Zoom-n-Pan Effects


Have you ever seen a Ken Burns documentary on PBS? His most famous work was an 11-hour long retrospective on the U.S. Civil War, but he’s covered a wide variety of topics over his career that look at different aspects of Americana: jazz, baseball, Mark Twain, and the Brooklyn Bridge, to name but a few. Since all of his films focus on historical topics, which often predate the invention of film, he doesn’t usually have a lot of raw footage with which to work. Burns is therefore famous for the technique of taking old photographs, drawings, and letters, and then manipulating the camera to slowly zoom in on interesting portions, or to gently pan across a static image to convey a sense of action. Add music, sound effects, and a voice-over or two from a distinguished actor, and you’ve got yourself one compelling piece of filmmaking.

Camtasia Studio offers you that same level of professionalism for your video footage, whether you (like Burns) are trying to spice up a static image or you’re working with actual video. You see, in addition to the stylistic coolness of using the Zoom-n-Pan feature, there’s a pragmatic aspect to it as well. Many applications are space hogs; they like to take up your entire screen. When it comes to recording these gargantuan windows, you’re going to need to find a way to reduce the dimensions of the video window, as people don’t typically enjoy looking at a video window that’s larger than their entire monitor (the long download times for a file this size are also a real pain). So, if you want to capture everything, you’ve got two basic choices:

  • Scale your clips down to a manageable size when producing. I typically find this option unacceptable for any detail work because of the huge reduction in quality that comes with it. Images become blurry, and text becomes downright unreadable.

  • Use Zoom-n-Pan to zoom in on a particular area of the screen, then pan to follow the mouse cursor as it moves about the screen. If you produce at the same dimensions as your zoom, then no quality whatsoever is lost. The one drawback to this method is that it tends to explode the file size if you’re panning a lot. Producing to a format that’s more tolerant of high-motion video (such as FLV or QuickTime H.264) will alleviate this.

These two methods are not mutually exclusive, mind you, and can be used in conjunction for a wonderful effect. You stay zoomed out to show the full interface of the program, and then zoom in and pan around to demonstrate the details. To see what I mean, take a look at the sample video image from book zoomnpan.avi in this chapter’s exercise folder on the CD-ROM. Open it now and watch it.

image from book

Here’s a basic overview of how I did the Zoom-n-Pan effects for this quick video about everyone’s favorite program:

  1. I recorded the video at the dimension 1032 x 780, which is just large enough to capture all the details of the Camtasia Studio user interface, but too large to keep as my final output size. These dimensions are exactly 1.5 times larger than the planned dimensions of my final video. When experimenting with zooming, always try to keep the proportions of your initial recording the same as your planned output. If you don’t, you’ll either end up with superfluous background bars (think of a widescreen movie shown on a square TV set) or stretched content (i.e., your video will look like a funhouse mirror reflection of itself).

  2. In the editing phase, I started with the video at 100% to show the whole interface, but then zoomed in after a few seconds to 688 x 520, which is a more manageable size (and will serve as the dimensions of our final video).

  3. The zoom started on the top left-hand corner of the screen, but this gets problematic when the focus shifts to portions of the screen outside our direct view (i.e., when I’m dragging clips onto the Timeline in our video). So what to do? Follow that mouse, of course! A quick pan makes this easy work. It’s best to follow whatever the cursor is doing, but don’t follow too closely by constantly panning. In addition to making your audience seasick, you’ll bloat the file size of your video exponentially.

  4. At the end of the video, I zoomed back out to show a final shot of the whole screen.

  5. When producing this video, I set my screen dimensions to 688 x 520. This way, all portions of the video where I was zoomed out to 100% (at 1032 x 780) will be scaled down, but all zoomed content will display full-size, with no quality loss of any kind. We’ll cover the act of producing at different window sizes in Chapter 12, “The Production Process.”

image from book

Of course, zooming is helpful even when you’re not producing at a smaller size than the original recording. When doing particularly detailed work, there may be instances where you’d want to show the user interface elements of the target application at an even larger size than 100%. The Zoom feature shines here as well, but do be careful not to enlarge the video too much, as your content can quickly become blocky and pixelated.

image from book

Zooming is great when trying to distinguish among a bunch of look-alike buttons and fields.

image from book

But enough of the conceptual stuff - let’s actually get our hands dirty with this feature, starting with opening the Zoom-n-Pan pane:

  • In the Edit section of your Task List, choose Zoom-n-Pan….

    or

  • From your Edit menu, pick Zoom-n-Pan….

image from book

Your Zoom-n-Pan pane opens. To execute your very first zoom, the first thing you’ll need to do is place your seek bar at the exact spot in the clip where you want your zoom to go. Keep in mind that your zoom will last only as long as the duration of the current clip. When your clip ends, so does your effect.

