1. Overview
2. Quick Start Tutorial
3. Control Panel Reference
   1. Mode
   2. Source Image
   3. Start and End Framings
   4. Controls
   5. Intermediate Framings
   6. Display

Overview

Once installed, the Lyric Pan Zoom Pro plugin is available as a Video Generator Effect in the Lyric Photo group. It's a generator, rather than a Video Filter as might be expected, because of limitations in the way filters can access high-resolution images. You drop the actual image to be panned and zoomed in a clip well in the generator's control panel. The generator operates in one of several modes, selected by a mode dropdown menu. In setup mode, the entire image is reduced to fit on the Canvas and displayed with framing rectangles that you place and size on the canvas to show the framings within the image that you want at the start and end of the clip and for any intermediate framings (also called landings).

For each framing, you can set hold times and ease acceration rates in the control panel. By default, the generator will automatically set the landing time of any intermediate framings such that all moves appear to be at the same speed. You can also manually force a landing time. In setup mode, the generator displays landing times, hold times and move speeds on the Canvas that update as you adjust the setup and clip duration. You would typically watch these readouts as adjustments are made to achieve any desired speeds. Typical "Ken Burns" style moves are in the 15 to 20 pixel/sec range for standard definition video.

The 3 other modes are wire-frame preview, low-res preview and final rendering. In these modes, the generator performs the specified zooms and pans and rotations to move smoothly from one framing to the next throughout the duration of the clip.

Below is a quick-start tutorial that takes you through a typical setup, followed by a detailed reference for the Pan Zoom Pro control panel.

Quick-Start

1. Drag a new instance of the Pan Zoom Pro generator onto a sequence timeline, set its duration and rename it if desired (via Edit/Item Properties or cmd-9). Place the timeline playback head within the generator's clip so it will be visible in the Canvas.
2. Double-click the generator clip to open it in the Viewer and select the Controls tab to show the its control parameters.
3. Drop the image or clip to be pan/zoomed onto the Source Image/Clip Well (near the top of the control panel). Make sure you drag the original image master clip from the Browser, not from a sequence timeline as the sequence will have imposed its own resolution on the contained clip.
4. Set the Image Width and Image Height controls to the original frame size of the image, which you can get from the Format tab in the Item Properties window for the image (Edit/Item Properties or cmd-9).
5. Set the Mode dropdown menu to Setup Framing Points, which shows the entire original image and framing rectangles in the Canvas and lets you set the various framing parameters.
6. By default, you get green start framing and red end framing rectangles. You can add up to 3 intermediate framings (also called landings) using the Intermediate Framings dropdown menu. For each framing, set its center and size and orientation using the associated Center, Size, and Rotation controls. You may find it useful to temporarily set the zoom scale on the Canvas to 100% or higher and expand its windows to more accurately set up the framings.
7. Set hold times (in frames) at each framing point using the Hold controls for each framing. For the moment, leave the Ease settings at the default (0 or -1), as this will speed interactivity and preview rendering.
8. As you adjust the framing point settings in setup mode, you will notice various labels on the Canvas update to display timings and pixels speeds. The top-left label in each framing rectangle is in the form "<label>@<landing>/<hold>", where <label> is the framing identifier, <landing> is the time at which that framing lands in seconds:frames into the clip, and <hold> is the hold time for that framing in frames. The labels on the lines between framing centers show maximum pixel speed for that move, in pixels per second. These speeds are affected by nearly every setup adjustment you make and you will often be working to get within a certain range of pixel speeds. Speeds can be reduced by increasing frame size, moving framings closer together, reducing hold times, reducing ease or lengthening clip duration, and vice versa.
9. If you have one or more intermediate framings, the plugin will by default automatically set their landing times to make all the moves have the same speed. If you need to have a landing occur at a specific time, either adjust framings/holds/duration/etc until the desired landing time is displayed in the framing label, or set the framing's Landing Time control to the desired offset in frames. If this control is set at 0, the plugin will set the landing time automatically; any other setting will force a corresponding landing time.
10. Apply ease controls to make the acceleration out of or deceleration into the framing points more gradual. You can do this for all the moves in one setting via the Global Ease Amount control, or individually for each outgoing or incoming move using the appropriate Ease Out and Ease In controls for each framing. If an individual Ease control is set to -1 (the default), the Global Ease Amount will apply. If it is 0 or greater, it overrides the global ease setting.
11. To preview the clip, select either Wireframe Preview or Low-Res Preview in the Mode dropdown. You may want to do early previews with ease set to 0, as this can make the preview processing faster.
12. Select Final in the Mode dropdown menu for final, full-resolution video rendering. Also select any desired field-rendering using the Final Field Render menu. This is usually Lower (Even) for NTSC and Upper (Odd) for PAL. Select None if the sequence is progressive-scan. If there is noticeable flicker in the final rendering, you can apply the Flicker Removal Filter in the Controls section. Values in the 3 to 6 range are usually all that is necessary.

