Display Four Images At Once – a Quad-Split – in Apple Motion

This morning, Jerry asked on YouTube how to display four images at once in a vertical video using Apple Motion. (This technique is so popular it has its own name: a “Quad-Split.”)

Motion makes this easy, once you understand how its coordinate system works. Here’s how to create quad splits for horizontal 1080p and UHD video, then I’ll illustrate how to create a vertical UHD quad-split using vertical 1080 or UHD source clips.

Here’s where we are going: four moving horizontal images on screen at the same time.

HORIZONTAL 1080P VIDEO

Create a new Motion project. Make SURE! to set the correct frame rate; it should match the source video if at all possible, You can’t change the frame rate  later. Pick the frame size and duration you need. If you plan to add transitions, make the duration slightly longer to allow time for the transitions to complete.

In the screen shot above, I selected a 1920 x 1080 (horizontal) frame size with a 30 fps frame rate.

NOTE: Motion always creates video at the highest quality. The preset simply determines frame size.

Import or drag the four movies you want to use directly into the Layers pane. Notice, like the project, the video clips are all horizontal. Working with different aspect ratios will be really difficult.

Size each movie so that it is 1/2 the frame size of the project. So:

• 1280 x 720 movies should be scaled 75% to 960 x 540
• 1920 x 1080 movies should be scaled 50% to 960 x 540
• 3940 x 2160 movies should be scaled 25% to 960 x 540
• 4096 x 2160 movies should be scaled 25% to 1024 x 540, however pixels on each side will need to be cropped due to the non-matching aspect ratios. Though not impossible, this will be an awkward aspect ratio to use.

KEY POINT: Motion (and Final Cut) define the center of the frame for both movies and projects as Position X = 0 and Position Y = 0. We call this the “0,0” point. This means that as we move images around both the position number and sign (positive or negative) change as the position shifts. (X represents the horizontal and Y the vertical position.)

Once you know the position of the first image, all other images in the quad split will use the same numbers, but simply change the sign. This is easier to show than to explain.

Select the image you want to put in the TOP RIGHT corner. Using Inspector > Transform, set Position X to 480 and Position Y to 270. How did we get these numbers?

• The original project frame size is 1920 x 1080.
• The horizontal position for each video is equal to 1/4 the project horizontal frame size. (1920 ÷ 4 = 480)
• The vertical position for each video is equal to 1/4 the project vertical frame size. (1080 ÷ 4 = 270)

Here’s where we are so far. The top right image is set into position, while the remaining images are stacked on top of each other in the center. (I included a bit of the surrounding black area around the frame in the screen shot.)

Now it becomes easy, because we use these same position settings, but change the sign.

Select the image for the LOWER RIGHT corner. Then set:

• Position X to 480
• Position Y to -270 (note the minus sign at the start!)

See what we did there? Because the horizontal (X) and vertical (Y) centers are defined as 0, anything with a positive number is above, or to the right, of  the center line, while anything with a negative number is below, or to the left, of it.

Here are the numbers for the TOP LEFT image:

• Position X: -480
• Position Y: 270

Here are the numbers for the LOWER LEFT image:

• Position X: -480
• Position Y: -270

Ta-DAH! Done.

MAKE IT LOOK BETTER

To separate the images, apply Filters > Border > Simple Border to each image.

Make sure Border Placement is set to Inside. Then adjust the Width until you get the look you want. 20 worked for me. Finally, Option-drag the filter from the first image in the Layer pane to the other images to copy it and its settings to all images.

Here’s the finished result.

CREATE A UHD QUAD SPLIT

The process for a UHD (3840 x 2160) project is similar to what we went through. Here are the differences:

• If your project is UHD and the videos are 720p, scale the videos to 133%, but they will look blurry.
• If your project is UHD and the videos are 1080, don’t scale the videos. They are already the correct size.
• If your project is UHD and the videos are UHD, scale the videos to 50%

The frame size for UHD is 3840 x 2160. 1/4 of that is 960 x 540. Here are the position numbers for a UHD Quad Split:

• TOP RIGHT: Position X: 960, Position Y: 540
• TOP LEFT: Position X: -960, Position Y: 540
• LOWER RIGHT: Position X: 960, Position Y: -540
• LOWER LEFT: Position X: -960, Position Y: -540

Yup, the results look the same, it’s just that the Motion project frame size is now MUCH bigger.

CREATE A 4K QUAD SPLIT

It will be very hard to mix UHD and 4K (4096 x 2160) images in the same effect, because the aspect ratios don’t match. I don’t recommend it. Instead, for true 4K projects shoot 4K source images.

Then, scale the 4K videos to 50%. Everything will look great.

The frame size for 4K is 4096 x 2160. 1/4 of that is 1024 x 540. Here are the position numbers for a 4K Quad Split:

• TOP RIGHT: Position X: 1024, Position Y: 540
• TOP LEFT: Position X: -1024, Position Y: 540
• LOWER RIGHT: Position X: 1024, Position Y: -540
• LOWER LEFT: Position X: -1024, Position Y: -540

CREATE A VERTICAL VIDEO QUAD SPLIT

The process for creating a vertical video quad split is the same – EXCEPT that the Motion Preset menu doesn’t have any vertical video settings. Not a problem. Here’s how.

NOTE: Just as there’s a challenge fitting 4K images into a UHD project, you will have problems fitting horizontal video into a vertical video project. It can be done, but you’ll be cropping a lot of the image. Instead, this tutorial assumes using vertical video for a vertical quad split.

In the Preset menu in the Project Browser, select Custom.

To create an HD vertical video:

• Set Resolution to 1080 x 1920
• Set Field Order to None
• Set Aspect Ratio to Square
• Set the Frame Rate to match the frame rate of your video clips
• Set the Duration to whatever you need

NOTE: For a UHD vertical video, the Resolution would be 2160 x 3840.

Then, click the Open button to create the project and open it in Motion. Again, as always, Motion creates images at the highest quality in every project.

Import four vertical videos into the Layers pane. Notice, in this screen shot, that all four videos are vertical. Next:

• If the videos are 1080p, or 1080i, scale them 50%
• If the videos are UHD, scale them 25%

We calculate the position coordinates the same way we did earlier.

• The original project frame size is 1080 x 1920.
• The horizontal position for each video is equal to 1/4 the project horizontal frame size. (1080 ÷ 4 = 270)
• The vertical position for each video is equal to 1/4 the project vertical frame size. (1920 ÷ 4 = 480)

Here are the position numbers for a 1080 x 1920 vertical video:

• TOP RIGHT: Position X: 270, Position Y: 480
• TOP LEFT: Position X: -270, Position Y: 480
• LOWER RIGHT: Position X: 270, Position Y: -480
• LOWER LEFT: Position X: -270, Position Y: -480

And here’s the finished result. I added a simple black border, as above, to better separate the images.

EXPORT THE PROJECT

To export the finished effect, choose File > Share > Export Movie.

The default settings are the best: Apple ProRes 4444, Color + Alpha, and Entire Project.

SUMMARY

The coordinate system in Motion and Final Cut makes creating these kind of effects simple – once you understand how it works and how to properly scale the video clips.

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