Pan and zoom animations are based on a simple principle: each photo or clip is animated from its full frame down to its salient region. By default, the subject of your photos and videos is detected by AI.
You can enable Pan and Zoom under the Geometry group:
Once enabled, Photo Montage performs one of two animations: zooming from full frame into the subject, or zooming out from the subject to the full frame. You can use the same action for all images and clips, alternate, or randomize:
The Amount is very important, as it controls how far into the salient region the animation will progress. For most media, the default of 50% ensures that viewers’ attention goes to the salient detail without exhaggerating the zoom level.
What if the AI doesn’t detecting the correct region?
Or what if you need to animate between two specific regions of your photo or clip? That’s where the ability to customize regions comes in.
Bring up the Image Configuration Window. Click on the Pan out and/or Pan in buttons to customize one or both regions:
When changing the Pan out region, you are telling Photo Montage what you consider to be the zoomed out state:
When changing the Pan in region, you are similarly telling Photo Montage what you consider to be the subject of your photo or clip, the one it should zoom in:
When one or both regions are customized, the image configuration will display the appropriate feedback.
To unset a pan and zoom region, bring up the same UI again and click on an empty spot to deselect the current region.
Avoiding confusion
The above setup will make sense, visually, if your Pan and Zoom animation is set to In. That’s when the animation will always zoom from one region into the next, at each image or video clip. Beware when your animation is set to Out or to alternate at each new image or video. That’s when the animation may go in reverse, zooming out from the Pan in region to the Pan out region.
Does the animation have to go to or from full frame, always?
Not at all! You are free to customize the two regions at will, maintaining the same overall zoom level across the animation. This is a common animation style made popular by Ken Burns. With the newest version of Photo Montage, you can ditch the AI and create a seamless animation of the same type, across any number of images and videos.
…but remember to set the Amount to 100% to have the animation use your exact regions: