Can I Do Pan & Zoom Motion in iDVD Photo Slideshows ?

I just moved over from a PC to an iMac, and am trying to make a DVD out of a lot of still images. In Roxio Easy Creator, you could select a Pan & Zoom option for the slideshows, which would give the effect of the photos moving around while the slideshow played, it simulated motion and looked really cool.
I s there a way to do this in iDVD ?
Thanks.

There are many ways to produce slide shows using iPhoto, iMovie or iDVD, but they all have one thing in common: they reduce the quality of the photos to that of a movie still frame and sometimes limit the number of photos you can use.
If what you want is what I want, namely to be able to use high resolution photos (even 300 dpi tiff files), to pan and zoom individual photos, use a variety of transitions, to add and edit music or commentary, place text exactly where you want it, and to end up with a DVD that looks good on both your Mac and a TV - in other words end up with and end result that does not look like an old fashioned slide show from a projector - you may be interested in how I do it. You don't have to do it my way, but the following may be food for thought!
Firstly you need proper software to assemble the photos, decide on the duration of each, the transitions you want to use, and how to pan and zoom individual photos where required, and add proper titles. For this I use Photo to Movie. You can read about what it can do on their website:
http://www.lqgraphics.com/software/phototomovie.php
(Other users here use the alternative FotoMagico: http://www.boinx.com/fotomagico/homevspro/ which you may prefer - I have no experience with it.)
Neither of these are freeware, but are worth the investment if you are going to do a lot of slide shows. Read about them in detail, then decide which one you feel is best suited to your needs.
Once you have timed and arranged and manipulated the photos to your liking in Photo to Movie, it exports the file to iMovie 6 as a DV stream. You can add music in Photo to Movie, but I prefer doing this in iMovie where it is easier to edit. You can now further edit the slide show in iMovie just as you would a movie, then send it to iDVD 7, or Toast, for burning.
You will be pleasantly surprised at how professional the results can be!

Similar Messages

Can't use pan zoom overlay in new document?

I can create a pan and zoom overlay in an old file but when I create a new file it doesn't give me the options to create the pan & zoom the options are greyed out. I tried copying the working file into a new file and it doesn't work? I can add a new page in the old document and create a pan and zoom overlay but nothing outside of that file?

CMYK can only show saturated cyans, magentas, and yellows.
It can't reproduce saturated reds, greens, or blues.
HSB values are relative to RGB.
LAB values would similarly clip in CMYK because they can be well outside the CMYK gamut.
Yes, I suspect you just missed that previously.

Why can't the Pan & Zoom Tool start with the whole frame using photos

I've used the pan and zoom animation in Microsoft Movie Maker - and want that same ease of use in any other program (I find it doesn't do a great job of soundtrack and text/image placement) see menu options below.... I Purchased Premiere Elements after watching a short video of the pan & zoom tool - however now that I am trying to use it it falls way short.
Is there a way to allow me to select the whole photo as the starting frame -- in the screenshot below the frame 1 will not extend to the whole photo so I start off with a cropped image. I want the full Frame of the photo and then be able to zoom and pan in toward faces - while I can still do this with the cropped frame I loose a good deal of my photo and the context it provides.
The Microsoft Movie Maker options - very easy | Limitation of Premiere Elements 13 to start with the full photo frame

Hi,
You might like to ask that question in the Premiere Elements forum
Premiere Elements
It looks to me as though the aspect ration of the photo and the video frame are different and therefore something has to be cropped off.
But I could be wrong
Brian

IDVD Photo Slideshow

I've been trying to make a photo slideshow lately on iDVD but I want the photos t be in order by date, so in the finder I went to list view and made the photos in the finder ordered by date (I tried the same thing with icon view but it didn't work) but when I go ahead and drag the pictures from the finder into iDVD the photos move out of order. Is there a solution for this?

http://support.apple.com/kb/TA21480
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=7378490&#7378490
Good luck.

