Ken Burns Stills using keyframing?

Hi, I'm real new to video editing in general and fcpx is the first nle I've ever used.

I would like to do a combination of pans/tilts/zooms on some stills I'm using in my documentary. The built in ken burns effect doesn't appear to offer the control I'd like.

I've never used keyframing but believe it would be the answer.

I'd like to zoom into a group shot photo then pan left to right and hold for a few frames an one individual. retaining the 16:9 ratio (1080p, 24).

Can this be done?

If anyone out there knows how and wishes to impart this knowledge to an editing noob, I'd be heaps grateful.

OK, so you want to have your photos laid out on a table top or something, and pan around from photo to photo, eh? Super easy. Two ways to approach this.

First method is to use Pixelmator or Photoshop or something similar to create a large document, lay all your photos out as you want them, set a background, etc. Then save it out as a flattened PNG.

Import into FCP X, then you can keyframe size and position of the document to move round it. To create keyframes, position the playhead in the Timeline, highlight the clip (Opt+click selects a clip without disturbing the playhead), in the Inspector, the diamond to the right of each parameter that shows up as gray with a plus sign in it, click that first, that sets the keyframe. Then adjust the parameter setting. Important to do it in correct order, first set the keyframe, second adjust the parameter. You'll only be working with the Position and Scale parameters for what you want tod do. Unless you have some photos rotated in other orientations (which can be interesting), then you'll keyframe Rotation parameters also.

The second method would be to use Motion, layout all of your photos, set your background, etc, and do basically the same thing keyframing position, rotation, and scale. The difference is that in Motion you can create a Camera and apply Behaviors to make the process much, much easier and faster. And you can also have photos floating at different levels in 3D space, too.

I'd like to very highly recommend the Ripple Training video series for FCP X and their two series Motion 5, to get you up and running properly very quickly.

Thanks for the reply BenB but i'm a bit confused. (I love your idea of having several photos on a tabletop and panning from picture to picture and if I get my head around how to do this, I might fire up photoshop to make said tabletop - but i'll try walk before I can run/fly!).

I'm just trying to have a play with key framing with just one single photo in the timeline set to display for 10 seconds.

...So, I have found the transform options in the inspector (position, scale) and the checkbox to add a key frame - woot!

I wish to leave the image as is for the first keyframe (it has been cropped for 16:9 so fits the screen initially) then zoom in and pan to a certain area of interest over 8 seconds upon which i'd like to hold for 2 seconds to give the viewer time to absorb the info/detail.

I've tried to get some animation going by selecting a keyframe then moving the parameters to change position and scale then adding another keyframe but when I hit play it just shows the photo at the new position/scale for 10 seconds!?

Do I need to move the playhead before adding another keyframe? If so, do I have to move the parameters and add keyframes frame by frame?
If I adjust both position and scale parameters together, do I click the 'add keyframe' button next to each parameter or just one?

I'm sorry i'm just not getting it!

Can you explain it for dummies?

You are "Keying" a specific value for a specific parameter to that specific "Frame". So yes, you set the keyframe then parameter values to the frame that the playhead is currently on. Then move the playhead to where you want the end of the animation to be, and keyframe that "frame" and change the paremeter values. FCP will "tween", or fill in all the necessary changes to the frames in-between. It's called "Tweening" because early animators did only the major positions in an animated film, and assistant/apprentice animators filled the in-between frames in. They did the "Tweening".

A good example is this. In the Timeline, use R to access the Range Selection tool. Select a range inside of an audio only clip. Hit A to get back to the Arrow (Selection) tool. Pull the black audio volume band down INSIDE the selected Range. Now deselect everything and look at what happened. It automatically created keyframes.

You're doing this to manually, though.

"I wish to leave the image as is for the first keyframe (it has been cropped for 16:9 so fits the screen initially)..."
-So, it's set up, now just set Keyframes the Position and Scale parameters. You just "Keyed" that specific "Frame" to be set to those specific parameter settings.

"...then zoom in and pan to a certain area of interest over 8 seconds..."
-So, move the playhead in the Timeline down 8 seconds. Click the keyframe buttons to set them to that specific "Frame", then change the Position and Scale parameters to what you want them to be.

"..upon which i'd like to hold for 2 seconds to give the viewer time to absorb the info/detail."
-So, don't do anything. Once the playhead hits the last keyframe in a clip, the parameters stay at that setting, until you set another keyframe after that.

Here's something that may help you see what you're doing. Once you make your keyframes, with the clip highlighted in the Timeline, Control+V to open the Video Animation pane. Look for the bar that is labeled "Transform: All". There is a tiny menu triangle to the right of the name. There you can set to see only scale, and only position X or Y. You can then move the keyframes left and right to tweek them a tad on the timeline if you want.

Whew, that's a really long post.

