Key framing Ken Burns effect?

Hi All,

I know there is a way to do it, just can't figure it out:

How do you get a Ken Burns effect to start at a certain point in a clip and end at a certain point.

Seems like I should select a clip, park play head at point I want effect to start, choose KBurns from crop, add keyframe in inspector on KBurns effect, then move play head to where I want the end, adjust red "end" box in viewer, and add one more key frame.

Not working.

Also, I know that I can create my own moves (not really crazy about the KB effect) but I can't figure out how to do ease-in ease-out on custom moves.

And lastly, is there a way to see keyframes like in FCP 7? Or is there some sort of Key frame viewer?

If I go to the Video Animation viewer, I don't see them there either.

Thanks.

Jonathan

Keyframe the middle crop function. You should see them in the video animation HUD.

Thanks Tom.

Upon looking into this further, it appears the only way to make a Ken Burns effect last how long you want it to is to blade the clip to the time length that the effect is suppose to happen. I guess then you could pull out the the beginning and then the end of that clip to go back to the total time you want the clip to show.

This would mean that if I have other effects going on at the same time would have to be done AFTER deciding on the Ken Burns thing. I use a black and white dissolve to color for example.

And actually, I used the Transform function to do some moves, but was only able to apply smooth to the end of the effect.
Got to get some sleep.

Thanks.

JL

Did you try the method I suggested? I does not require cutting the clip. If you have Ken Burns applied and you lengthen the clip the Ken Burns effect changes.

Jonathan, a few days ago in this forum we had a thread about this. I agree - Ken Burns gives the movement I want, but doesn't offer enough control over it. Although keyframing gives more control, you can't really achieve what I consider true Ease In/Out.

The closest solution I've found is the free plugin from Alex4D - Smooth Move. It allows true Motion style Easing (In, Out, or Both - your choice), and you can choose where in the clip (or photo) the move starts and stops. The animation is controlled by percent. If you set the start to 20% and the end to 80%, the first 20% of the clip is normal, then the animation (Scale and/or Position and/or Rotate) takes place from 20% to 80% of the duration of the clip, then it retains the final setting for the last 20%. It is not quite as simple to configure as KB but it looks just as good and gives much better control.

The percent thing has pros and cons - if you use it on a clip and you want the move to start and stop on an exact frame there's some trial and error involved. OTOH if you change the length of a photo the move still happens 20% of the way in.

If Smooth Move had KB style onscreen controls, adjustable amounts of Easing, and a way to set animation start and stop points as specific minutes:seconds:frames from the start of the clip, it would be even more amazing - but that's probably not possible.

I should probably learn to just do more of these animations in Motion - maybe one day.
If I'm doing a long slideshow, I just do it in Fotomagico. Although a bit pricey, that gives beautiful easing with great control and is just about as simple as Ken Burns to configure. And it will export as ProRes to use in FCPX.

Tom, I don't understand what you mean by "keyframe the middle crop function." I don't see any keyframes at all in the Video Animation HUD on a clip that's had Ken Burns applied.

Ken Burns dod not use keyframes that's why you don't see any. What version of the software are you using?






Keyframe that.

Sorry, images aren't attaching. There are three crop buttons. The middle of the three crop buttons, not Ken Burns.

OK, thanks Tom, I do understand that. But, for some of us keyframing is not an option because it doesn't provide enough Easing, even if you drag out the Bezier handles dramatically.

Hi all.

Thanks for your responses. I've spent some time practicing things on a single photo/clip.

The first thing that I thought might work was to do divide a ten second photo clip into thirds. I then thought that I would be able to select the middle third and apply KB effect, with the goal of the clip starting off static and then KB would start in middle third, and finally, I would manually match size/position of the last third to that of the end of the KB MOVE.

Unfortunately this did not work because there is a slight jump from the last frame of the first third to the first frame of the middle (KB) effect.

To make matters worse, I also notice that when you use the KB effect, there is no indication of scale or position in the inspector which makes my theory not work. However using transform/crop and some key frames, you can see frame by frame changes in the inspector.

As has been pointed out, you can choose to smooth and play around with beziiers which does work, but it sure would be nice for some more control using the KB effect. I work with tons of still images and that would make short my work if only it thought the way I do

Hi all.

Thanks for your responses. I've spent some time practicing things on a single photo/clip.

The first thing that I thought might work was to do divide a ten second photo clip into thirds. I then thought that I would be able to select the middle third and apply KB effect, with the goal of the clip starting off static and then KB would start in middle third, and finally, I would manually match size/position of the last third to that of the end of the KB MOVE.

Unfortunately this did not work because there is a slight jump from the last frame of the first third to the first frame of the middle (KB) effect.

To make matters worse, I also notice that when you use the KB effect, there is no indication of scale or position in the inspector which makes my theory not work. However using transform/crop and some key frames, you can see frame by frame changes in the inspector.

As has been pointed out, you can choose to smooth and play around with beziiers which does work, but it sure would be nice for some more control using the KB effect. I work with tons of still images and that would make short my work if only it thought the way I do

Does this help?

Marchyman,

Did I tell you today that I love you?

That is just what I was looking for!!!!!! I thought that somehow a freeze frame might get me there, and that explained it. I'll be experimenting with this tommorow.

Thank you very much.

Jonathan