How to Use Motion Graphics Templates in Premiere Pro

Have you ever wondered how so many YouTube creators and other video creators have the time and skills to create so many well-designed intro graphics, logo animations, lower thirds, and more in their videos?

I have definitely wondered how they have the time and know-how to make such polished graphics.

Even as a video editor for more than 10 years myself, it would take me days to create some of the intros and titles they put together.

Lucky for us, they know about a little secret called MOGRT files. Don’t let the name intimidate you.

It stands for Motion Graphic Template files and the great news is how easy they are to use.

In today’s post I’m going to walk you through step by step exactly what MOGRT or Motion Graphic Templates are, where to find them, and how to download and install them.

I’ll also show you exactly how to customize and use them in your projects.

They are so easy and enjoyable to use, plus they make your videos look polished and professional.

First, what are they and where is the best place to find them?

What Are MOGRT (Motion Graphic Template Files)?

MOGRT or Motion Graphic Template Files are simply animations or graphics that have already been designed by another editor.

Once you purchase and install them in Premiere Pro, you’ll be able to customize and add them to your own projects with ease. (You will need to edit with Premiere Pro or After Effects for these to work.)

This will save hours of time, while greatly enhancing the creativity and production quality of your video at the same time.

They are a great resource to have so that you can spend your time focused on the main video edits and not have to worry about recreating unique graphics for each intro or lower third.

As someone who was editing 10 years ago before MOGRT files were around, I can tell you what an amazing tool these are.

Where is the Best Place to Download MOGRT files?

Best Motion Graphics Templates for Premiere Pro

There are a handful of great places to shop for MOGRT files online.

I’ll share with you my favorite resource: Envato Elements.

With Envato you have two options:

  • if you just need one specific template, you can make a one time purchase through the Envato Marketplace
  • if you need on-going templates or more than one, I would recommend trying their monthly membership called Envato Elements

Envato Marketplace

Imagine the marketplace as a typical market. You shop around, you find what you like, and you make a one-time purchase. The prices generally range anywhere from $10-$60, depending on the project files.

It’s a great option if you know you just want one specific template and that’s it.

Envato Elements

On the other hand, Envato also offers a monthly membership that allows you to download UNLIMITED templates. It’s $16 a month, which is a steal if you know that you’ll end up wanting more than just one template a month or multiple templates right off the bat.

Because I use MOGRT files for intros, promos, lower thirds, and so much more, I happily get my money’s worth and more with a monthly subscription.

Plus it allows me to download with ease and try out all the different templates on my project before I decide which works the best.

Here’s How to Download MOGRT Templates

We’ll use Envato as our example since it’s what I use to find all my motion graphic templates.

First, click on the option for ‘Video Templates’ in the top left corner.

How to Use Envato Elements

Next, we can narrow down our search either by type of project we’re looking for or by the program we are using to edit our video.

How to download a MOGRT file

You may also choose to type in a specific search term in the search bar on top as well.

Let’s say I’m looking for some unique titles to use for animated text in my video.

In the search bar I’ll type in ‘titles’. I’m also going to make sure I check ‘Premiere Pro’ only in the Applications Supported options. If you edit with After Effects, you may leave this selected as well.

Now you’ll see many options pop up. Simply hover over the videos to see a preview and get an idea if there’s any that you like.

Once you find one that you like, click to see more details.

Best typography template for premiere pro

If you decide you like that template and want to download it, simply click on the red ‘Download’ button on the right hand side.

Add and Download MOGRT file

You’ll be prompted to either create a new project or to select one you’ve already created. Simply choose a descriptive name of the project you’ll be using for this template.

The reason you have to provide a project name is for copy-write purposes. You have unlimited downloads and can assign this graphic to more than one project, but it’s a good idea to keep track in case there is ever a copy-write issue.

Finally, click the red ‘Add and Download’ button.

At this point your computer should automatically begin downloading the template.

Next we’ll walk through exactly where to store the download and how to install it in Premiere Pro.

How to Install MOGRT Files on Your Computer

1 | Locate the files you just downloaded in your ‘Downloads’ folder

How to Install MOGRT files

2 | Drag the folder into another designated folder where you’d like to keep this template. I keep a folder on my Desktop titled ‘TOOLS’ where all of my MOGRT templates live.

How to Install MOGRT files on Mac

3 | Open your video project in Premiere Pro.

4 | Make sure that you open up your Essential Graphics panel in Premiere Pro. If you don’t see it, navigate up to ‘Window’ in the top finder bar and make sure it’s checked.

