đ¯ Better Motion
Better Motion lets you adjust Premiere Pro's Motion properties â Position, Scale, Rotation, Opacity â directly from your keyboard, without clicking inside Premiere's Effect Controls panel.
Two interaction styles:
- Interactive overlay â a hotkey opens a fullscreen overlay; drag the mouse to adjust, click to confirm
- Inline command â type a value in the search bar (
/BM scale 85) and it applies immediately with no overlay
Better Transformâ
Better Transform is an all-in-one overlay that handles Position, Rotation, and Scale in a single session â just by holding different mouse buttons.
| Mouse state | Property being adjusted |
|---|---|
| No button held | Position |
| Hold Right Mouse Button | Rotation |
| Hold Middle Mouse Button | Scale |
| Click Left Mouse Button | Confirm 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 â Better Motion to trigger it from anywhere.
Per-Property Hotkeysâ
Each property has its own set of assignable hotkeys:
| Action | What it does |
|---|---|
| Adjust | Opens the interactive overlay for that property |
| Reset | Resets the property to Premiere Pro's default value |
| Add | Instant nudge forward by the configured amount |
| Sub | Instant nudge backward by the configured amount |
Position has separate X and Y controls:
| Action | Axis |
|---|---|
| X Add / X Sub | Horizontal (left / right) |
| Y Add / Y Sub | Vertical (up / down) |
Scale, Rotation, Opacity each have a single Add/Sub pair.
Interactive Overlayâ
When an Adjust hotkey fires (or you select a BM command from the search bar without an inline value):
- A fullscreen overlay appears â the cursor is hidden and input is captured
- The current property value is read from Premiere Pro and displayed
- Move the mouse to change the value â the overlay shows
current â newin real time - Click (LMB) to confirm, Esc to cancel and restore the original value
Modifier keysâ
Hold these while dragging to control sensitivity:
| Key | Speed |
|---|---|
| (none) | 1Ã â normal |
| Shift | 2Ã â faster, coarse adjustment |
| Ctrl | 0.25Ã â slower, precision |
Mouse Axisâ
For Scale, Rotation, and Opacity, choose which mouse movement drives the value:
| Axis | Movement |
|---|---|
| Horizontal | Left/right mouse movement |
| Vertical | Up/down mouse movement |
The Invert checkbox flips the direction. Configure per property in Settings â Better Motion.
Position always uses X=horizontal and Y=vertical â no axis config needed.
Live Motionâ
When Live Motion is enabled, changes appear in Premiere Pro's Program Monitor in real time as you drag.
â ī¸ Undo warning: Each incremental update is a separate undo step. Undoing a Live Motion adjustment requires pressing
Ctrl+Zmultiple times. Use the Reset hotkeys as a faster alternative.
Toggle in Settings â Better Motion â Enable Live Motion.
Inline Commands (Search Bar)â
Better Motion properties can be controlled directly from the search bar without opening any overlay. See Commands â Better Motion Commands for full syntax.
Quick reference:
| Search input | Result |
|---|---|
/BM scale 85 | Set scale to 85 |
/BM opacity +10 | Add 10 to current opacity |
/BM rotation -15 | Subtract 15 from rotation |
/BM position 960.540 | Set position to X=960, Y=540 |
/BM scale reset | Reset scale to default |
Setupâ
- Go to Settings â Better Motion
- Enable Better Motion with the toggle at the top
- Bind a hotkey to Better Transform for the all-in-one mode
- Bind Adjust, Reset, Add, Sub hotkeys per property as needed
- Set nudge amounts for Add/Sub (e.g., Position X Add = 50 px, Scale Add = 10)
- Configure Mouse Axis and Invert per property
- Optionally enable Live Motion
- Click Save Configuration
âšī¸ Better Motion hotkeys are conflict-checked against the search bar key and all custom hotkeys. Duplicates are rejected on save.
Examplesâ
Example 1 â Nudge a clip 50 px right (instant, no overlay)â
Bind Position â X Add to Ctrl+Right with amount 50.
Press Ctrl+Right with a clip selected â position shifts +50 px on X instantly.
Example 2 â Fine-tune opacity with precisionâ
Bind Opacity â Adjust to Alt+O.
- Select a clip in Premiere
- Press
Alt+Oâ overlay opens, showing current opacity - Hold Ctrl (0.25Ã speed) and move the mouse slowly
- Click to confirm the value
Example 3 â Full Better Transform sessionâ
Bind Better Transform to Alt+T.
- Select a clip
- Press
Alt+Tâ overlay opens in Position mode - Drag to reposition the clip
- Hold RMB â switches to Rotation mode; drag to rotate
- Hold MMB â switches to Scale mode; drag to resize
- Click LMB â confirms Scale and exits
Each mode switch commits that property as a separate undo step.
Example 4 â Reset position from the search barâ
Ctrl+Space â /BM position reset â Enter
Position resets to Premiere's default (960, 540 for 1080p) with no overlay.
Example 5 â Set exact position in one commandâ
Ctrl+Space â /BM position 0.0 â Enter
Sets X=0, Y=0. The . separates X and Y values.
Example 6 â "Reset Transform" macroâ
Create a macro with these actions:
| # | Action | Value |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Position | reset |
| 2 | Scale | reset |
| 3 | Rotation | reset |
| 4 | Opacity | reset |
Run: Ctrl+Space â Reset Transform â Enter â all four properties snap to defaults in one shot.
Example 7 â Nudge scale on multiple clips with keyboard onlyâ
Bind Scale â Add to = (amount: 10) and Scale â Sub to - (amount: 10).
Select clips, tap = or - to nudge scale in real time â no overlay, no mouse. Each tap is a separate undo step.
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