Panning over 1600-px-wide image in 720p

[Bob Peterson]

Nothing special is needed. Open up Pan/Crop for each image. Be sure that the Maintain Aspect Ratio setting is yes. Right click within the “F” symbol in Pan/Crop, and click on “Maintain Output Aspect”. That should do it.

BTW, I am working within Vegas Pro 9.

[David Aragon]

The thing is, I need to render the images to a video track before I pan/crop, otherwise I can only pan over single images and not all of them (which is what I need to do to pan a time lapse).

Here’s the method I’ve devised, I’d love to hear some feedback on it before I take the plunge:

1. Batch crop all images (about 1500) to 1600 x 720 pixels.
2. Place in project with project dimensions of 1600 x 720.
3. Render to new track.
4. Pan new video with 1280 x 720 pixel box.
5. Resize project to 1280 x 720.
6. Render video with those dimensions.

That should result in a 720p, panned time lapse, yes?

Thank you!!

-David

[Mike Kujbida]

David, assuming you want to do the exact same panning move to all images, see if this method will work better for you.

Set your Project Properties to 720p.
Drop all the images on the timeline.
Go into Pan/Crop on the first image, right-click and select “Match Output Aspect”.
The width will now be set to 1280 and you’ll see mild cropping on each side.
Set up your beginning and end keyframes as desired.
Exit this frame.
Right-click this image and select “Copy”.
Click the next frame to select it.
Right-click and choose “Select Events to End”.
Right-click one last time and choose “Paste Event Attributes”.
If the Vegas gurus are smiling on you today (and I haven’t forgotten a step), then every image will now have the same pan move on it.
Render as desired.

[David Aragon]

Thanks for getting back to me Mike! But I think the method you’re suggesting will make the same pan on each individual image.

What I need is to make the pan over ALL the images as a group, which would give the effect of a moving time lapse. See what I mean?

[Bob Peterson]

Unless I am misunderstanding, each image in a moving time lapse will make the same pan motion. First, an edge of the image will appear at the right or left side of the screen. Then it will pan until it disappears. Each one will have the same pan. The trick is spacing them properly on the time line.

[Mike Kujbida]

David, you’re right about the method I suggested.
I think what you want is going to involve Track Motion and Parent Motion.
John Rofrano has a tutorial called Parent Motion that I think is similar to what you want to do.
Have a look at it and see if you can adapt it to your needs.

[David Aragon]

Hey all,

Thanks so much for your great suggestions! I thought I’d post the solution that ended up working for me so that anyone who finds this via Google will have some options.

1. Crop all your time lapse images as you want them to appear.
2. Place them in a project with BIGGER dimensions than your pictures.
3. Render all the still images to new track, so it will be a video file.
4. Pan your new video with a box that matches your final output dimensions (say, 1280×720).
5. Resize project (via project properties) to the same dimensions you used for your pan box (in step 4).
6. Render video.

[Mike Thompson]

I would have used quicktime or virtualdub to create a time lapse avi from all the raw jpgs (open image sequence).

That movie would be at the native resolution of your jpgs.

Then I’d import that movie into vegas where you can do your pan / crop business.

Easy peasy