addressed Panorama pan

[NormLane]

Could someone sum up the steps I need to take to convert a wide panoramic picture to a panning video that sweeps across from one side to the other?

[Nationalsolo]

Hi

 

Your panoramic image obviously will not have a 16:9 aspect ratio and so once loaded to the media list or placed onto the sequence track will have a chequered area at both top and bottom which is normal.

Start by clicking the FX button at the left end of the image on the sequence track.

In the Effects pane that comes up click the green cross and select Zoom. (You will have to zoom in to remove the chequered areas and then use zoom in animation to move along the image)

Click the Restraint box and select 16:9 to keep the zoomed clip in normal AR

Slide the red cursor to the start position for your pan (e.g.left hand end)

Open the keyframe pane (if not already open) and slide the red cursor to the left to indicate you are at the start of the clip.

The main Clip preview pane on the right will now show a rectangle with corner and side handles on your image clip. Pull the sides or ends to change the size of the rectangle and move it by dragging so that it displays the start area for your Pan.You may have to undock your preview pane (top right hand corner arrow) to adjust and see the position of the rectangle more easily.

 

Once in position click all four of the animation line buttons at the right of the effects panel.(Little graph lines with a dot on them) This will show horizontal lines for each parameter in thekeyframe space.

Now click the "Add keyframe to current postion" button..The green cross at top of keyframe panel. This will add small markers to each of the keyframe lines fixing the start rectangle.

 

Slide the cursor along to the end position for your pan (e.g. right hand end)

Grab your rectangle in the clip review pane and drag it to the end position for your pan. Dont alter its size -just position.

Click the green cross again to fix the keyframe (probably be already marked)

Close the effects panel

Play the image clip,It should now pan from left to right.

Alter the speed by dragging out the ends of the image clip to make it longer or alter the duration of the clip from the Storyboard option.

 

Nat

[NormLane]

Dude! That was exactly what I needed. Thanks so much.

[tomd71]

You have got to be kidding!!  With the Iphone producing beautiful panoramic pictures,  you have to go through this 13 or 14 step process to view the panoramic picture as taken.  Not exactly user friendly, I call that user antagonistic.

[Nationalsolo]

Hi

This is quite an old thread (2016) but the question was How to make a panning video from a panoramic photo... like this. (From the iphone site.)

Note...This an image..not a video and the question was how can this be panned using VP? . Although the description given may seem to have a number of steps. In practice it is fairly simple.

Loaded to VP it looks like this.(below) .. Just an image...but it is long and thin...(Its a panorama) VP fits it into the centre of the  16:9 frame. That being so there has to be blank bars at top and bottom..

The simple answer to how to create a panning video of this image is to use the Zoom effect retraining the AR to 16:9. You can now select a start frame for the pan and set it with a keyframe   You then select an end frame and set that with a keyframe. The images below show that  I am going from left to right but you can change the order of the frames  to set the direction of the pan the other way around.....

START FRAME. Below left is the start Zoom frame set up on the left end of the image. This is shown in the Clip preview window. The resulting image is shown in the sequence preview screen on the right. A keyframe is now created for this zoom position.

END FRAME. The zoom frame is moved horizontally to the right hand end of the clip image and a second keyframe is set.

Depending on the duration set for the still image which will affect the pan speed, the "video" will pan smoothly along the image from the START  frame to the END frame. As the frames are zoomed in there will be no black top/bottom bars although depending on the resolution of the image the final zoomed in result may not be quite as clear. . And that was the answer to the question.

Nat

 

[Alan R]

On 6/8/2016 at 1:49 AM, Nationalsolo said:

Your panoramic image obviously will not have a 16:9 aspect ratio and so once loaded to the media list or placed onto the sequence track will have a chequered area at both top and bottom which is normal...

Hi Nat

I searched the forum for "Panorama" and found another user had already asked the same question, to which you provided the above answer!

I followed your instructions as best I could (probably changes between VP 2016 and VP 2021) but the result although it panned, remained vertically squashed.

Something had not worked, so further searching found the "Stretch to Aspect Ratio" effect which when applied worked perfect.

Was I right in having to add the extra effect or have I missed something in the Zoom effect I needed to have done?

Note I had already created what I wanted but using  the "scale" effect (you will remember from our conversation over the last few days) that we all concluded has some issues with large jpegs, and this panorama was some 4,700 pixels wide.

Look forward to your reply.

Alan

[Nationalsolo]

Hi

Yes, similar questions crop up from time to time but changes in the software sometimes meas that the replies have become a bit out of date. However |I don't think this is one of them.

