There is a lot of demand for motion graphics artists, which is why they are paid an above-average wage in many advanced nations.

According to the Glassdoor report, an average pay scale of a motion graphics artist is somewhere around $63K. Keep in mind that the advanced motion graphics artists will charge a higher price for their skills. 

Below is the bar diagram that shows an exponential growth of the motion graphics market.

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Image Source: Grand View Research

Indeed, you can find plenty of free motion graphics templates along with paid ones that will enable you to create spectacular motion graphics animation. However, you will find that those clips you create with pre-existing templates will not have that unique touch. 

You must learn how to create motion graphics templates to create a masterpiece video and  position yourself as a motion graphic artist who has an in-depth knowledge of motion graphics. In this article, you will learn the fundamentals of creating best motion graphics templates along with practical steps to design templates.

Learning the Fundamentals and Development of Motion Graphics Templates

This section of the article will deal with teaching you the fundamentals and development of motion graphics templates. As Adobe After Effects is one of the most preferred software to develop motion graphics animation, I will reveal the fundamentals along with steps to create your first Adobe motion graphics templates.

Understanding Essential Graphics Panel

The newer versions of Adobe lets you build custom controls for your motion graphics templates. You can share them as templates via Adobe Creative Cloud. There is an option for you to insert various controls and customize them. To access the essential graphics panel, you need to go to the windows section and click on Workspace to find Essential Graphics.

You can use essential graphics primarily in four different ways:

  • Use necessary graphics as a control surface for dragging parameters in the timeline, creating a shortcut for elements you need to keep on editing.
  • To build Master Properties that act as a remote control for the nested composition's editing effects and layer properties.
  • You can export it as a template via MOGRT extension, which you can directly import to Adobe Premiere Pro.
  • Group control together for controlling font properties and adding authority to CSV/TSV to a template.

In the Master section, you can select the composition, which you want to convert to a template.

Making your Text Editable in the Template

It is crucial to make the text editable in the model. Remember that you are creating a model, and you want users to customize images, texts, and other media files where it is necessary.

You will find no difficulty whatsoever in making your texts editable. All you need to do is drag the text source to the panel and change it to something that sounds sensible, like “Edit Text.”

Now you should enable your users to Insert Texts of their Choice

After you get to the “Effects and Presets” section, type “Separate XYZ position” on the search bar. Select the “Separate XYZ position” and drag it to your graphics panel where you have your text layer. You can also choose X and Y positions in the Essential Graphics Panel.

It is Important to add Text-Scale Option as Well

Adding a text-scale option is also a simple task. To do that, you should first head to “Effects and Presets” and select “Transform.” After finding the “Transform” feature, you need to drag it to the text layer.

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Image Source: Pond5

Open Transform inside the Effects, and after that, you need to drag the Scale property to the Essential Graphics Panel. 

Add Color-Fill Property

It is crucial to let your users adjust colors in your After Effects motion graphics templates. To insert the color-fill feature to your model, you should go to “Effects and Preset” once again and look for “Fill” in the search tab. Drag the file onto a layer that you want to adjust. You can try to take it to the background layer, for now, to keep things simple.

Within your background layer “Effects,” you need to drop color fill property into the graphics panel. It is possible to rename the property as per your requirement. For most cases, it is by default “change background color” because the users are used to it, and they feel it easier to understand.

Give users more Options by Letting them Play around with the Opacity

For allowing users to edit the level of opacity, you should head to the layer's standard transform tool option and drop the “Opacity” property onto the Essential Graphics Panel. The opacity feature will give users more flexibility in adding or decreasing the level of transparency in their image, which is crucial for image editing in many ways.

Exporting motion graphics Templates

The final stage is to export your motion graphics templates. After completing all the steps that I’ve mentioned before, you are finally ready to export your first motion graphics templates. Give the proper name to your model and then select “Export.

att 1Image Source: Pond5

You can import the template in Adobe Premiere Pro and start making motion graphics clips with the model that you made just now.

Also, share the models with other animators and get their opinions about what they think about your template and how you can improve it in general. It will help you learn and produce better models in the future.

Get Inspired by Other

You are only a beginner so you cannot expect to create a template that many will love to use at once. For creating useful models for others, you need to learn more and practice.

One of the best ways to create better templates is by looking at other amazing models and learning from them. Collect models across various industries to get a grasp of the requirements of animators.

Many copywriters keep swipe files, which means a collection of top copywriting materials created by many people. You can create a new folder and collect all top templates, dissect them, and improve the models that you will produce in the future.

Wrapping Things Up

You will come across many motion graphics clips made with pre-built templates. However, only a few motion graphics designers bother to create their version of motion graphics templates because it takes more time than usual. By creating motion graphics templates from scratch, you will immediately stand out from competitors.

Follow the fundamentals steps that I've revealed to you in this article. Do not experiment a lot if you are a beginner, as it is always better to master the fundamentals before trying something new.

I want you to understand that I've not taught every technique that you need to know about how to make motion graphics templates. There are plenty of things that you can do inside the graphics panel that I've not talked about in this article.

When you master the fundamentals, you can explore more about what you can do to make templates even more useful to the users.

Have you found our article helpful? Just leave your comments below to share your opinion with us and our audience.

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Frequently Asked Questions

You can find a plethora of free motion graphics templates on various online platforms. Websites like Motion Array, Adobe Stock, and Mixkit offer extensive libraries of high-quality templates for a wide range of applications. These templates cover everything from video intros to lower-thirds, making them a valuable resource for video creators.

Creating a motion graphic template requires proficiency in motion graphics software like Adobe After Effects. After designing your animation, you can convert it into a template by selecting the appropriate composition or elements, and then saving it in a compatible format. This typically involves exporting the composition as a Motion Graphics Template (MOGRT) file, which can be easily imported into editing software for future use.

Motion graphics templates, often referred to as MOGRTs, are pre-designed animations or visual elements that can be easily integrated into video projects. They serve as a time-saving tool for video editors and content creators, allowing them to add professional-grade graphics, titles, transitions, and other visual elements without starting from scratch. This accelerates the video production process and ensures a polished end result.

Adobe offers an extensive collection of motion graphics templates through its Creative Cloud platform. Users can access a wide range of professionally designed MOGRTs directly within Adobe Premiere Pro and After Effects. Additionally, Adobe Stock provides an expansive library of templates that can be downloaded and used seamlessly within Adobe's suite of video editing software. This integration streamlines the workflow for video editors, providing them with a wealth of resources at their fingertips.

With over 8 years of experience in creating animated videos such as Explainer videos, Whiteboard Animations, Commercials, and Social media ads, Chehak brings a unique approach to storytelling across diverse topics. She combines her expertise in video production with a passion for writing and crafting engaging content around video marketing and creative industries.