Transform position and zoom

Question

Transform position and zoom

OK, someone's going to have to help me here, because I just don't understand.

I want to zoom to a specific point in my clip, with the entire transition taking place over 15 frames. It was pretty simple in FCP 6. Keyframe in and out points, adjust values at each end and boom, point A to point B scale+movement. When I try this in FCPX I get this horrible wobble, as if the scale and the position aren't synchronising with each other. It gets me to where I want to be, but doesn't follow a nice smooth line - the movement is move like a wave. There are no excess keyframes causing this behaviour. I right-clicked the transform line in the viewer and tried both linear and smooth options and there was no noticable difference (according to the pictures, linear is what I want, smooth is what I get).

I feel like a complete moron, but I just don't understand. I must be doing something wrong, but for the life of me, I have no idea how to correct it. Help?

MacBook Pro, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2)

Posted on Nov 27, 2012 5:59 PM

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Answer 1

dastoelk

Level 3

706 points

Nov 27, 2012 6:11 PM in response to Blind_Optimism

This is a bit "wonky." A "gotcha."

1.) First... scale down your viewer (25 to 50%) This allows you to see any keyframes outside the viewer. MY GUESS IS: You've some keyframes outside the viewer you cannot see. Just a guess.

2.) Right click on the keyframes to make sure they are in "linear" mode. (NOT smooth)

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Answer 2

dastoelk

Level 3

706 points

Nov 27, 2012 6:12 PM in response to Blind_Optimism

ONE MORE THING: I've had good luck with a 3rd-party plug-in from fxFactory called "PAN and ZOOM."

http://www.noiseindustries.com/fxfactory/panandzoom/

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Answer 3

Nov 27, 2012 6:14 PM in response to dastoelk

Thanks for your reply.

Yup, the keyframes are definitely in linear mode. Even the red line goes straight from point A to B. But it doesn't animate that way.

I'll have a look at the plugin you sent me, see if that makes any difference. Thanks 🙂

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Answer 4

dastoelk

Level 3

706 points

Nov 27, 2012 6:20 PM in response to Blind_Optimism

SIGH.. This was the FIRST hitch I had wth FCPX. So, I feel ya. (Tom Wolsky might come along with a better explanation for ya.) This much I can tell you: FCPX interpolates "postion" and "scale" independently. When you start to mix the two, THAT is when you get the weird "over shoot" behavior.

But... not all is lost. That plug-in (from FxFactory) is all I use now. It allows you to delay your move. And you've upteen options on how you wish to "slow" your keyframe stops... quadratic, linear, s-curve, etc.

ADVICE: If you download the entire FxFactory suite, your effects browser will be FILLED, stuffed with sample effects. Overwhelming. Don't panic. Just go into your Finder > applications. Launch FxFactory, and toggle the swtiches to turn off all the effects, save for the ones you purchased (or got for free) or want to "sample."

But, again... PAN / ZOOM has been a loyal friend.

Good luck.

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Answer 5

Tom Wolsky

Level 10

152,817 points

Nov 27, 2012 6:39 PM in response to dastoelk

Legacy had the same problem. You might find it easier to animate the crop/crop function rather than transform and position.

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Answer 6

Nov 27, 2012 6:50 PM in response to dastoelk

I can't believe that FCPX can't handle a simple pan and zoom without the need of a plugin. I'm rather stunned. Still, thanks for the link. I'll give it a try and see what sort of results I get 🙂

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Answer 7

Nov 27, 2012 6:52 PM in response to Tom Wolsky

Thanks for your reply. I'll play about and see if I can stumble onto a solution. Seems a lot of kerfuffle over something that used to be so easy, though.

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Answer 8

Nov 27, 2012 9:56 PM in response to Blind_Optimism

For what it's worth, I found another plugin similar to dastoelk's recommendation above. It's not as extensive as Pan and Zoom and it's a little bit fiddly to use, but it comes without all of that fxfactory gubbins. Just putting it here in case anyone is interested. Still seems like it should be a basic requirement of the software itself, but oh well.

http://alex4d.wordpress.com/2011/08/04/smooth-move-fpx-effect/

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Answer 9

Nov 29, 2012 3:59 PM in response to Blind_Optimism

Thanks for the recommendation B_O.

I have an easier to use free effect that will help with this problem:

Alex4D Grow-Shrink

It animates between two scales. You can choose the centre point, a start scale and a finish scale. The position of the clip doesn't move, it just scales around the point you choose - the centre of where you want the small version of the clip to be, so you don't need to worry about the move and the scale not being in sync.

@alex4d

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Answer 10

Nov 29, 2012 4:57 PM in response to Alex Gollner

Thanks for your reply, Alex. I tried your effect and it seems like a good one, unfortunately, I don't think it's quite what I need in this instance. I need to be able to move to multiple points and then back again, for example:

point A > point B, point B > point C, point C > point A

Using your effect, I was able to complete A > B and B > C, but I couldn't get back to A again, as the scale had already 'finished'. I really need to keyframe each point so that I can set exactly where the 'camera' has to be at any given time. Of course, I may have just been doing it wrong - I'm no good with sliders. I'll give it another try later.

Thanks though. It's a great effect and I'm sure I'll use it for other things in the future 🙂

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Answer 11

Tom Wolsky

Level 10

152,817 points

Nov 29, 2012 9:59 PM in response to Blind_Optimism

You animate the crop function. Set a keyframe and adjust the crop setting as you like. Go forward in time and change the crop setting. Go further in time and then add another keyframe. Go to your final position and change the crop value again.

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Answer 12

Nov 29, 2012 10:06 PM in response to Tom Wolsky

You are absolutely correct. Thank you. I noticed you mentioned the crop function earlier, but I must have misunderstood, as I couldn't get it to work. I just tried again and it worked perfectly. Thank you for explaining it to me (twice). You've saved me a lot of hassle 🙂

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