Were you using the Zoom effect for your test? It should work as I described. In the example quoted you select a Start  frame and an End  frame with two keyframes. Note that I mentioned that the AR for these frames has to be set at 16:9 or they won't fill the frame and you will have chequered areas. There is a list of AR you can select from. 

 Zoom will not squash or stretch the image even if no AR is chosen. It will size (enlarge/zoom) the designated area whatever its AR (even a freehand shape) so it maximises in the preview frame, either the height will fit or the width will fit , whichever is the larger. 16:9 is the VP frame shape and so it will always fit correctly on both directions.

Scale, on the other hand will distort the image depending on whether or not you retain the AR. The box is ticked by default, presumably prevent squashing/stretching unless required.

Nat

[Alan R]

Yes I was using Zoom only. (as well as Stretch)

So, setting Zoom..

Start and end keyframes created.

AR set to 16:9 - but nothing chequered - Sequence preview is vertically squashed altho does scroll sideways.

Dragging cursor side to side and Clip preview moves as expected (squashed).

Add Stretch to AR set to either Auto... or 16:9 - sorted!!

Sorry if we're at crossed purposes but Zoom set as you say + Stretch is the only solution that works for me.

Thank you again for your help

Alan

[Nationalsolo]

Hi

VP version 10.43 but later versions should behave the same as this is what a zoom is.

Note:  Zoom shouldn't stretch or squash anything so as a simple test check your version as follows.......

• Place your clip/image on the timeline. It can be any AR but usually clips are 16:9 as here...
• 
• Click the  FX  box on the timeline and select the Zoom effect.
• Set the aspect ratio of the zoom to 16:9 in the drop down list. This will place a 16:9 zoom  rectangle  on the preview display within the image.  As they are both AR 16:9 nothing is cut off.....
• 
• Drag the edges or corners to outline a part of the clip you wish to zoom in to. 
• 
• The zoomed 16:9 area will remain the same AR but obviously smaller. There should be no distortion stretching or squashing. Here I have dual previews set up and you can see that the sequence preview on the right shows the area zoomed and full frame. It is not squashed or otherwise distorted.
• 
• This clip exports (in VLC)  as an mp4 exactly  like as above  just with the letterbox option ticked.  Which is the default...
• 
• Note again, it remains 16:9 and is not distorted.

##############

Assuming now  I used a different AR for my initial clip/image and requires a 16:9 result zoomed in..

• Here's a square image on preview... (A bit low res.but no matter )
• 
• Now add the 16:9 AR Zoom as outlined above......
• 
• VP places the 16:9 zoom rectangle within the image positioned at the top (as before) but the image is not 16:9 and some of the image is therefore excluded from the rectangle.
• But as before you can adjust the 16:9 rectangle to outline the area you want to  zoom into...
• 
• This exports  as a 16:9 full frame clip/image as before with no squashing etc.... (Although a bit overzoomed in this example )
• 

Panning across a wide screen image/clip should be just the same using two keyframes and Zoom 1 and Zoom 2. (Start and End zooms can be different)

If you are getting a compressed image vertically (or horizontally) doing is then your version would seem to have a bug. 

Nat

[Alan R]

Hi Nat

Referring to your 1st example the sail boats, started as 16:9 zoomed in as a 16:9 magnified section, all ok, mine does exactly the same, and with keyframes we can pan and zoom from start to finish, all good!

For the 'sun' example, I do not get quite the same.  When you show the area of interest (dotted rectangle) in the Clip preview as a small part of the major image, you show in the Sequence preview window the 16:9 sub-section as filling all the 16:9 output window, mine does nothing like that.

I have included a screen shot using my wide pano jpg (not dissimilar to your Sun in that it's non 16:9, and as you can see my Sequence preview the output image is vertically squashed.  In fact it looks more like it's the ratio of the input image.  This is what I can only cure when I add "stretch" effect, to make it fill the 16:9 screen.

I am running VP Pro 10.96

Oops, nearly forgot the link you'll need

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1BHpgQz3z15ZzADQx5NH4-mXROyIWe9wI/view?usp=sharing

Alan

[Nationalsolo]

Hi Alan

To my mind that is not right. As I see it, no matter what AR your image is, long and thin or tall and narrow the 16:9 zoom frame should produce a 16:9 full screen image that is not squashed.  Unless NCH have made changes I would suggest this is a bug. Seems that the horizontal zoom adjustment is not acting correctly. As this presumably involves scaling the values, this step may have been inadvertently missed.

It would be interesting to know what happens to the sequence preview at your end if the AR box is left unticked and you adjust the horizontal value independently. Here (with 10.43), there is no distortion, the custom zoom area simply filles the frame vertically or horizontally with whichever side is largest but again with out squashing or stretching.

