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Smooth Moves on Stills
by
Larry Jordan
[This article was first published in the December, 2007, issue of
Larry's Final Cut Pro Newsletter. Updated July 2008. Click here to subscribe.]
Wow! Nothing has generated comments like this next
question. Thanks, everyone, for sharing your thoughts.
Steve Heffner, from NY, writes:
I am working on a project that has a lot of motion on photos (luckily,
basic push ins). We don't want the motion to come to an abrupt stop.
We want a smooth braking of the push in.
The problem seems to be that if we use (on a keyframe) "EASE
IN/EASE OUT" in the canvas or "SMOOTH" in the motion
tab viewer, we are getting an unsatisfactory result (the image seems
to do an additional, albeit slight, side to side or up and down movement).
I've tried many adjustments and can't get a successful (what should
be simple!) result.
Any suggestions? We just want a nice, smooth landing into the resting
point of the push in on the graphic/photo.
Oddly, the EASE IN/EASE OUT works great in FCP if you are doing
a direct push or pull. Once you change the center point (say to focus
on a single subject on the push in), FCP gives the photo a "sway" before
it stops. ANNOYING.
Larry replies: This has been a long-time problem with Final Cut. I
spent some time on the Web looking for a good third-party filter that
smoothes out working with stills in Final Cut, but couldn't find anything.
So, I asked our readers for help.
UPDATE - Dec. 27, 2007
Lee Berger writes:
As it's included
in FCS I recommend Motion for moving stills. Motion's timeline makes
it much easier to set the key frame interpolation and doesn't produce
unwanted movements. The only drawback to Motion is its 2K pixel limitation.
I also use Boris Red (I believe it can handle up to 10K pixels).
Boris FX and Graffiti can also do this animation. After Effects also
has excellent ease in and ease out interpolation and can handle even
larger pixel resolutions. Finally there is are plugins from Stage
Tools "Moving
Picture" and "Moving Parts," but I haven't tried them.
Visit http://www.stagetools.com/
Michael Scott adds:
Maybe sending to Motion is a way to solve the problem with final
cut pro rendering funny smooth moves, also opening the final cut
pro keyframes into motion might also be a way to refine more.
The other thing to remember is to set Render Motion Projects at Best in Sequence > Settings > Render
settings tab.
Finally, adding a little motion blur in the Motion tab could help
out but then rendering takes ages
Tom Wolsky adds:
CGM's Roll/Scroll Title plugin works very well for this. One of the
best things about this is that it allows you to move an image to a
certain point, hold, and then move it again, which you simply cannot
do properly in FCP. Lyric's PanZoom plugin is good too. There are also
standalone applications like Moving Picture and Photo2Movie (I think
they're called) that work quite well.
Loren Miller sent this:
I find MovingPicture to
be a stable, mature product with a friendly interface, at least in
5.x and earlier. StageTools.com, the vendor, generally keeps its
products up to date.
MP comes as a plugin "filter" or standalone "producer" version,
which allows a bit more power. The only curve ball is the extra charge
for the "Rotation Tool"-- but this has the added function
of being able to skew the "platen" of the image in 3D space,
as well as spin it in 2D.
The workflow is a little odd, in that you must filtrate a clip you
select in the timeline as a placeholder. To make this practical,
I often title a color matt clip "photo of..." and I can
actually rough in the pacing of the clip prior to loading a rich
scan photo and animating inside MovingPicture. You don't have to;
any clip can work as a placeholder; I think even Slug will work.
The original image content is removed when the animation is rendered.
You apply the filter, then open the filter controls pane to get the
photomotion stage. Here, you load a photo scan, and it's very straightforward
and you can control eases predictably. Also, it's got a rendering engine
which allows 8000 pixels square-- I suspect more than FCP's native
Quicktime graphic import-- although the newest dimensions are not known
to me (even after some digging). MP allows you to take in a very rich
scan-- which of course supports really close zoom-ins which don't go
soft -- and a simple ease in/out checkbox, and as I recall, the acceleration/deceleration
can be numerically tweaked as desired. Creating intermediate holds
are a snap. Just duplicate a keyframe. We are currently nowhere near
this elegance in FCP photo keyframing.
