A strange way to create a pan from a still.

[Jim]

OK, this may not be useful to most folks but it's still
interesting enough of a technique/effect that I thought
I'd post a summary here. I don't think I've seen it posted
elsewhere. Please forgive me if this is old stuff.
I've been using mm2 quite a bit to make movies from my
digital stills - a technique I love. I recently saw an ad
for Microsoft's Photo Show 2 and noticed that left right
pans were possible however there are many things it can't
do that mm2 does. In order to really get the most from
Photo Show 2 Microsoft recommends touching-up the photo
movie with mm2. Hmmm. I wondered if there was any possible
way of getting any kind of left/right pan using mm2 only
and maybe photo manipulation software. This is what I
found:
Here goes...
1. Using any image software you have open the picture and
crop it to a wide aspect rectangle. In fact, if you have
any stitched panoramic images they become quite
interesting when treated with this technique.
2. Now comes the laborious part. The image is to be
chopped up in over-lapping sections just as you would see
in video or film when looking at successive frames. I
think everyone knows where I'm going at this point. I took
a panoramic I'd made and created thirty overlapping images
and it took all of two minutes to cut them, number them
and save them accordingly. How much to overlap and how
many frames takes some practice, just remember that mm2's
shortest duration is 1 second. That should help you plan
out the movement.
3. After importing them to mm2 I set duration to one
second, (it's lowest),.
4. Next I used the transition setting "fade" between all
frames though there may be better alternatives. As a side
note, for some reason I'm not able to add "fade" to every
transition spot, only every other. Don't know what's going
on there. It's late now. Perhaps I need to reboot myself?

Admittedly, this technique does not produce a smooth pan
but rather a very interesting stop frame sort of look.
It's not jerky due to fades but it's not a smooth 30 fps
pan either. Before you poo-poo it give it a try. I
consider it just one more tool to use.
I've already used it in several variations such as panning
and zooming to certain areas in the image and combining it
with mm2's "ease in/out" effects.
Cheers,
Jim

 

[PapaJohn \(MVP\)]

Hi Jim,

Just one comment on your info. The lowest setting is 1/8 second, not 1
second. And the lowest setting for the transition duration is 1/4 second.

PapaJohn

 

[Anthony]

Jim,

OK, this may not be useful to most folks but

Put it out there anyway. You can't know what it might
inspire in others. Sounds like an interesting affect.
Maybe once I get past some basic MM2 problems I'll be able
to focus on those myself.

3. After importing them to mm2 I set duration to one
second, (it's lowest),.

I believe you can use decimal numbers to get it lower,
to .25 of one second.

4. Next I used the transition setting "fade" between all
frames though there may be better alternatives. As a side
note, for some reason I'm not able to add "fade" to every
transition spot, only every other. Don't know what's going
on there.

Your transition duration can not be equal to or longer
than the clip length. I believe, the technique pulls the
two clips "over" each other. There must be at least one
frame more in the clip than what is needed for the
duration of the transition. Lower your transition
duration, or use the method below to adjust it, and I
suspect you'll see an improvement because you'll have a
frame, or two, left that is not needed for the transition
period.

Another thing that might help:
Use the magnifiying glass. This is a very important tool
for clip syncronization. Make the Timeline perpsective as
long as possible. Do your clip overlap/sync adjustments
there. I think it is that I have connected clips that way
without ever using a transition...a "fade" transition is
merely two clips overlapping for some duration. Once the
clip is highlighted grab it in the highly magnified
Timeline and move it to the place you need it. You'll see
the blue ramp showing the overlap. You'll also see that it
won't go over the end of a previous transition. This
should show why your transitions are happening only ever
other clip...There's nothing left to hang the next
transition on but for every other clip.

If you haven't seen this, you'll also notice you can
manually overlap clips and achieve what you were trying
originally. For example, take equal length clips of 1
second. On a Timeline Clip 1 is placed then covered
halfway by placing then moving Clip 2, then Clip 3 is
placed in the Timeline and pushed all the way over to
touch Clip 1. Three one second clips take up 2 seconds.
To make it smoother you need more and shorter clip
lengths..if that's what you
need.

save often.
When your done in a micro adjustment use the mag. glass
to return to a more usable view for macro-editing.

Hope this helps.

Anthony

 

[Jim Perkins]

You're right-you're right-you're right, I apologize for
not doing all of my homework. I was very tired last night
during the post. I knew someone would catch me messing up
at something. I have no idea why I posted the 1 second
number? Maybe I just never tried to lower the numbers that
far? I don't know. As a side note; the effect has a rather
interesting look at the 1 second setting anyway and sure
is a lot less work to make - which makes it look even
better.... just kidding. Lower numbers will certainly make
for a smoother effect. Thanks for catching our error. Jim

 

[Guest]

Have you checked out Microsoft "Plus, Digital Media Edition"? (only $19.95) It has an incredibly powerful and easy to use "panning slide show" feature. I edited a few of my still photos in this program, then saved them, and imported them into MM2 as a video clip. I was very pleased with the results (made me feel like Ken Burns!)