Pan-and-zoom
The pan-and-zoom tool is available for photos and images when they have been opened in the Photo Editor from the project timeline. Access the tool by clicking the Pan-and-zoom tab at the top of the screen.
With pan-and-zoom, an area from within the picture is used to fill the whole video frame. The area can be of any size and shape. On playback, it will be enlarged sufficiently to fill the video frame without empty areas.
If you define two or more areas, pan-and-zoom animates your presentation of the image by zooming in and out while traversing it with simulated camera movements as it moves smoothly from one area to another.
The pan-and-zoom tool utilizes the full available resolution of your original photo, so if the picture is large enough you will not forfeit detail by zooming in.
To apply pan-and-zoom to a photo clip on the timeline, double-click it to open the Photo Editor.
Because you are opening from the timeline, the Effects tab will be preselected in the Photo Editor. Switch instead to the Pan-and-zoom tab.
In this illustration the Pan-and-zoom tab has been selected and remains set to the default Static mode. The selection frame, which we see is being resized with the mouse, defines a region of the image that will be magnified to fill the entire frame, as shown in the floating preview panel (bottom right).
Pan-and-zoom has two alternative operating modes, which are selected with buttons just above the preview. In the Static mode, a single unchanging image region is shown throughout duration of the clip. In the Animated mode, separate regions are defined for the first and last frame of the clip; on playback, a smooth ‘camera move’ from one to the other is shown. Animated mode also allows keyframing, in which any number of additional defined regions can be added to the pan-and-zoom camera path.
Static mode
In Static mode, a gray selection frame with round control points is displayed over the image. You can enlarge, reduce, and move this frame, but you cannot change its proportions (aspect ratio). A small floating preview window displays the currently-defined selection.
The zoom and position can also be controlled numerically using sliders in the Attributes panel. Double-click the sliders to reset the values, or single click to enter a numeric value.
Attribute settings for the pan-and-zoom tool
Animated mode
When Animated mode is set, the image is automatically analyzed and an initial size and position both for the start and end is automatically set. The generated animation begins zoomed in slightly on the image subject, then pulls back to the full size available. If the image has a different aspect ratio than the video frame, enough zoom is applied throughout to prevent blank areas from appearing.
To support the extra functionality of Animated mode, the color of the selection frame is used to indicate its place in the animated sequence. The start frame is green, and the end frame is red. Frames at any intermediate point are drawn in white.
When multiple frames are visible, you can drag the frames as needed by positioning your mouse over either the edge of the frame or the center dot. Moving the white frame will automatically add a keyframe at the current position.
With keyframing, you can create a customized pan-and-zoom animation of arbitrary complexity, though simple sequences of a few steps may be all you ever need.
Switch to Animated mode as described above, and note that two frames have been added to the preview. These special start and end keyframes, which as mentioned above are drawn in green and red respectively. They can be dragged in space but not time.
If you don’t require intermediate keyframes, positioning the start and end frames completes your session.
For a more complex animation, however, position the scrubber where a change of camera motion should occur. To create a new keyframe, simply set the white selection frame to the desired size and position. The new keyframe is represented by a lozenge-shaped gray icon in the keyframe line below the clip timeline.
Add as many keyframes as necessary. When you are finished, click OK to return to the project timeline.
Manually adding a keyframe: To add an explicit keyframe at the play line position without altering the current animation path, click the toggle keyframe button on the far left of the transport toolbar.
Moving a keyframe: You can drag a keyframe along the timeline to reposition it in time.
Jumping to a keyframe: To jump to a keyframe in order to modify or delete it, use the arrow buttons to the left and right of the keyframe button, or click directly on the keyframe in the keyframe line. When the play line is directly over a keyframe, the keyframe will highlight.
Deleting a keyframe: To delete a keyframe, click its icon on the keyframe line to navigate to the right frame, then click the Delete keyframe button on the far left of the transport toolbar.
The Settings panel provides a number of controls for configuring the pan-and-zoom tool.
· Smooth provides gentle braking when approaching a direction change in the keyframe animation path.
· Select preset: Choose from a number of static and animated presets.
· Zoom, Horizontal, and Vertical display the numerical values of the current frame. Double-click the sliders to reset the values.
· Low pass filters out small-scale movements to achieve a smooth, optimized animation.