There are other third party solutions, (PhotoMagico, Still Life, even
Motion is cool for photomotion) but MP allows you to stay inside FCP.
The only time cost is rendering the animation clip, once you step out
of the stage and back into the timeline. Another advantage is, you
don't lug around a keyframed rich scan-- it's been made into a rendered
movie, and MP supports 32-bit subpixel rendering for smooth moves.
The original photo is part of a proprietary MP file you save to hard
disk.
Cal Deal adds:
I bought Pan & Zoom to deal with the Ken Burns effect in Final
Cut. Tried it once, found it cumbersome, but never gave it a fair
shot because I was too busy at the time. So maybe it will work. I
definitely want to experiment with it and will be very happy if it
does work.
Here's a tutorial: http://www.studiodaily.com/studiomonthly/tutorials/trainup/8371.html
Another wonderful program is Photo to Movie. Easy to use, nice smooth
pans. But you have to export the movie and pull it into Final Cut in
order to use it. I prefer a more direct route.
See http://www.lqgraphics.com/software/phototomovie.php
Robert Sink writes:
For smooth moves on stills I have been using Pan Zoom Pro, a FCP plugin
from Lyric Media, and it's the best I've found so far.
Read more here: http://www.lyric.com/fcp-plugins/panzoompro/pzp.htm
Stuart Math chimed in:
The problem he is seeing one I’ve struggled with for awhile – it
is the result of an s-shaped motion path that is generated by the
ease-in ease-out keyframes. As Steve noted, it is more obvious in
certain situations than in others.
Boris FX has a new filter in their
Boris Continuum Complete (BCC) filter collection called “Pan
and Zoom” that may help him. A trial copy of BCC can be downloaded
from the Boris website. There is a BCC version for AE and a version
for FCP. Go to: http://www.borisfx.com/downloads/ for
a trial download.
Each comp is going to be a little different and he will have to
experiment to find the right workflow for him. The Boris “Pan
and Zoom” filter has a lot of power and it has a learning curve,
but it is worth it if he does a lot of this work and wants more control.
Buddy Englett provided another solution:
What I do is place the keyframes beyond the In & Out points of
my image. Like so:
- Place the image in the Timeline
- Double-click the image to open it in the Viewer
- Click the Motion tab in the Viewer
- Press Shift > i to go to the In point of the Image, then press Shift > Left
Arrow to move one second before
- Press Control > K to add a keyframe
- Press Shift > O to go to the Out point of the Image, then press Shift > Right Arrow to move one second after
- Press Control > K to add a keyframe
- Make your adjustments on these keyframes and you'll have smooth
movements coming and going
Larry replies: I'm floored by the response to this question. Thanks,
everyone, for sending comments!
UPDATED - June 2008
Pam Copus sent in a follow-up:
I have a terrific (and inexpensive) work-around for this. I use "Photo
To Movie" software and bring in the .mov to FCP.
http://www.lqgraphics.com/software/phototomovie.php
I used this on our May release "Deep Still Blue" by 2002
which charted on Billboard:
http://www.2002music.com/CD_DeepStillBlue.html
Larry replies: Thanks, Pam!
UDPATE - July 2008
I just finished recording a new tutorial for Lynda.com on how to do moves on stills in Final Cut Pro, Motion, and Moving Picture. As I was researching this, I discovered some new techniques that can simplify this process as you set up your file in Final Cut Pro. If you are a Lynda subscriber, this new training should be out in early August.
- Larry
Larry Jordan is a post-production consultant and an Apple-Certified Trainer in Digital Media with over 25 years experience as producer, director and editor with network, local and corporate credits. Based in Los Angeles, he's a member of both the Directors Guild of America and the Producers Guild of America.
The information in this article is believed to be accurate at the time of publication. However, the author assumes no liability in case things go wrong. Please use your best judgment in applying these suggestions.
The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author. This newsletter has not been reviewed or sanctioned by Apple or any other third party. All trademarks are the property of their respective owners and are mentioned here for editorial purposes only.
Links to my website home page or this article are welcome and don't require prior permission.
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