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đŸŽ¯ Better Motion

Better Motion lets you adjust Premiere Pro's Motion properties — Position, Scale, Rotation, Opacity — directly from your keyboard, without clicking inside Premiere's Effect Controls panel.

Two interaction styles:

  • Interactive overlay — a hotkey opens a fullscreen overlay; drag the mouse to adjust, click to confirm
  • Inline command — type a value in the search bar (/BM scale 85) and it applies immediately with no overlay

Better Transform​

Better Transform is an all-in-one overlay that handles Position, Rotation, and Scale in a single session — just by holding different mouse buttons.

Mouse stateProperty being adjusted
No button heldPosition
Hold Right Mouse ButtonRotation
Hold Middle Mouse ButtonScale
Click Left Mouse ButtonConfirm current property and exit

When you switch from one button to another, the current property is committed immediately before the next one begins. Each switch is a separate undo step in Premiere.

Bind a hotkey to Better Transform in Settings → Better Motion to trigger it from anywhere.


Per-Property Hotkeys​

Each property has its own set of assignable hotkeys:

ActionWhat it does
AdjustOpens the interactive overlay for that property
ResetResets the property to Premiere Pro's default value
AddInstant nudge forward by the configured amount
SubInstant nudge backward by the configured amount

Position has separate X and Y controls:

ActionAxis
X Add / X SubHorizontal (left / right)
Y Add / Y SubVertical (up / down)

Scale, Rotation, Opacity each have a single Add/Sub pair.


Interactive Overlay​

When an Adjust hotkey fires (or you select a BM command from the search bar without an inline value):

  1. A fullscreen overlay appears — the cursor is hidden and input is captured
  2. The current property value is read from Premiere Pro and displayed
  3. Move the mouse to change the value — the overlay shows current → new in real time
  4. Click (LMB) to confirm, Esc to cancel and restore the original value

Modifier keys​

Hold these while dragging to control sensitivity:

KeySpeed
(none)1× — normal
Shift2× — faster, coarse adjustment
Ctrl0.25× — slower, precision

Mouse Axis​

For Scale, Rotation, and Opacity, choose which mouse movement drives the value:

AxisMovement
HorizontalLeft/right mouse movement
VerticalUp/down mouse movement

The Invert checkbox flips the direction. Configure per property in Settings → Better Motion.

Position always uses X=horizontal and Y=vertical — no axis config needed.


Live Motion​

When Live Motion is enabled, changes appear in Premiere Pro's Program Monitor in real time as you drag.

âš ī¸ Undo warning: Each incremental update is a separate undo step. Undoing a Live Motion adjustment requires pressing Ctrl+Z multiple times. Use the Reset hotkeys as a faster alternative.

Toggle in Settings → Better Motion → Enable Live Motion.


Better Motion properties can be controlled directly from the search bar without opening any overlay. See Commands → Better Motion Commands for full syntax.

Quick reference:

Search inputResult
/BM scale 85Set scale to 85
/BM opacity +10Add 10 to current opacity
/BM rotation -15Subtract 15 from rotation
/BM position 960.540Set position to X=960, Y=540
/BM scale resetReset scale to default

Setup​

  1. Go to Settings → Better Motion
  2. Enable Better Motion with the toggle at the top
  3. Bind a hotkey to Better Transform for the all-in-one mode
  4. Bind Adjust, Reset, Add, Sub hotkeys per property as needed
  5. Set nudge amounts for Add/Sub (e.g., Position X Add = 50 px, Scale Add = 10)
  6. Configure Mouse Axis and Invert per property
  7. Optionally enable Live Motion
  8. Click Save Configuration

â„šī¸ Better Motion hotkeys are conflict-checked against the search bar key and all custom hotkeys. Duplicates are rejected on save.


Examples​

Example 1 — Nudge a clip 50 px right (instant, no overlay)​

Bind Position → X Add to Ctrl+Right with amount 50.

Press Ctrl+Right with a clip selected → position shifts +50 px on X instantly.


Example 2 — Fine-tune opacity with precision​

Bind Opacity → Adjust to Alt+O.

  1. Select a clip in Premiere
  2. Press Alt+O → overlay opens, showing current opacity
  3. Hold Ctrl (0.25× speed) and move the mouse slowly
  4. Click to confirm the value

Example 3 — Full Better Transform session​

Bind Better Transform to Alt+T.

  1. Select a clip
  2. Press Alt+T → overlay opens in Position mode
  3. Drag to reposition the clip
  4. Hold RMB → switches to Rotation mode; drag to rotate
  5. Hold MMB → switches to Scale mode; drag to resize
  6. Click LMB → confirms Scale and exits

Each mode switch commits that property as a separate undo step.


Ctrl+Space → /BM position reset → Enter

Position resets to Premiere's default (960, 540 for 1080p) with no overlay.


Example 5 — Set exact position in one command​

Ctrl+Space → /BM position 0.0 → Enter

Sets X=0, Y=0. The . separates X and Y values.


Example 6 — "Reset Transform" macro​

Create a macro with these actions:

#ActionValue
1Positionreset
2Scalereset
3Rotationreset
4Opacityreset

Run: Ctrl+Space → Reset Transform → Enter — all four properties snap to defaults in one shot.


Example 7 — Nudge scale on multiple clips with keyboard only​

Bind Scale → Add to = (amount: 10) and Scale → Sub to - (amount: 10).

Select clips, tap = or - to nudge scale in real time — no overlay, no mouse. Each tap is a separate undo step.

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