disk. Check out the tutorial here.

If you are working in Premiere Pro to create graphics, go to the top menu bar and select “Graphics > Export Motion Graphics template” to turn your current title/graphic into a .mogrt for future reuse or to share.

How do I get a Motion Graphics template into my project?

Add a new Motion Graphics template to Premiere in two ways: 1) In the Essential Graphics panel, click on the “Install” icon (the folder with the arrow next to the Essential Graphics dropdown) menu OR 2) in the top menu bar, select Graphics > Install Motion Graphics template.

How do I use a Motion Graphics template in my video?

Motion Graphics templates can be applied to a sequence in Premiere Pro by dragging them from the Essential Graphics Panel’s “Browse” tab into your timeline. Select the Essential Graphics directory, or change the dropdown to “Library” to see .mogrt files you have saved in your Creative Cloud Libraries. Select the .mogrt on your timeline and the Essential Graphics panel will switch focus to the “Edit” tab where you can access and edit the parameters to customize your graphic.

Why can’t I import a .mogrt file to my project?

We designed Motion Graphics templates so that they could be used in a project-agnostic way: You install them to your Essential Graphics folder in Premiere Pro so that you can use them across projects, rather than having to import them every time.

Where can I get Motion Graphics templates?

Premiere Pro includes dozens of sample Motion Graphics templates that you can use in your own projects, or as a starting point for creating your own graphics. Some of these were created using Premiere Pro’s new graphic and type tools, and some were created in After Effects.

We also have a free library of Motion Graphics templates created by Valentina Vee that you can download: http://adobe.ly/vidcon2017

If you want more After Effects-created mogrts, third party sites like Motion Array already sell the new .mogrt file type.

Can I get .mogrt files on Adobe Stock?

We are actively seeking contributors to create Motion Graphics templates (.mogrt files) for Adobe Stock. Interested? Learn more.