IDVD photo slideshow problem

Dear All,
I just want to burn all my photo edited in Aperture into a disc DVD. I choose iDVD but it seems it can't achieve what i basic need.
Since I have around 200pics photo and i try to separate it into several slideshow folder created in iDVD. However the problem is when I play and finish the first slideshow folder, it can't auto switch to next folder but turn back to the root menu. Is there any way I can fix the problem since it must for sure to create any inconvenience to my friends with click the remote button and select it one by one.
Thanks for your great help

I like to make DVDs of my best photos every year. Here are my experiences.
1. Last year I ended up creating the slideshow in iDVD ('06), saving it as a disc image and burning it from Utilities. The visual quality was good - better than with any other method I tried including using iMovie HD - but there were drawbacks. Only one transition was allowed throughout and every transition and every slide had to be on screen for the same length of time (I chose 2 seconds and 5 seconds respectively). Creating a sound track with multiple pieces of music and sound effects to go with it was a painstaking process.
2. After that project was finished I upgraded to Leopard X and iLife '09 and started another project in iMovie. I ran into problems creating a clear, crisp DVD. I experimented with different methods of sharing - iTunes, iDVD, Media Browser, export using Quick Time, and export movie. The first four did not produce good results: either the product itself had images that were blurry with jagged edges, or the blurry, jagged edges appeared when I dragged the icon into the background of the theme window in iDVD. Only 'export movie' gave acceptable results: excellent visual images when played using Quick Time Player, or dragged into iDVD and then burned to a disc.
3. Last week I upgraded to Snow Leopard - version 10.6.1 and that upgrade has turned out to be a mistake as far as this slideshow/movie project is concerned. Shortly after the upgrade I added a few more photos to my iMovie project and shared using 'Export Movie' as usual. Disaster! Colours will not hold through certain transitions and effects like Ken Burns and picture in picture. Reds turn to blue before and after some transitions and 'flashes' of colour appear on images to which I applied the Ken Burns effect. Last night I was on the phone for 1 3/4 hours with an Apple tech support person. She had me try everything - creating a new user, trashing and reinstalling iLife '09 iMovie, trashing plists and caches. Nothing fixed the problem. Finally she gave up and said that she would do more research on her own. If she doesn't find a solution she will refer the problem to Apple engineers. She will get back to me.
Note: Sharing through iDVD - letting iDVD render the movie and create a new project on its own produced excellent visual results. The blurred, jagged images occurred when I 'burned' it using 'save as disc image'.
At the moment I am stymied. If anyone has a fix for me, please help.

Ease in/Ease out is clunky for pan/zooms

I'm using FCP 5 with 10.5.6. When panning and zooming around in a still image (photo), I just can't get an easy landing or stop at the end of the motion, no matter how I adjust the ease in/ease out speed. After choosing Ease in/ Ease out on a keyframe, I shove the little blue speed-control bead toward or away from the keyframe along the motion path, but that distance is limited, and I see very little difference in the result. The motion still stops with a perceptible jerk or clunk.
I have used applications like Photo-to-Movie that have great control on the speed of pans and zooms, and the motion of a pan or zoom starts or stops very gently and almost imperceptibly. Photo-to-Movie costs only $25, so I can't see why an expensive professional program like Final Cut can't do the same thing. I can do smooth pan/zooms in PTM, export the result as a DV clip, and then drop the clip into Final Cut, but I can't adjust the motion within FCP. And working in an outside application to import the results is a real slow-down.
Assuming that the Ease in/Ease out control is all the control you have for smoothing pan/zooms in FCP, and it's inadequate, is there any plug-in for FCP 5 (free or at least inexpensive) that will produce gentle starts and stops?
Tom

