Image size for Motion

[Noah Kadner]

Depends how much you want to zoom in- just try it….

Noah

Check out my book: RED: The Ultimate Guide to Using the Revolutionary Camera!
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[Mark Spencer]

If it’s a screen grab then there’s nothing to decide – it is what it is.

—
Mark Spencer
Freelance Producer/Editor/Motion Graphics Artist
Apple-certified Master Trainer
Author, Motion 4 from Peachpit Press
https://www.applemotion.net

[Brad Harris]

I can still enlarge it in photoshop to an extent.

[Gareth Randall]

What I’d do is look up the relevant Google Maps page on the computer with the highest-res display I could find, and take a screen grab of that. On my MacBook Pro that would be 1680×1050, which at 72dpi should give you plenty of room to pan and zoom in a 720×480 project. Or am I missing something?

[Stephen Smith]

Google maps are copyrighted. Take a look at Google Maps Pro. https://www.google.com/enterprise/earthmaps/earth_pro.html
It’s maps are not water marked and give you a lot more options. Best of luck.

Stephen Smith
Utah Video Productions

Check out my Motion Training DVD

Check out my Motion Tutorials

[Brad Harris]

Hello,
Thank you for your responding to my post. You need to have a company to register for the Google Maps Pro trial, and I don’t have my own company. I would love to try the trial but not sure If I can do it without a company?
Aside from that what about just a regurlar photo that was teken using a digital camera. What should I resize the image to before I bring into Motion and make it move? I have still yet to figure out how I can zoom in or out of a image taken from camera?
I appreciate all of your help!
Thanks,
Brad

[Stephen Smith]

Brad,
Are you a student and this is a student project?

As for stills, always make it 72dpi. I like to make it a little bigger then the size of the project I’m working on. If I’m going to zoom in a lot then I make it a lot bigger the the size of the project I’m working on. I guess what I’m saying is, for me it is not an exact science. I have a broadcast monitor so if it is not big enough I’ll know real quick. I’ve accidentally brought in super huge pictures and they work great except for the render in FCP time.

Stephen Smith
Utah Video Productions

Check out my Motion Training DVD

Check out my Motion Tutorials

[Brad Harris]

No I am not a Student. The size of my FCP project is 720×480 so that would be the size of my Motion project right? I guess that there is no way I can download the Google Maps Pro Trial right?
Thank you,
Brad

[Stephen Smith]

I highly recommend you create a business, even if you only do free lance work. If you get sued for a project you did they can come after you. If you have a business they can only come after the assets in the businesses name. So your personal assets are protected. A business licensee in my state is only $15. You can form a company on legalzoom for really cheap. Something to think about.

But yeah, you would want your still to be bigger then 720 x 480. The further you are going to zoom the bigger you would want your image to be.

Stephen Smith
Utah Video Productions

Check out my Motion Training DVD

Check out my Motion Tutorials

[Stephen Smith]

Also,
If you are going to zoom in a big distance such as the Whole USA to the city of Boise you will need to use multiple maps. Here is how it works. You have a map of the US. Then a map of Idaho. Then a map of Boise. You take the Idaho map and lay it on top of the USA map. Create a mask around the Idaho map with a feathered edge to blend it into the USA map. Do the same thing with the Boise map. Animate the camera so it zooms from the whole USA to Boise. That will help maintain the quality when you reach the final destination that would have been lost had you just had one map to work with. Hope this makes sense and best of luck.

Stephen Smith
Utah Video Productions

Check out my Motion Training DVD

Check out my Motion Tutorials