Stage Tools Moving Picture

[Lu Nelson]

Hi there,

The PanZoomPro plugin works well. It is more precise than MovingPicture, and though it renders slower when you have it on “full quality” the render quality is better.

However your description also suggests to me you are using the MovingPicture plugin incorrectly. You do not apply it to pictures and there is no need to import your pictures themselves in to FCP with that workflow. You just need a dummy clip, like 1 minute of black (you can create this by laying down a minute of slug in the timeline and then exporting this to a file), to which you apply the effect and then when you launch the MovingPicture interface you import the picture you want to animate. Your FCP timeline will look like a bunch of instances of the same “dummy” clip laid one after the other. It’s only in the plugin that you choose the picture and set up an animation. If you try to import the still picture in to your timeline and then apply the effect to that you are not passing the right information to the plugin. The clip in the timeline is what defines how the frame size, rate etc.

[Bob Flood]

hi

use to use moving picture a lot on discreet edit, and it was great!
the developer has been arounf for a long time and knows a lot obout video (he developed the EMC NLE system)

now i just do my moves in FCP

BUT here is some tips as to how to work with moving picture

its a good idea to do all your moves in a seperate timeline, than export them as a native movie.

I would bring in the stills at whatever reolution, then use them as references for the real moves.

drop the plug in on each still in a timeline, then through the plugin load the picture so that moving picture works with the still directly. Make sure your stills are on your computer someplace, like a specific folder in your capture scratch folder. If you are working off a cd of stills, copy them to your capture scratch folder first, otherwise you have to reconnect the stills in moving picture, one at a time.

once you have a move set up, render out the move to a selfcontained QT file, import it back into your project, and cut it in your timeline Dont forget to add enough extra “Handle” at the end for transitions ie dissolves.

if you know your a re going to have to go back and re edit the moves, do not change the location of the stills, as this will only serve to confuse Moving Picture

hope this helps

“I like video because its so fast!”

Bob Flood
Greer & Associates, Inc.

[Lawrence Mcdonough]

Thanks Lu, good catch. I was laying the picture direct to the timeline and then opening up Moving Picture editor importing the same photo and then applying the effect. Bummmer….not supposed to do that! ( I re-read the instructions and realized I missed or forgot that point) Well, like so many times in editing we make a significant mistake and get to go back and start all over to fix it (insert favorite cuss word here:____ ) Now the whole sequence seems to be hosed…the good folks at Stage Tools warn that doing what I did can create “several problems” ( again, insert favorite cuss word here”_____) I will be going through the repair carefully to see if I can rescue it without a complete redo

[Lawrence Mcdonough]

Thank you Bob, I appreciate the response. I figured out what I did wrong with the replies from both of you. (See post above) So glad to have the community in time of need! Larry