Thanks for all the comments everyone, and thank you also Tom Wolsky for your great tutorial books and DVDs that have helped me to gain some competence with Final Cut. I recommend them highly to anyone learning the program.
To shed some light on the purpose of my original post, the project I'm working on contains both video footage and still images. In this video I'm demonstrating how to paint pictures, while using still images of historic paintings as examples of how the old-time painters did things, compared to what I'm doing now.
So in this video I alternate from live demonstrations of painting, to still images of old paintings, slowly panning and zooming around the old paintings and stopping to analyze portions of them.
I find that there is something comfortable and soothing about good pan/zooms as compared to the unsettling feelings and irritation caused by watching jerky starts and stops, with unnatural acceleration and deceleration between.
You have all made it clear to me (thanks again) that it is a matter of the mathematics involved in Final Cut's treatment of pan/zooms that makes it hard to get smooth movements of that type in FC. I still think it's odd that I can get wonderful pan/zooms from a cheapie little program like Photo-to-Movie but not a pro application like Final Cut, but at least PTM can get the job done for me, although it is a slowdown to have to use it. I first have to create the pan/zooms on still images in PTM and then export them as DV clips to drop into Final Cut. If a pan/zoom then needs adjustment, I have to throw the clip away, go back to PTM and modify the movement, and then export a fresh clip. Very slow.
By the way, I visited the Photo to Movie website, which I haven't done for a long time, and I see that the price of the program has now doubled to $50. The authors have apparently gotten big ideas and have added transitions, titles, and other kinds of editing besides just movement. On their demo webpage <http://tinyurl.com/yfej3j4> you can see sample pans and zooms created by the program. The third sample movie down from the top, with the zebras, shows some of the types of motion I'm after, such as the scene that zooms gently in on the turtle's head or the dog near the end of that movie. Note how smooth the starts/stops are.
In my own YouTube movie <http://tinyurl.com/yh8hl38>, which I created in Final Cut in 2008, the paintings that leap out at you with music at the beginning were also created in Photo to Movie and dropped into Final Cut. In that case the motion is almost violent, and no doubt I could have done it just as easily in Final Cut, but at that time I was new to keyframing in Final Cut and had gotten so accustomed to the ease of doing such things in PTM that I used it for that too. A few minutes further along in that video you can see the kind of gentle pan/zooming by PTM that I'm trying to create again now in a new video. My failed attempts to do it in Final Cut a couple days ago are what led me to ask for help here.
Maybe if I can gain a better grasp of Motion 2 I could do better with it than my first attempt yesterday, and I could also also round-trip between Motion and Final Cut to quickly adjust the movements, but I just don't know the program well enough yet to do that. I'll search for tutorials and demo movies on Motion. Someone above has also said that Motion 2 is inferior to version 3 in this respect, and I don't have 3, so I guess I'm stuck with Photo to Movie for the present to get smooth pan/zooms.
Thanks again everyone for all the enlightenment on this subject.
Tom B.

Please tell me you can use pan/zoom tool for photo slideshow with photos not cropped to screen?

I'm new to Mac and Premiere Elements (former PC/Sony Vegas Movie user), and am trying to do a Ken Burns type photo slideshow wherein my photos are left in their normal cropped state. Right now it seems all photos get cropped to fill the screen size (i.e. 16:9). I saw where you could uncheck the scale photo size to media (or something to that effect) under the general setting in preferences, but using the pan/zool tool still shows photos cropped to fill screen. I realize conflicting aspect ratio will result in black bars top/bottom or left/right of frame, and that's ok/what I want. I'm hoping this is doable? Thanks, Jim

jimdrought
The primary question that I have is what is the end product...DVD-VIDEO Standard on DVD disc, DVD-VIDEO Widescreen on DVD disc or other?
Let us assume for now DVD-VIDEO Widescreen on DVD disc. The next question that falls into line is the one relating to what you describe as an assortment of photos going into this project...what are the pixel dimensions (what range of...) and aspect ratio. For aspect ratio, are we talking 4:3 or 16:9. How many of these photos are landscape oriented or how many portrait oriented.
In generalities at this point, I would ask you to look at:
a. bringing your photos appropriately sized into a Premiere Elements project with an appropriate project preset.
b. leaving Edit Menu/Preferences/General with its Default Scale to Frame Size with a check mark.
c. in the workspace, scaling the photos to just fill the space in the Edit Mode Monitor
d. then one by one pan and zoom a photo with the Pan and Zoom Tool.
If you use this Tool, you should get good results. One consideration is that the process results in the Timeline photo having a much larger duration AFTER than BEFORE. If you see any pros in using this tool for your purposes, then you might want to explore the technique that I described for applying a pan and zoom effect from this Tool to more than one photo at a time.
http://www.atr935.blogspot.com/2013/05/pe11-pan-zoom-tool-more-than-one-photo.html
You also might want to explore fxEffects/Presets for horizontal and vertical pans or zoom. The catch in the presets is that you can apply a pan OR zoom, not a pan AND zoom to each photo.
Keyframing of Scale (for Zoom) and Position (for Pan) should be explored under Applied Effects/Applied Effects Palette/Motion Panel expanded/Scale and Position properties.
With more details from you, we could go step by step in any of the above.
We will be watching for your progress.
Thanks.
ATR