How to Open Essential Graphics Panel In Premiere Pro

Your editing window should now look something like this:

See the Essential Graphics Panel on the bottom left side?

5 | Next you want to click on that little box with a plus sign over it in the bottom right corner.

6 | A new finder window will open up. Navigate to the folder where you decided to save your newly downloaded MOGRT files and click which one you’d like to import.

Now, here’s the snag. With this method I was only able to import one file at a time. Because there are 25 of them, this was quite a laborious task.

Surely there’s a way to import more than one MOGRT file at one time, right?

Thankfully, yes there is.

How to Import Multiple MOGRT Files in Premiere Pro at One Time

1 | Click on the little ‘hamburger‘ symbol to the top right of the Essential Graphics panel.

2 | Navigate down and click on ‘Manage Additional Folders‘.

3 | Another window will pop open. Click the ‘Add‘ button.

4 | Select the folder where you saved your MOGRT files.

5 | You will now see the directory to your files in the window. Click ‘OK‘.

6 | In your Essential Graphics window, start typing in the name of your files and they should begin to load in the panel for you. Mine were called ‘Title 1, 2, 3… etc.’ so I typed ‘title’ in the search box and they popped up as you see below.

Note: Make sure the local and library boxes are both checked.

How to Use MOGRT Files In a Premiere Pro Project

Now we get to the fun part – using the files in our video project!

It’s so easy, you’re about to see why MOGRT files are the best.

Now that we’ve loaded all our files into the Essential Graphics Panel, let’s preview them to decide which one we’d like to use in our project.

How to Preview MOGRT Files in the Essential Graphics Panel

First, if you want to preview the way each MOGRT file looks before you choose the one that you want, simply hover over the box and move your mouse to the right to see a preview of it in action.

What if Hovering and Scrubbing Doesn’t Show a MOGRT Preview?

Sadly, I’ve realized this to be the case with some of the MOGRT files that I’ve tried to preview.

Here’s the answer I found: .mogrt files authored within Premiere Pro have the ability to show the animated preview when hover scrubbing within the Essential Graphics window, but .mogrt files authored within After Effects do not have that capability.    

Sadly there is no work around for this issue that I’m aware of yet. You’ll just have to try yours out to see if the preview works for you.

The only other solution, although time consuming, is to drag it over to your timeline and preview it there.

Drag and Drop the MOGRT Files to the top layer on your timeline.

It’s truly as simple as that. Just pick up the file that you’d like to place in your video and drag it to the topmost layer of your timeline.

What’s That Red Line? How to Render MOGRT Files for Playback

You’ll see a red bar above your timeline and when you try to play the video back, it’s likely to not play smoothly.

Anytime that you add a MOGRT file on top of your footage, you will likely need to render your video in order to play it back properly.

This simply means that the computer needs to analyze the footage so it plays quicker.

1 | First set an in point at the beginning of the area that you’d like to render. Place your cursor where you want to set the in-point and hit ‘i’ on your keyboard. You can also navigate up to the top menu and click ‘Markers -> Mark In‘ to set an in point.

2 | Now move your cursor to the end of where the red line ends. Set an out point by hitting ‘o’ on your keyboard or navigating up to ‘Markers -> Mark Out’.

Your timeline should now look like this around the red line:

3 | Next hit enter on your keyboard to start rendering your video, or navigate up to ‘Sequence -> Render Effects In to Out

4 | Your sequence should now have a green bar above it and should play back nicely when you hit the spacebar.

How to Edit MOGRT Files in Premiere Pro

Now that we have our template file in our video, let’s walk through all the many ways you can customize this file to fit your project.

Depending on the file itself, you generally have full control over the font type, font size, background colors, duration of the clip, and more.

To change the duration of the clip, simply drag the beginning or end of the clip itself. This will automatically change when the animation starts and stops naturally.

To change the font, size, and colors, navigate back over to the Essential Graphics window. Make sure you’ve clicked ‘Edit‘ on the right hand side of the window.

In some cases, the customization is limited. For this file that I downloaded, I can change the type font, size, and position, but I can’t change the color.

This just depends on the file that you’ve downloaded and how it was built. Many of the templates I’ve seen do allow you to change the font color, however.

Make sure to read the fine print and details before you purchase your template if this is a critical point for your project.

Once you’ve made any edits, you will have to render your video project again to preview it. Simply hit ‘return’ on your keyboard to begin the render.

Concluding Thoughts

I hope you’ve enjoyed learning more about the beauty of how easy it is to use MOGRT files in Premiere Pro.

As always, leave any questions for me in the comments below.

Happy Editing!

-Beth

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