Why are images two-sided in Motion 5?

Question

I'm working in '3D mode' and I'm rotating images much like the letters on Wheel of Fortune. Except that when an image rotates beyond 180 degrees it is still visable (yet reversed). In my experience, 3D polygons are one-sided by default. Any thoughts?
Thanks,
Chris

Answer 1

Two sided images are a "feature"... that's how they behave.  David is right — you'll have to supply a backing rectangle for each side. However, this should actually help simplify your project. Here's how:
For all your images, line them up, center canvas. Draw a single rectangle to enclose all of them and center it in the canvas. For each image, duplicate the rectangle then Group the image and rectangle pair. Label the group the name of them image. Make sure the rectangle is arranged within the group at the bottom. Close each of the groups and treat them as if they are the images themselves (that means all position and rotation controls will now be at the group level, thus controlling both the image and the rectangle together.)
Each image group will now have the same dimensions (makes lining everything up much easier!)
My trick for a "tight" arrangement is to select one of the groups and for Position: Z, add a Link behavior. Set the source to the same group and for the Source Parameter, select  Compaitible Parameters > Position > Transform > Anchor Point > Z. Option click drag that link behavior onto your other image groups so that they all now have the same linked behaviors.  Reset each Image group's Link behavior's Source Object to match its group.
Now, if you don't have a Camera, add one and select all of the image groups; switch to Perspective View and rotate to a top "look" at the scene [perspective is more convenient than going to top view for making fine tune adjustments later.]
Select the Anchor Point tool (all image groups still selected) and drag the Z control (blue arrow) backwards away from the images -- you should see all of them repostion at the same time -- this will make lining up the edges easy and accurate. To fine tune the Z anchor point, in the inspector, you can hold down the option key while dragging on Anchor Point.Z (all image groups still selected -- whether you see a value there or just an '-').  You can use the rotation tool in Perspective view to make sure all edges are lining up correctly (it will help a great deal if all background rectangles are the same color.)
When you're done with that, you can click on the parent group and reposition its anchor point to be the center of the image arrangement (which should be exactly the same as the other Anchor Point Z settings) so that all you should need to do is control the Group's Rotation.Y parameter to spin the images.  Remember to go back to Active Camera view. [If you don't want or need a camera, you can just turn it off, or delete it.]
HTH
[edit:] PS - just before you adjust the Z-anchors, rotate the Y axis of the image as needed... sorry for the oversight!