Summary

Pan and Zoom is the easiest way to create photo animations in the style made popular by acclaimed film director Ken Burns.

Multiple plugins are included, each designed to help you create the best animations. Pan and Zoom supports external image files or existing media on your timeline, including video clips.

Take advantage of its blazing fast performance when animating extremely large photos with wide gamut color accuracy, or apply to existing clips on the timeline to maintain your current edits.

Key Features

• Supports all popular image files (JPEG, PNG, PSD, RAW, etc.) as well as project media, including video clips
• Keeps animation automatically in sync with the length of the clip, allowing you to freely resize your clips. This is a perfect match for the Magnetic Timeline in Final Cut Pro.
• Motion Blur: easy to configure via a single parameter, motion blur adds extra realism for the smoothest, best-looking animations at any frame rate.
• New in version 4.0: Metal GPU acceleration, Wide Gamut support in Final Cut Pro and brand new plugins to animate external images and project media.

When animating external image files, the best results are obtained by using the Generator variant of Pan and Zoom. Click the Titles and Generators icon to open the corresponding browser. Reveal the contents of the Generators group to browse all video generators available in Final Cut Pro. Select the Pan and Zoom category and drag the effect to your timeline:

To create an animation from existing mixed content on your timeline, click the Titles and Generators icon to open the corresponding browser. Reveal the contents of the Titles group to browse all title templates available in Final Cut Pro. Select the Pan and Zoom category and drag the Pan and Zoom title over the desired section of the timeline:

To animate a single video clip or still image on your timeline, click the Effects icon to browse all effect templates available in Final Cut Pro. Select the Pan and Zoom category and drag the Pan and Zoom effect over the desired clip:

Why three variants of Pan and Zoom in Final Cut Pro?

The Pan and Zoom generator produces the highest quality output, as it allows the Pan and Zoom plugin to extract as much resolution as needed from the image file. This is the recommended solution when animating images with extremely high resolution (8K and higher). The file does not become part of your Final Cut Pro library automatically. This is the main downside of using the Pan and Zoom generator since it requires users to add the file to the library manually, or to make sure the file is available when the project is archived or recovered from a backup.

The Pan and Zoom title can be dragged above any any clips on your timeline to animate them. This is an extremely convenient way to create a Pan and Zoom effect from existing edited content, but the output quality is limited by the resolution at which the underlying media is being rendered by Final Cut Pro. This may depend on the timeline settings and on the type of clips that sit below the title track.

The Pan and Zoom effect can be applied over any clip on your timeline. Thus used, the Pan and Zoom plug-in is a simple alternative to animating the parameters offered by Final Cut Pro under the Transform group via keyframes. The output quality of the effect will be entirely dependent on the resolution of the clip or photo the effect is applied to.

Create a new Transparent Video asset in your project of the same resolution and frame rate as your timeline, and drag it to the desired spot:

When animating external image files, look for the Pan and Zoom: Image File plugin in the Pan and Zoom category.

Drag the effect over the Transparent Video clip and use the parameter inspector to begin setting it up:

To animate an existing photo or video clip on your timeline, look for the Pan and Zoom: Project Media plugin in the Pan and Zoom category.

Drag it over the clip you wish to animate. Please refer to the documentation available through the parameter inspector for assistance in using either version of the plugin.

How do I use these plug-ins in

Motion?

When animating external image files, your best option is to use the Pan and Zoom: Image File generator. Click the Add Object icon on the toolbar. Scroll down to the Generators > Pan and Zoom menu and select the Pan and Zoom generator to add it to your timeline:

To animate an existing photo or video clip on your timeline, select its layer and apply Pan and Zoom: Project Media effect in the Pan and Zoom category.

How do I use these plug-ins in

After Effects?

When animating external image files, your best option is to use the Pan and Zoom: Image File effect. Select an existing layer, or create a new Solid layer on your timeline and select it. Choose the Pan and Zoom: Image File plugin from the Effect > Pan and Zoom menu.

To animate an existing photo or video clip on your timeline, select its layer and apply the Pan and Zoom: Project Media effect instead.

Why are there two variants of Pan and Zoom in After Effects, Premiere Pro and Motion?

The Pan and Zoom: Image File produces the highest quality output, as it allows the Pan and Zoom plugin to extract as much resolution as needed from the image file. This is the recommended solution when animating images with extremely high resolution (8K and higher). Please make sure the solid layer you apply to the generator to has the same resolution as your composition.

The Pan and Zoom: Project Media will animate the layer’s contents rather. The output quality of the effect will be entirely dependent on the resolution of the layer. This is the easiest way to create a Pan and Zoom animation from an existing composition, but output quality may be inferior to the Image File variant when zooming into details of the original media.