I can't change the pan / zoom duration in Premiere Elements 13

Ok I'm getting really frustrated especially after I just watched a video tutorial which clearly shows how to do this in Premiere Elements 10 and I have JUST purchased version 13!
What I'm not able to adjust is the speed or duration between focus frames in a pan / zoom; after it's set up.
You are supposed to be able to go into the PAN TOOL, and either click on the pan duration, or in the In the Pan Time dialog, scrub the time duration to the desired value, or enter a value in the dialog box, OR simply adjust / drag the focus frame markers in the timeline (like in the video tutorial I watched...) to change the pan duration. In my software at least NONE of these work. (All these from: Adobe Premiere Elements Help | Pan and zoom to create video-like effect)
I can't click on the pan duration, well if I do nothing happens, I can't even get a Pan Time Dialog box; so I can't do it that way; and lastly I can't click and adjust the focus frame markers in the timeline....none of it works and I can hardly believe that this is correct...the only way that I can adjust the pan time, is to delete the effect completely and start it over...this can't be correct can it??
Any help would be appreciated!!!

Ok yep you are great, so I'm sorry I'm attempting to do it on video clips, not stills.
I was aware that the last versions of PE had similar Pan and Zoom workspaces, that's why I knew or thought I knew that my situation could be solved.
The first link that you recommend is exactly where I got the third paragraph of my question, so I had already reviewed that and to me when you read the directive it still makes it sound like you can adjust the focus frame markers....? (very confusing)
The second link you sent might have helped me realize that the tool doesn't work the same way for Stills and it does for Video clips; (I really think like on the Adobe web site this difference should be markedly more clear to help with confusion; but in their defense maybe it's me being slow to understand)
I was able to figure out some of the difference through perseverance last night, and did figure out (like your last link explains) that you can move the CTI and then add a new focus frame...BUT I still have my original question...how can you adjust the pan duration on a video clip after it's been made and you have left the pan and zoom tool like if you want to edit that timing... I think the answer is that you can't lol, I think it has to be deleted or a new focus frame added and the other deleted to adjust the timing...am I correct?
This quote is taken from the Adobe web site one of the links you shared
You can work with focus frames in videos the same way that you work with focus frames for images. However, only those options that are relevant to movie clips appear in the pan and zoom tool.
I think maybe the last sentence is attempting to explain that but it's just so ambiguous...
Just trying to figure it out! I do appreciate your help!

How do I create motion for still photos/pictures. I'd like to pan/scan & zoom. Please help!

How do I create motion for still photos/pictures. I'd like to pan/scan & zoom. Please help!

You kind of answered your own question..
Check out Motion in the FX Control Window and learn how keyframing works..

Pan & Zoom, can't go to next stack

Hello,
we've a big problem. In our folio we built Pan & Zoom-Overlays over the whole size. Now we can't go to the next stack. We can't touch and move the folio wheather on iPad2 nor on iPad3. In our last published folios there was no problem.
What can we do?
Thanks for your ideas.
Neele

@Neele – by the "next stack", do you mean the next article, the next page on that article?
For v20 of the tools what is working (tested right now):
Create navigation elements (buttons) that lead to the next/prvious page and/or article.
I used the "navto://articlename#pagenumber-1" by URL approach.
Place those buttons inside scrollable frames.
Scrollable frames will stay in front of the frame with the image you could pan & zoom.
Set the scroll direction to "None"
Set the scroll indicators to "None"
See the following steps by screen grabs (German UI):
1. Background frame with image set to Pan & Zoom, above it a scrollable frame with a button inside
2. Second step to define the scrollable frame:
3. Define your button with the appropriate target. In my case a "navto://articlename#pagenumber-1"
4. Preview in the Adobe Content Viewer of the page pressing (tabbing) the button
(Don't care about the other elements around the image; just other elements I played around with)
5. Preview in Adobe Content Viewer: using the pan effect of the frame that holds the image (scrollable frame with the button stays on top, buton is still working)
Uwe

Pan & Zoom Not Working in PP4

Using PP CS4 with 8 years experience with Premiere, am having trouble with this effect. Effect Controls > Motion > Position & Scale controls are all there but the resizing for keyframes is not having any visible effect in either Source or Program monitors. The clip remains exactly as it was imported at full, uncropped view. Please help. Thx