Here is a great tutorial on Ken Burns in FCPX

library.creativecow.net/articles/mcaulif...ffect/video-tutorial

The problem with the Ken Burns effect is that you can't start from a freeze and end with a freeze which is what you seem to want to do. I ran into the same problem. One solution is to use Motion - design your moves (pans, zooms, tilts, etc.) in Motion as effects and then publish them to FCPX. There is an Ease In/Ease out option that makes your ins & outs nice and soft. You also don't have to redesign your moves each time - you can have slow zooms in, out, some with freezes, others not, etc. There's a learning curve with Motion, but definitely worth your while. I haven't made the switch over to X yet, but I see the publishing of effects as a real time saver, particularly with animating pictures. Check out the Ripple Training series on both FCPX & Motion. They're very helpful. And be prepared for a pretty steep learning curve!

Yes, with the "Ken Burns" built in effect, you can freeze frame.

FCP X does Ease In/Out by default.

Manually creating keyframes is the way to go in either 7 or X.

Make the switch to X.

You can freeze frame with Ken Burns? We had this discussion before and I thought it was resolved you couldn't - www.2-popforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=122094 .
Is it possible to freeze a move w Ken Burns without resorting to creating a compound clip and adding a hold? If so, I 'd like to hear it. I also find the default Ease In/Out in X to be inadequate - as it was in FCP7. Not as smooth as in Motion. Thanks.

I just played around with it some more and it's quite easy. You create your move with Ken Burns effect, then make that a compound clip. Then put your playhead at the beginning and hit Shift H. That will add a hold at the beginning. Then go to the end and hit Shift H again and you have a hold at the end. Nice smooth move at beginning & end. If you want to speed it up or slow it down, just shorten or lengthen the Ken Burns effect. No need to go into Motion at all.

That's a fantastic find! Thanks for posting!

Thanks. I've encountered another problem though. I imported a few photographs and applied this technique, but when I exit fcpx and reopen it, I find my pictures are marked as missing. I can still find them in Reveal In Finder, but I get the red background & below exclamation point instead of the picture. I don't think there's a reconnect media function and I'm wondering why the media got disconnected in the first place.

Just figured it out and I'll keep this post for others who may encounter this. I had Use Proxy Media checked as I am using proxy media for my edit. If you check Use Original or Optimized Media, it returns. So I guess you can't use proxy media for editing if you add other non-proxy media - unless you want to put up with the missing media icons, yes?

OK so I have to take back some of what I said earlier. I've run into some problems using holds with the Ken Burns Effect. Sometimes I succeeded in starting with a hold and ending with a hold, but more often than not, the holds were holds in name only and the move kept going until all the way to the end. Part of it may be my unfamiliarity with the software, but I also think the hold feature is a little buggy. I searched around and found people on Creative Cow with similar concerns ( forums.creativecow.net/thread/344/380 ). That was back in June, so maybe some of those concerns were addressed with the update, but it's still not working properly as far as I can tell. It may have something to do with creating a compound clip. I hope I'm wrong and I'm overlooking something.

I'd be curious to hear how other people are handling stills in X. Is anyone else using the Ken Burns effect? I really like it, but I can't seem to get it to behave consistently.

thx

Razor Blade the clip, apply Hold to that? Maybe?

OK, here's the deal:

1) Bring still onto timeline (E).
2) Create Ken Burns effect on your still (crop effect).
3) Turn that into a compound clip (Option G).
4) Position playhead on first frame of compound clip.
5) Hit Shift H (hold). A red Hold Bar (indicating 0%) should appear on the upper left in the Retiming box which will appear (Command R to make it come & go). To the right will be a green bar indicating your move (indicating 100%).
6) Position your play head at on the last frame of the compound clip.
7) Hit the arrow left key to make sure you're on a full frame (on the last frame, you may see a jagged clip edge in the viewer which I'm guessing indicated a partial frame - it won't work on that one - trust me).
8 - Hit Shift H for your end hold.

I've tried this on eight different pictures and it works every time. I'm keeping my fingers crossed, but this looks like a keeper. This may look like a lot of steps, but it's actually very fast - certainly faster and smoother than in FCP7. And you can adjust the speed very easily and extend the holds to your liking. And you don't need to go into Motion. I am very happy about this as I use stills in my projects all the time. Yay.

I'd love to hear if this works for other people or if they have a better way to handle stills.

Thanks parkerhqj. That technique works for me on a variety of stills.

Fantastic!

This goes into my little book of tips and tricks for FCP10. Great find!

I'm famous!

Old thread, I know. This is a related question I think. If I want the Ken Burns to begin or end with the full image completely filling the frame, i.e. maximum zoom out, is there a keyboard shortcut for this? I find pulling out the rectangle and trying to guess if it really is maximized each time is pretty tedious. Thanks anyone!

The Crop > Ken Burns tool is very fast and handy for simple ease in/ease out moves but it does not offer any manual interaction aside from the Start/End positions.

If your image has the same aspect ratio as your Project the Start rectangle will fill the full image in your frame without the need for any dragging.

If your image has a different aspect ratio than your Project and you need to start (or end) your animation with the full image completely fitting in the Project frame you can drag the rectangle until it fits around the Project frame in the Viewer. The rectangle snaps quite well around the bounding areas of the frame. But, as you say, this is not absolutely pixel accurate and the only visual guides you have here are the overlay coordinates that appear while you are dragging.

If you want to have precise control over your framing and over your animation it is best to do the animation just using the Crop tool. Using the Crop tool also allows you to perform very precise framing if you press the Option key while dragging any Crop parameter.