The motion on a pan and zoom over a still is at times a tad shaky. What might I be doing wrong?

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Level 1

8 points

The motion on a pan and zoom over a still is at times a tad shaky. What might I be doing wrong?

I'm currently evaluating FPC X vs Premiere Pro. With one exception FPC X has Premiere beaten. My test project is a slide show in which some images have pan and zoom applied. The general formula I follow is to establish the shot at the iinitial position and scale. Then move to the ending position and scale, and hold that for a second. On some shots the movement wobbles during the pan. I've no extreneous keyframes and I've redone a few slides several times with the same result. I'd really like to use FCP X, the UI is really crisp and it's less then half the price but I can apply the same fx and they work smorothly. I hope I'm doing something wrong, any advice? If I decide FPC X should I go the extra $50 and get Motion5? Does it work better?

Final Cut Pro X

Posted on Dec 15, 2012 7:36 PM

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Answer 1

Dec 15, 2012 8:21 PM in response to danschlack

danschlack,

How are you viewing the video? Depending on seveal factors play back of the timelin can apper to be jerky, but the final export could be fine.

Are you aware of the Ken Burns effect in FCPX? It could save you some steps in setting up your pans and zooms, the hold at the end could be a freeze frame.

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Answer 2

Dec 15, 2012 9:35 PM in response to danschlack

Check out www.noiseindustries.com/fxfactory/panandzoom/ This is free.

But getting Motion 5 is a good idea. At $50, it's a great deal.

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Answer 3

Russ H

Level 7

22,432 points

Dec 16, 2012 9:20 AM in response to danschlack

Another vote here for Motion. Much easier to create pans/zooms on stills than FCP, and with greater control it should produce better results. If the only things that Motion did were moves on stills and chroma keying, it would still be worth the price.

Good luck.

Russ

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Answer 4

danschlack Author

Level 1

8 points

Dec 16, 2012 3:30 PM in response to Michigan One Fly

Thanks for the advice. I immediately went home and rendered my test project, and, well, no go. I'm aware of he canned Ken Burns, but as with all canned effects, there is a trade off between convenience and flexiblity. I think I'll try downloading a third party plug-in. If I actually buy FCP I'll also buy motion.

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Answer 5

Dec 17, 2012 12:41 AM in response to danschlack

When you pan and zoom using keyframes, you have to be aware of the settings for the animation path.

Each keyframe can be set to "linear" or "smooth" interpolation. In this case you need "linear".

Take a look at the online manual here: http://help.apple.com/finalcutpro/mac/10.0.6/

You can "print" this manual to pdf using the little printer-like symbol at the top right of the page.

Then open the pdf in Preview and look at page 224.

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Answer 6

danschlack Author

Level 1

8 points

Dec 17, 2012 6:13 AM in response to Richard Crain

I've done so and it does work but I'm not sure I like what FxFactory does to the performance. I have the 13.3 inch Mac Pro with lots of memory but I don't have the Invedia graphics card. FPCX has run somewhat sluggishly. This is a problem with my configuration but on the whole FxFactory looks like a keeper, provided I can't find a native solution.

Thanks for your advice.

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Answer 7

danschlack Author

Level 1

8 points

Dec 17, 2012 6:14 AM in response to Luis Sequeira1

This looks like the native solution I've been seeking. I can't wait to get home and try it out tonight.

Thanks, to you and the whole suppport community.

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Answer 8

Dec 17, 2012 2:07 PM in response to danschlack

It may not just be a problem with your configuation. Remember that, by default, FxFactory will load every single plug-in they sell so you can try them out in demo mode.

Run the separate FxFactory application (installed with the plug-ins and in your Applications folder) and turn off the stuff you're not interested in.

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Answer 9

danschlack Author

Level 1

8 points

Dec 17, 2012 6:18 PM in response to danschlack

Thanks again for the help, but I think we are talking apples and oranges. I'm trying to do non-default style pan and zoom over a still. The fx I'm working on has 4 keyframes. The first movement pans accross the still as it zooms in on the subject. Then it should be holding at that position a bit. Finally is zooms out to the transition. It gets wobbly in the middle section where it should be holding steady. I think the info in your message relates to tranforming a clip. I'll just work with 3 copies of the slide, that'll work its just a lot of bother.

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Answer 10

Tom Wolsky

Level 10

151,004 points

Dec 17, 2012 6:35 PM in response to danschlack

Animate the crop function with four keyframes, not the scale and position parameters.

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Answer 11

Russ H

Level 7

22,432 points

Dec 17, 2012 6:42 PM in response to danschlack

To revisit an earlier suggestion, I'd try Motion. It is your friend if you're going to do very much of this. It does a very nice job on stills. No trials though. You'd have to test it on someone else's computer – like at an Apple Store.

Russ

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Answer 12

Dec 18, 2012 2:44 AM in response to danschlack

If the images fill the screen, then Tom's suggestion to keyframe the crop function is clearly the easiest way to deal with it.

Otherwise, I can confirm that my earlier suggestion to change the interpolation at each keyframe from "smooth" to "linear" avoids the wobbling.

I did a small test by having a picture move horizontally, then stopping for a while at the right edge, and then move down and out of the frame. Like predicted, it moved up before it started down. Changing the interpolation to linear solved the issue.

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Answer 13

danschlack Author

Level 1

8 points

Dec 18, 2012 5:32 AM in response to Luis Sequeira1

This looks good. I struggled with your suggestion last night, much to the chagrin of my wife. I couldn't figure out how to modify this property of a keyframe, even after spending a bunch of time with the user's guide and LYNDA.COM tutorials. This will get another shot when I get home from work and this time its certain to succeed. Your help and the help of the rest of community has been great, it has sealed my decision to purchase FCPX. With that decision made I soon gain the experience to able to offer this level of assistence to others.

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Answer 14

danschlack Author

Level 1

8 points

Dec 20, 2012 6:25 AM in response to Luis Sequeira1

Well, I tried your solution and, well not good. At this point I suspect a deep seated bug that causes this problem to surface when panning at an angle is combined with with zoom. That is, keyframing position changes when both x and y are changing, and scale changes are not 100% compatible. The problem also seems to be cumulative, the more I do on a still the worse the effect. I do not think this will be solved until get off the trial FCPX and get upto speed with Motion5. As soon as I can confirm Motion5's abity to help, I'll make the move otherwise I'm back to the overpriced Adobe products.

All I really want to do is, at times, is pan and zoom, then hold, then pan and zoom a new direction into a cross disolve.

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Answer 15

Tom Wolsky

Level 10

151,004 points

Dec 20, 2012 6:35 AM in response to danschlack

Did you try animating the crop function?

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