Just for clarification, are you using the Pan & Zoom for a SlideShow in Encore, or are you using the Fixed Effects>Motion>Scale & Motion>Position in PrPro?
If the latter, then I would post to the PrPro CS4 and Earlier Forum.
In the meantime, and in case you ARE encountering this issue in PrPro, let's go over the steps to do Pans & Zooms in the Effects Control Panel.
First, in your Timeline, Select your Still Image (or Video Clip).
If not in focus, get Effects Control Panel open and in front in its Pane.
Place the CTI (Current Time Indicator) /Playhead at the first Frame of that Still/Clip.
Look at the Fixed Effects list in Effects Control Panel, and for Motion, twirl that Open, to reveal both Scale and Position. Twirl those Open, to reveal their sliders.
For a Zoom, click the little Stopwatch icon next to it, to toggle Keyframe animation ON, and place a Keyframe on that First Frame.
At this point, that Keyframe will have a value of 100%, or original size. If one needs to adjust that, say for a Zoom Out to full Scale, but needs to start Zoomed In, set it to where you wish to start.
Move to the time (on the Timeline, or on the mini-timeline in Effects Control Panel - the CTS's are linked), where you want the Zoom Out to end, and click the New Keyframe button, the filled circle in the ◄●► icon. A new Keyframe is added at that spot. Now, adjust the Scale to what is desired there.
One can adjust the Interpolation between those Keyframes, if desired, but that is something that one will be better off, if they read the full section on Keyframe Interpolation in the Help Files.
If one wishes to add a Pan, then the same process is repeated, but for the Fixed Effect>Motion>Position.
Good luck, and hope that helps,
Hunt

Pan & Zoom multilayered PSDs. Help needed

Hi All,
I've got an edit I need to finish pronto then another one this coming monday and need to get some questions answered before then or in serious trouble!
Additional details: Running FCP 5
We have a client that wants to do an animatic (motion graphic add)
He want's to be able to import a multilayered photoshop image WHILST keeping the original image quality, if the dimensions are above 720x576 (I edit in UK therefore PAL pixel dimensions), so you can pan and zoom across the image while simultaneous fading up and down and moving certain layers.
I was originally going to edit it on an Avid Adrenalin but found out that you can do some but not all of these things without great difficulty. SO am therefore going to edit on my FCP suite.
I tried last night to import a multilayered photoshop image and made it double the normal 16x9 PAL pixel dimentions (which are 1204x576) making it 2048x1152.
Doing this I hoped it would let me try and achieve a pan & zoom effect, but I found that it distorted the aspect ratio of the clip.
Making it squashed, even though my new project that I had set up was Pal DV Anamorphic (16x9). It dispalayed the newly created large psd as eveen more anamorphic - more like cinema scope!!
I looked it the motion tap and the distort aspect ratio in the motion tab was zero.
I then did a test:
flattened the psd, changed the image size to 1024x576.
I then imported that and all was fine, it imported it at the correct ratio.
Also major question.
Is FCP able to handle these graphics easily.
When I import them and insert them into the new seq I can set that seq to Unlimited RT low playback to see the move easily.
But when I open the nest that has all the layers it wont let me set RT settings, it only displays a few options, none that allow me to view in low res.
The client wants to edit in DV not lower so cant do motion jpg offline res.
He also needs the large images, eg we pan across a models hair only to fade up a layer of a product appearing in her hand.
I don't know After Effects well enough to attempt the edit on that, and I don't know motion at all.
The photographer/ client says he's done all his previous edits in FCP.
Is there an article I could read or is there any advise anyone can give me about approaching this project?
Minimizing render time, work flow etc
Has anyone used Lyric Media's Pan Zoom Pro?? (Or was that used by people with FCP 4 and now FCHD can acheive Pan & Zooms really well???)
Thanks anyone for the help!!!!
d