Zooming

So, you’ve got your seek bar on the right spot, yes? To execute the zoom, click Add Zoom-n-Pan key frame. The Zoom-n-Pan Properties pane will appear, which looks something like this:

image from book

It may look complicated, but all your options actually fall within three basic parameters: the size of your zoom window, the window’s position, and how fast you want the zoom/pan to happen.

image from book

We’ll start with the basics of zooming in:

  1. If still in the main Zoom-n-Pan pane, click Add Zoom-n-Pan key frame.

  2. In the Zoom-n-Pan Properties pane, you will first need to specify the Size of your zoom window. The zoom size can be anything as long as both coordinates fit inside your video’s original dimensions. You’ve got three choices:

    • Show entire video. This option is typically used for zooming back out after you’ve zoomed in.

    • Standard zoom size. Sizes your content according to one of the standard Windows screen sizes (typical video sizes and monitor resolutions). Simply choose a size from the drop-down list. A word of caution, though: If the new “standard” size has different proportions than your original size, you’re likely to see some stretching occur, which isn’t attractive.

    • Custom zoom size. Another option (and the one that I prefer) is to specify custom dimensions. To keep the aforementioned video proportions, well… proportional, I strongly recommend leaving the Keep aspect ratio check box checked. If you don’t, you’re likely to experience some weirdness when zooming in, since both the size and the proportions of your video will change, resulting in the aforementioned “funhouse mirror” effect. The only way to change proportions and avoid this effect is to forgo the full-screen “zoomed out” shot entirely, and keep your video zoomed to the same dimensions throughout. You’ll also need to produce at those same dimensions.

  3. Of course, you can also resize the zoom window by clicking and dragging the handles of the green zoom rectangle, like so:

    image from book

    Be sure to deselect Keep aspect ratio first if you want the proportions of your zoom window to be different (though, again - not recommended). Notice how changes to the zoom rectangle and the Size fields affect each other. You can use this to your advantage: First position the zoom rectangle roughly where you want it, and then tweak the numbers to make sure you have the details right.

  4. Next, we have to set the location of our window. You’ve got two options here. First, you can use the Position fields to specify the horizontal (X) and vertical (Y) coordinates, in pixels, from the top-left corner of your screen. If you don’t need to be quite that precise, simply click and drag anywhere inside the green zoom rectangle, and you can place it anywhere within the video’s original dimensions.

  5. Finally, you’ll need to specify the Zoom speed, that is, how quickly you want the zoom to occur. Do you prefer a slow, sweeping movement or a fast close-up? Particularly if file size is a concern for you, you can also instantly close in on the details without the animated zoom effect. It’s not sexy, but it gets the job done.

  6. Check out the effect in your Video Preview. You cannot preview the actual animation while still on the Zoom-n-Pan Properties pane; you only have a static view of what the zoom level will look like for the current frame.

  7. If you need to change the location of your zoom on the Timeline, just click an appropriate spot in the Time Reference area. The blue diamond that represents your zoom effect will jump to the new location.

  8. Click OK to return to the Zoom-n-Pan pane.

image from book

A Zoom-n-Pan key frame will remain in effect until the end of the clip, or until the next Zoom-n-Pan key frame is reached on the Timeline, whichever comes first. If you’re zoomed in on one clip and you want this zoom effect to continue into the following clip, you’ll need to insert a new, instant zoom effect with the same size and position settings as the first effect at the very beginning of the second clip. Wow, that sentence just read like an Abbott & Costello sketch, didn’t it? Perhaps a visual would help:

image from book

The second Zoom-n-Pan key frame is a mirror of the first one, and it serves to continue the current zoom level into the next clip.

If ever you need to change a zoom effect, a single click on its icon (image from book ) in the Zoom track on your Timeline will bring up its Zoom-n-Pan Properties pane for you to edit at any time.

The triangular-shaped ramp attached to this clip symbolizes the clip’s zoom speed. It will help you better gauge the exact point on your Timeline the zoom will begin as well as when the zoom/pan animation finishes. The ramp will be longer, shorter, or nonexistent based on the zoom speed you chose (Slow, Fast, Instant)[*].

Panning

Of course, zooming in on an object is just half of the equation. Once you’re zoomed in, you’re focused on just a small portion of the screen, and ignoring the rest. However, this small area of focus can still be moved around, which is what panning is all about. It’s like having a flashlight in a darkened room. You can only see a small part of the room at a time, but the rest of it is still there, and can be discovered simply by casting the beam in another direction.

image from book

Panning the focus to the remotest corners of your capture area can be accomplished thusly:

  1. Create a zoom effect for the clip in question. Since panning requires working with a smaller space than the entire capture area, this first step is a necessity. Click OK to return to the Zoom-n-Pan pane.

  2. Move the Timeline’s seek bar to a point later in the clip where you want to pan. You should be placing the seek bar at the exact moment on the Timeline where you want the pan animation to end.