So, here's a similar VP screen capture to your own with a wide screen image and 16:9 zoom...

Just the zoom frame set at 16:9 added and Sequence preview and timeline are fine! (Export also)

Nat

[Alan R]

Hi Nat

Think I got something interesting

work on a 16:9 image, and all works well, you will get a 16:9 output

work on a square image, and all works the same, but you will get a square output

work on a wide landscape, and all works the same, you will get a landscape output.

If you expect the output to fill 16:9 you have to start with 16:9

In all other cases your output WILL match AR of the input - in fact in all case it will

Not even playing with the AR drop-down in the sequence window does anything useful.

Playing with the AR drop-down in the Zoom effect window just alters the AR of the capture rectangle, it has no effect on the output AR which remains solidly linked to the input AR.

Seems the input AR rules supreme.  Lets assume all your images are square, why else would you want to produce zoom effects that do not follow???

Well along comes the awkward one who wants to zoom into an image and break all the rules!!

Ok (says the dev team) lets add Stretch Effect to provide for that rare need.

Alan

[borate]

Yes, this will get you what you want.  Whether that's the intended behavior ... to be determined.

[Alan R]

1 hour ago, borate said:

Yes, this will get you what you want.  Whether that's the intended behavior ... to be determined.

Thanks - it's the only way I can get the right AR in the output - and it's so simple to apply - intended or not as you say!

Alan

[Nationalsolo]

Hi Alan

Interesting discussion.

"....If you expect the output to fill 16:9 you have to start with 16:9

In all other cases your output WILL match AR of the input - in fact in all case it will..."

I don't agree The zoom result is what YOU set........ It's not dictated by the AR of the input. Any AR image can be zoomed into and the output will be the AR set by the zoom.

"........work on a square image, and all works the same, but you will get a square output.........."

Not so.  A square image (like the Sun in glasses -112 112 ) gives a 16:9 output with out stretching/squashing. As shown in my example above. In this case it WAS to obtain a full 16:9 frame not just to zoom the into square image. The output was determined by the Zoom AR setting.

If I wanted a zoomed square image then I would set an AR of 1:1 This output won't fill the frame of course as that is 16:9 but it's not distorted which is what you seem to be getting. 

It shouldn't need to be stretched to the AR. It should never be distorted with Zoom.  If you want 16:9, you set 16:9 the rectangle shows the contents of the resulting frame that doesn't require any stretching. If the image is square that's not a problem; VP zooms the rectangle and, whatever its shape  (above it is square) fits its height or width to the screen consequently leaving borders that end up transparent. There is no stretching or squashing That is what happens here. i.e. If an different AR image is used VP zooms all the area designated and then enlarges it back to the preview/timeline until either the height or the width fits. No other steps are required.  It shouldn't squash it or stretch it. One of these enlarging steps is missing IMHO.

Nat

[Alan R]

Hi Nat

Whilst I understand your objections - it is what I am experiencing (and maybe shouldn't be) - but I also agree entirely with the substance of your objections!

What I am experiencing is maybe not what the designers were aiming at, I accept, as your stance is more intuitive.

"It shouldn't squash it or stretch it. One of these enlarging steps is missing IMHO."  Totally agree.  But until this issue is corrected, Stretch will save the day (for me at least!).

Thanks for your help - been as you say an interesting discussion,  which hopefully one day we may see corrected.

What a shame that we may never know when/if this gets corrected as it would be nice to see it working as intended.

Thanks

Alan

[Nationalsolo]

Hi Alan

Passed this along to NCH for a comment. I still think this is a bug as it involves Scaling up both axes of the outlined area to fit into the frame. (which is, after all, what a zoom is...Telephoto lenses don't just enlarge the view vertically In fact there was a version that had this bug (which was quickly corrected) so perhaps it has crept in again.

In essence, to my mind, the Zoom effect  in VP does this....... Crops  the frame to the designated area/ Scales up the axes of the designated area until one of the sides fits into the preview screen.

I think in this case it's only scaling up one side of the rectangle and leaving the other at the cropped stage. Hence the output is squashed (i.e. not scaled.) The additional step of Stretching to a set AR should not be necessary.

I have used the Stretch option at times where a slightly cropped clip or scaled clip ends up not quite 16:9 (full frame) leaving narrow black bars and Stretching to AR (16:9) gets it accurate and as already being close the distortion introduced is not evident.

See what comes back.

Regards

Nat

[Alan R]

Hi Nat

Thanks for the update

Waiting with crossed fingers ???

Regards

Alan.