Tom/ anyone else who can help,
(note: also posted on 2pop erlier, just incase Tom/anyone else read that one, saving you the trouble of reading twice!)
Sorry back again,
very nearly sorted after breakthrough last night.
Just need to clear up one more thing:
An FCP editor mate says he keeps the graphics he's given high res i.e. 300dpi, he says you can zoom in and keep the quality.
Can fcp handle bigger image resolutions? I know it can only go up to 4000 pixels squared but what dpi can it go up to. I always thought it would only work in 72 dpi.
Before finding about about fcp being able to handle higher than 72dpi, after numerous tests and conversations with you, I'd come to the conclusion that:
If designing in Photoshop for Final Cut Pro
If you don't use photoshop's PAL DV presets take this into consideration:
In graphics for 4:3 FCP projects:
768x576 convert to 720x576
1536x1152 convert to 1440x1152
always divide graphics width in photoshop by:
1.06666666667
In graphics for 16:9 FCP projects:
1024x576 convert to 720x576
2048x1152 convert to 1440x1152
always divide graphics width in photoshop by:
1.42222222222
I'm not sure of the actual size of the images the client is going to give me & I desperately don't want to get into the problem I had yesterday of distorted aspect ratios when importing to FCP.
The only question is
If he gives me a photo that's 300dpi I'm going to have a problem with knowing exactly what size the image will be in photoshop regarding rescaling etc.
When he gives me the graphics, I'll check the dimetions in photoshop.
I should check if it's a rectangular or suare pixel doc first correct?
My thinking is that it'll be square pixel coming from a digital camera, and we'll prob work in 4:3 (i've just been given video rushes to combine with the edit at 4:3 res)
Regarding the graphics,
Should I work in a high res and keep the pixel dimentions as high as I need up to 4000pix squared or should I keep it at 720x576 and keep the res high?
FCP works better with images at 720x576 they don't need rendering regardless of the dpi?? ANd also when you step into the PSD nest it gives you an option of Unlimited RT, it even has a dark green line in Safe RT.
Whereas when I work in images over 720x576, (say double that at 1440x1152) the PSD seq FCP creates when importing the multi-layered graphic has a red render line and won't let me work in Unlimited RT or Safe RT, it just gives the option of: 'use playback settings' or 'full quality'.
would it be good to create a photoshop template, so that I can drop the graphics I'm given into that, then manipulate it accordingly??
All advice welcome!!
Sorry finding if still finding it slightly confusing!
Almost there!!!!
thanks for reading
d

How to preview a whole portrait picture in pan zoom mode?

Hi I'm new. Currently, I'm trying to create a slide show for my website, and I want to make some motion(zoom in zoom out fade in and fade out) in my pictures.
In pan zoom mode, I can preview a whole landscape oriented picture, but portrait oriented picture has a limit to zoom out and apply a whole picture.... and when I turn Motion and opacity off, Thumnails and preview looks different at all. Is this a bug or my mistake?
This is turn Motion and opacity mode on.
I can't expand the Green box and apply the whole photo.
This is turn Motion and opacity mode off.
Tumnail and preview looks wired.
If I could select a whole picture, I don't mind to see a black border around the picture.

Atsu1234
As regards to the Premiere Elements 11 Pan and Zoom Tool, I see it as "it is what it is" in this instance.
I would encourage you to explore the alternative approach to panning, zooming, fades in, fades out, that is, keyframing
Applied Effects/Applied Effects Palette/Motion Panel expanded
Scale property for Zoom
Position property for Pan
Applied Effect/Applied Effects Palette/Opacity Panel expanded
either shortcuts for Fade In and Fade Out
or
keyframing Opacity with the Opacity slider in that location.
You can do some pan OR zoom with presets found under fx Effects/Presets/...in this case, pan or zoom but not pan and zoom per clip.
Please review and do not hesitate to ask for clarification on anything that I have written.
Thank you.
ATR

Pan/Zoom of Jpegs & Tiffs on FCP: not smooth, bad resolution, artifacts..?

I'm running FCP 6 on an old G5 with 2Gigs of Memory. I'm trying to manipulate still photos for a personal project and the quality is not good. Simple zooming often causes a "stuttering" of the image during movement. The images are not sharp & clear and there is a moire effect as the scan lines of the picture zoom. Certain pixels sometitmes seem to take on a life of their own-showing intermittant black and white pixel frame-long dropouts.
I've applied de-interlace, deflicker, gauzian blur, all to no avial-and the pictures get blurred.
Can anyone offer any suggestions?