  3. Click Add Zoom-n-Pan key frame. A new Zoom-n-Pan point appears on your Timeline. Camtasia Studio remembers the size and location of your last zoom effect, and this is a good baseline for doing your pan effects, which you’ll want to keep exclusively horizontal or vertical for the most part. A diagonal pan where both the vertical and horizontal position coordinates change, especially coupled with a corresponding shift to the size, tends to look a little wonky and unprofessional.

  4. Change the field values or drag the green zoom rectangle to reflect the desired position.

  5. Set the Zoom speed. For pan effects, I would discourage you from using the Instant setting unless you’re really worried about file size. Instantly panning to another part of the screen (especially if you’re only moving the position a short distance) can be somewhat disconcerting to the viewer.

  6. Click OK to lock in your changes and return to the Zoom-n-Pan pane.

image from book

Of course, as implied above, you can also change the zoom size during a pan for a zoom/pan combination effect. However, you’ll need to keep in mind a basic rule of graphic design. For these kinds of effects to work well (actually, for any kind of zoom or pan effect to work), you’ll need a stark contrast in size and/or position between the beginning and end of the effect. Subtly panning over by just a few pixels is visually off-putting - it makes your audience wonder if you actually meant to do it. Suddenly, they’re no longer focused on your content, but rather on your skill with Zoom-n-Pan. Special effects like these are there to augment the content; they shouldn’t be drawing undue attention to themselves. I know it sounds like a paradox, but the more dramatic the visual change, the less likely your viewers will raise an eyebrow at it.

Managing Your Zoom-n-Pan Effects

Now that we’ve figured out how to add zoom and pan effects to our videos, let’s learn a few general housekeeping practices that will facilitate our working with them. Check out the table on the Zoom-n-Pan pane:

image from book

If you’ve been following along while reading, then you should already have at least a couple of entries. You’ve got the following information at your fingertips:

  • Name. You’re given a generic name for each effect (Zoom 1, Zoom 2, etc.), but you can rename each one if desired by clicking twice (slower than a double-click) anywhere on the item’s line.

  • Start Time. This is the point of time in which the zoom/pan effect will “arrive at its final destination,” not when the zoom/pan animation begins.

  • Clip. The video clip to which the animation is applied.

  • Zoom Speed. Slow, Fast, or Instant.

Of course, if ever you need to change an effect, it’s incredibly easy to do so. Just reopen the item’s Zoom-n-Pan Properties pane.

image from book

You can open any pre-existing Zoom-n-Pan key frame by executing any of the following steps:

  • Click on the Zoom point, located on the Zoom track on your Timeline.

    or

  • Click an item in the table in your Zoom-n-Pan pane, and then choose Modify selected Zoom-n-Pan key frame from the list of commands located below the table.

    or

  • Double-click an item in the table in your Zoom-n-Pan pane.

image from book

Once you’ve got the specific effect open, just make any editing changes as needed and click OK. Of course, you can also freely delete your items as well. To delete an individual item, select it in the table on your Zoom-n-Pan pane, and either choose Remove selected Zoom-n-Pan key frame or simply press the Delete key, confirming with Yes when the “Are you sure?” dialog pops up. If you really messed things up, and you want to get rid of all your effects, then click Remove all Zoom-n-Pan key frames.

Before moving on, there’s one final option I want to discuss that might help you manage your Zoom-n-Pan effects. At the bottom of the Zoom-n-Pan pane is an option called Show zoom rectangles. Clicking it will change the way your Video Preview shows the zoom. Rather than showing the zoom effect as the audience would see it, checking this option gives you a better overview of the included zoom content within the broader scope of the video’s original dimensions.

image from book

The Video Preview of the same frame is shown twice here, first with Show zoom rectangles disabled, and then with it enabled.

As you can see, it looks very similar to the zoom rectangle window from the Zoom-n-Pan Properties pane. Note that this effect is only visible on the Zoom-n-Pan and Zoom-n-Pan Properties panes. If you exit Zoom-n-Pan mode entirely, then the Video Preview will revert to behaving as if the Show zoom rectangles option were disabled. I don’t personally use this feature very often, but in segments with a lot of mouse activity, I often find it handy when planning my zoom/pan effects so that I can better track the mouse cursor.

Okay, that just about does it for Zoom-n-Pan. Now, let’s look into adding a bit more interactivity to our videos by using the Flash Quiz and Survey functionality to create surveys and quizzes.

[*]If your zoom begins or ends close to the beginning/end of the clip that contains it, the duration of the fade effect will auto-scale based on those constraints.




Camtasia Studio 4. The Definitive Guide
Camtasia Studio 4: The Definitive Guide (Wordware Applications Library)
ISBN: 1598220373
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2007
Pages: 146
Authors: Daniel Park

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