Also with trasitions, and it took me a while to find out after using S7, is they don't fill a gap between events. You clip and drag them back over the event it's attached to, to determine its length.

Here is a quick step-by-step for pan and zoom:

Step 1: Place a still image on the timeline
Step 2: Right click on the event you just made on the timeline and select Properties
Step 3: Select the Pan/Crop tab in the Properties dialog.
Step 4: Set your starting point by adjusting the Frame with the bounding box and with handles (with big 'F' in the middle). If you just move the bounding box it will pan. If you move the handles to adjust the size of the box it will zoom in and out accordingly.
Step 5: Click the End button in the upper right hand corner of the dialog box and adjust the Frame again to where you want your shot to end.
Step 6: Click the Play button at the lower right of the dialog to see your motion and adjust the Begin and End points as necessary using the Begin and End buttons and adjusting the Frame.
Step 7: Press OK when you’re happy with the results

You could also try this:

Step 1: From the Menu select Help/Contents and Index (or press F1)
Step 2: Select the Index tab from the help dialog
Step 3: Type ‘pan’ in the keyword box.
Step 4: Select from Panning/Cropping a Video Event from the listbox.
Step 5: Follow the instructions to the right.

I assume you may have tried this second method and not understood which is why I gave you the first method. I find that, in general, the help file is quite good and should be your first place to check. It will give you more information about all the other buttons on the pan/crop dialog. But we are here in case the help file isn’t clear. ;-)

~jr

Many thanks, guys.

This is a Very powerful tool..especially for the novice.

I hope the end results are worth it...by the way, when you mention 'help file' do you mean within the application? Is the manual useful?

Thanks again for your patience,

Allen

Yes I mean the help file within the application. You would be surprised how many people ask how to set up their machines for maximum performance and it’s all there in the help file if they would only stop and look.

The manual is also very useful. It goes into a lot of detail on video formats, which I was surprised to see. It’s also a good resource that you should skim through just to get an understanding of what’s there.

~jr

Great advice...got it. But this process must be done to each and evey photo and transition...one at a time? There is no global transition tool?

Allen

> But this process must be done to each and evey photo and transition...one at a time?

Yes. If you are looking for an automatic slideshow generator there are products on the market that do this. More and more are popping up every day trying to capture the market of people with digital cameras who want to make slide shows. Movie Studio is not one of those products and so, yes you have to edit each picture, give it some thought, and make adjustments to be sure the movements are purposeful.

Don’t forget, its OK to use other tools. If you have 500 pictures and you don’t want to do them one at a time, you can generate automated slide shows with another tool and save them as AVI files and bring them back into the timeline to add titles, etc. I only use Vegas for a slideshow when I want it to be like a movie for a special event. For my everyday pictures, I use Ulead DVD PictureShow or DVD MovieFactory 2. This lets me just drop a bunch of pictures, add some music, and burn. I take around 3000 family photos a year so hand crafting slide shows is reserved for special occasions. ;-) The majority are just dumped to VideoCD with DVD PictureShow.

> There is no global transition tool?

No, Vegas has the ability to paste a single transition across the timeline with its Paste attributes command but VideoFactory (and I assume Movie Studio) does not. But I could be wrong on this one, as I don’t have Movie Studio.

~jr

jr,

Somehow I didn't think so...oh, well. Great idea to use another application!

Another question: Now that I know how to pan and zoom, how do you end the panning before the transition? I want to do the effect then show the final picture for a second or so, then begin the transition.

Thanks,
Allen

Since the start and end points for pan and zoom are fixed in Movie Studio, the only way to do this is to split the event at the part you want it to hold. Then don’t apply and pan / zoom after the split. I would also group the two events together so they move together as one. So use the S key to split and the G key to group. Did that make sense?

In Vegas, you can control the keyframes (which is what the begin and end points are) so that you can insert another keyframe just before the end to hold the image. This is a good reason to upgrade to Vegas if you’re going to do a lot of keyframing of events. It’s not the only reason to upgrade but just one to add to your list. Then when the list gets long enough, you start to realize that you’ve outgrown Movie Studio and its time to upgrade. For now, you’ll have to be happy with workarounds like using split and group.

~jr