FCP does a lousy job if there is massive scaling involved. Best to resize in Photoshop to the smallest pixel dimensions that will work with your movements.
Stay away from jpegs.
fwiw - re image flickering -
The flickering is an artifact of the interlaced nature of video. It is a result of very thin (often horizontal) elements that exist on one scanline as is common in text or titling. This can also be the case in images with great deal of detail with high contrast as well as when when you are engaged in pan/zoom moves on stills.
As the alternate fields play, the flashing element is essentially being turned on/off. The basic strategy is to get the element to exist over two scanlines so it is refreshed every time the field plays or to reduce the amount of contrast so the difference between ON and OFF is not noticeable.
Before you start any of these steps listed below, make sure you are viewing your material on an appropriate monitor. If you are working in an NTSC/PAL interlaced format (eg DV) you need an external TV monitor - not a computer screen. Without the appropriate device, you are playing blind.
Things to try (In increasing order of image degradation)
• (in FCP) field order>none
• (in FCP or Photoshop) reduce whites by 10% - reduces overly bright areas
• (in FCP) flicker filter - minimum
• (in Photoshop) motion blur>vertical> .2 - .5 pixels - blurs vertically only
• (In FCP or Photoshop) Gaussian blur> .2 - .5 pixels -blurs both horizontally as well as vertically
• (in FCP or Photoshop) deinterlace - throws away half the image and is generally not appropriate on scanned images
*Remember: Unless you are viewing your work in the appropriate external NTSC/PAL monitor, you are playing blind.* The computer monitor only shows you a proxy image.
One final thought, if you have slowed your material significantly, and have not used some sort of frame blending/optical flow processing, you may be simply duplicating frames to create the additional material to pad the playback. The flashing/stuttering you see is the result of this.
good luck.
x

"Stuttering" when panning/zooming a still image...?

Hello.
I'm working on a small project which is basically a series of zooms/pans on still images. The pans/zooms are quite slow and take place over about 6-8 seconds. There's nothing too fancy going on here, but I notice that when I do a RAM preview or render out a comp, I get small "stutters" in some of them. Does anyone have any ideas why this would be happening and any suggestions on making these animations a little more "smooth". I mean, these things aren't complex at all, and overall they're quite smooth, but there's still times when I get these stutters and I can't figure out why they'd be happening? Would appreciate some advice!
Thanks,
Kristin.

There are certain speeds that sync up with frame rates so that they cause judders, jitters, stuttering or whatever you want to call it. The slower the frame rate the more obvious the problem.
If you've ever watched a western on TV or at the movies you've seen the stagecoach wheels turn backwards at various speeds. This is an example of the problem. It's actually called a stroboscopic effect. Mechanics, in the good old days when cars had carburetors and distributors, used to hook up a timing light to the #1 spark plug so that a light flashed on a timing mark on the crankshaft pulley. This light had the effect of stopping the rotation visually. That's exactly what's happening when you are moving your photograph across the frame at one of the critical speeds. Your eye is fooled and your brain can't process the movement smoothly.
There are also other cases where the sub pixel interpolation between frames causes areas of detail to flicker between frames. The latter problem can be seen by viewing your comp a frame at a time while zoomed in to say 800% and observing the edge detail. This problem can be especially nasty when you're trying to do a smooth title or credit roll. The horizontal lines that make up fine type can almost completely vanish between fields or frames if the text is moving at the wrong speed. You can test this out by creating a single pixel high horizontal line in AE and animating it from bottom to top of the frame. The only speed where you'll get a nice solid line in every frame or field is one that is an exact multiple of the frame rate. IOW, 1 frame 1 pixel of movement, 1 frame 2 pixels of movement, and so on. Move at 1 frame and 1.33 pixels of movement and the line will appear to completely disappear then return.
If you are working at 24fps progressive you'll find that the juddering caused by motion at critical speeds is much more problematic than projects at 29.97 fps. Interlacing, as was mentioned before, helps and gives you a wider range of motion, but interlacing can introduce more pronounced flickering in the detail if you are right at one of these critical speeds.
This problem extends to shooting as well. Cinematography manuals contain critical panning speed charts that list the number of degrees per second you can pan with various lens (angle of view) and shutter speed combinations. There isn't a videographer out there that's tried shooting 24P video and not ended up with an unusable pan due to these critical speeds.
The solution to successfully animating detailed images is to use the right speed (pixels per second) for your frame rate, add extra motion blur to hide the problem, or reduce the amount of detail in the image. These are the only solutions that I know of. They all limit design and timing, but what good is your design if it makes your eyes go buggy.
The best way I know if to tell if the problem is a playback issue is to use a device or program that tells you when you're dropping frames. You can use QT (by looking at the playback rate) or in FC or PPro by having the program report dropped frames. If it's a data rate issue you need more horsepower or a better codec.

Can I Do Pan & Zoom Motion in iDVD Photo Slideshows ?

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