Control Panel Reference

• Setup Framing Points - displays the whole image and framing rectangles in the Canvas, as shown below. Used when positioning and sizing framing rectangles. It may be useful to set the scale of the Canvas to 100% or greater and expand its window so you can more accurately set framing rectangles. Each framing rectangle has some text displayed in its top-left corner. This in the form "<label>@<landing>/<hold>", where <label> is the framing identifier, <landing> is the time at which that framing lands in seconds:frames into the clip, and <hold> is the hold time for that framing in frames. The labels on the lines between framing centers show maximum pixel speed for that move, in pixels per second.



• Wireframe Preview - displays the whole image overlayed with a yellow framing rectangle that animates as you move the playback head to show the framing at that time.
• Low Res Preview - displays a low-resolution version of the actual pan/zoom for the current frame. Move the playhead to see the pan/zoom progression or render video for playback in real time. The render video in Low Res mode is substantially faster than Final mode
• Final- displays the actual pan/zoom at full resolution. Use this mode when you are ready to render the final version.

Source Image

The image to be panned/zoomed is defined in the Source Image section on the control. You drag the image clip from the browser and drop it into the Image/Clipwell. Make sure you drag the original image master clip from the Browser, not from a sequence timeline as the sequence will have imposed its own resolution on the contained clip. Because of limitations in Final Cut that prevent plugins from determining clip image sizes, you also need to tell the plugin the original size of the dropped image. Type the width and height into Image width and Image height number boxes to the right of the sliders. You can determine image width and height in an image editing program like Photoshop, or by opening the Final Cut Item Properties dialog for the image (select the image and choose Edit>Item Properties or hit cmd-9). The dropped image may appear distorted in the Canvas until you enter the correct width & height values. If the image has an aspect ratio different from the output video, any "letterboxing" areas outside the source will be transparent and show the portions of any clip below the generator clip in the timeline, or black if it is the lowest.

The image Frame Size is shown in the Format tab of the properties window as width x height as shown below:

Start and End Framings

Parameters for the start and end framings are set up in this section. In Setup Framing Points mode the start framing is shown as a green rectangle on the Canvas and the end framing as a red rectangle. Use the Start Center and End Center controls to position the centers of these rectangles on the Canvas and the Size sliders to set framing size. To use the center controls, click on the '+' in the Control Panel and then click and drag on the Canvas to position the rectangle centers.

The Rotation angle controls set the rotation for the framings. If successive framings have different rotation angles, PanZoomPro will animate the rotation between them. The angles can be set from -720 to +720 degrees, giving you up to 4 complete revolutions from one framing to the next. Rotation animation is clockwise going from smaller to greater angles and vice versa.

The rectangles are always displayed in the aspect ratio of the final output. For example, for an NTSC sequence, the aspect ratio will be 4x3. The placement and size of the rectangles may be constrained depending on the 100% Zoom Limit or Clip Framing to Source checkbox settings. See the Controls section below for details.

The Hold slider for each framing sets the time in frames that the framing is held. In the example at left, the start framing is held for 15 frames at the start of the clip, the clip would then start pan/zooming to the end framing where it would land 15 frames before the end of the clip and the end framing would be held for 15 frames.

The Ease Out and Ease In sliders control how gently the pan/zoom motion accelerates out of or decelerates into framing points. The higher the setting, the more gently the motion accelerates out of or decelerates into a framing. If the value is -1, which is the default, the ease out and ease in for the start and end framings are taken from the Global Ease Amount slider. Any other value, including 0 (which means no ease), overrides the global ease setting. Note that as you increase ease values, the midpoint speed of any pan or zoom increases, unless you increase the duration of the overall clip to compensate. Reasonable ease settings are in the 15 to 25 range.

Intermediate Framings

Specifying intermediate framings lets you set up multiple pan and zoom moves in one clip, going from one point of focus to the next in the image. You select the number of intermediate framings in the Intermediate Framings dropdown menu:

When the plugin is in Setup Framing Points mode, a yellow framing rectangle is shown for each additional framing point, with its number in the top-left label and a motion line drawn between its center and the framing points on either side of it, with a pixel speed label. There are framing point set up controls for each of the 3 possible intermediate framing points following the selection menu. The Center, Size, Rotation, Hold, Ease Out and Ease In controls work in a similar way to the same controls in the Start and End Framing Points section.

The Landing Time controls for each framing specify the relative time in frames into the clip at which the motion lands on that framing. If a Landing Time control is left at the default value of 0, the plugin automatically sets the framing's landing time internally so as to have even motion in between the landings. If you adjust the landing time for a framing, the pixel velocities and landing times will update on the Canvas display. In the example below, the landing time for intermediate framing 1 is set to 494 frames (= 16:14) and the Canvas display shows "1@16:14" as expected. The pixel velocities are now 110 pixels/sec from start to 1 and 98 pixels/sec from 1 to end, reflecting the fixed landing time of framing 1.

Display Controls

The framing labels and pixel speeds displayed in the Canvas when the plugin is in Setup Framing Points mode can be turned on or off using the appropriate checkboxes in this section. The Label/Graphics Size slider lets you adjust the size of the on-screen readouts and framing rectangle lines on the Canvas. A value of 2 is recommended for SD projects and 1 for HD projects.