I will disagree a bit with HappyFriar. Pan/Crop is perfectly fine for what you are doing because you do not have to affect the whole track like track motion does. What you need to do is rightclick in the PAN CROP window and select MATCH OUTPUT ASPECT. Then you can move it over the whole screen without cropping.

But since this is text that's being positioned, why not use the "Position" tool in the Text FX to move it anywhere you want it?

He used Photoshop to create the text.

But since this is text that's being positioned, why not use the "Position" tool in the Text FX to move it anywhere you want it?

I will disagree a bit with HappyFriar. Pan/Crop is perfectly fine for what you are doing because you do not have to affect the whole track like track motion does. What you need to do is rightclick in the PAN CROP window and select MATCH OUTPUT ASPECT. Then you can move it over the whole screen without cropping.

Thank you, it worked. I right clicked the pan/crop and at first, I could not find what you suggested. So I looked in those arrows that open extras and found in switches 'Maintain Aspect Ratio.' Was that the one? Cuz' it now allowed me to move it anywhere without it disappearing.

And then HappyFrair suggest I save the file in png. At first, I did do that in the first place. But I think if I choose to not have it interface, that would make a difference. Does it?

I will disagree a bit with HappyFriar. Pan/Crop is perfectly fine for what you are doing because you do not have to affect the whole track like track motion does. What you need to do is rightclick in the PAN CROP window and select MATCH OUTPUT ASPECT. Then you can move it over the whole screen without cropping.

Using the pan/crop tool to move things when starting out creates a bad habit for future use. Similar to using a screwdriver like a chisel or a file for a pry bar.

Using "mask aspect output" doesn't change the functionality either, it automatically crops the event to the project ratio, in effect cutting out part of the event. All you did was crop down the event.

I will disagree a bit with HappyFriar. Pan/Crop is perfectly fine for what you are doing because you do not have to affect the whole track like track motion does. What you need to do is rightclick in the PAN CROP window and select MATCH OUTPUT ASPECT. Then you can move it over the whole screen without cropping.

Using the pan/crop tool to move things when starting out creates a bad habit for future use. Similar to using a screwdriver like a chisel or a file for a pry bar.

Using "mask aspect output" doesn't change the functionality either, it automatically crops the event to the project ratio, in effect cutting out part of the event. All you did was crop down the event.

Its STILL complicated to understand it all X_X

As long as it got me what I needed, I can proceed. Thanks you guys, I'll ask if I need another hand with an issue.

I disagree. Pan Crop is designed as a per Event effect. Track Motion is a (wait for it) track effect. Match Aspect Ratio does not crop out part of an event. I use it for photos all of the time and it fills out the frame to match the aspect of the video without distorting the image and allows full edge movement. Plus it keeps the image at original resolution until rendering as opposed to Track Event which works with the image at project resolution. As a result, you can bring in a larger resolution image and zoom in and out with no loss of quality.

My main uses for Track Motion are to reposition a series of images or titles. I never use it for slide shows or animating movements of images/text.

I invite you to put an image from a digital camera on the TL in a project, apply "maintain aspect output" to it via pan/crop & show me in the pan/crop window it not cropping out part of the photo. :)

You have used 2 different terms so I want to make sure we are discussing the same thing. In the Pan Crop window is an option to MATCH OUTPUT ASPECT. That is what I am discussing. You mentioned "MASK ASPECT OUTPUT" and "MAINTAIN ASPECT OUTPUT". Neither is what I mentioned. I will post a video showing using "MATCH OUTPUT ASPECT" that will show no cropping of the original image.

Here is the video demonstrating the option I suggested.

Here is one where the image is larger than the project resolution. Still no unwanted cropping.

Have to agree with the Friar on this one. Bad habit that will come back to bite you if your editing gets serious. Pan/Crop is the quick fix and may work in some cases. Otherwise, I've wasted time in some complex situations with it. And no, don't ask me what they were! I'm not going to waste more time ;-)

-- tom

I understand if the workflow doesn't work for you. I don't understand your comment about it being a "bad habit". It is a very functional effect for doing slide shows, repositioning graphics, etc. Sorry to have wasted your time making you comment on this thread.

david-tu, your solution works fine as long as you are not cropping into the image and then want to move it around, unless I am missing something. As such, it only works in certain circumstances. Like others, I use Pan/Crop for what it stands for. I pan across an image like a panorama shot or crop a part of it and I use track motion to move it around.

That is right. If you need to Crop and Pan then you are limited. But I normally have my images and graphics cropped before bringing them on the timeline. Just the way I work. In the OPs first question, he needed to be able to move it around (not cropped) and this is a viable way without using a track for one graphic or having to set multiple key frames.

You have used 2 different terms so I want to make sure we are discussing the same thing. In the Pan Crop window is an option to MATCH OUTPUT ASPECT. That is what I am discussing. You mentioned "MASK ASPECT OUTPUT" and "MAINTAIN ASPECT OUTPUT". Neither is what I mentioned. I will post a video showing using "MATCH OUTPUT ASPECT" that will show no cropping of the original image.

My mistake, you seems to understand what I meant though. I meant the "match output aspect" option.

Your example crops the images when you use the "match output aspect" option, just like I said. You need to manually change the position size in the pan/crop window to stop that. Whatever is in the position size is what the event size is. If you have an image that is 200x200 in a 1920x1080 project & change the position size to 1920x1080 the event will be treated as that size. If you have an image that is 2000x2000 in a 1920x1080 project & change the position size to 200x200 it will be treated as that size.

If you place an event on it's own track no keyframes are required if it's only a single motion. Vegas allows unlimited tracks so this is a non-issue (track grouping makes things even more organized) and I've never noticed render time increases for using more tracks with just events on them w/o any track level effects.

You said using "match output aspect" doesn't crop out anything from an image and the videos proved me correct.

I still say it's a bad habit to get in to as a beginner for the same reasons I stated above. It works, but doesn't mean it's best practice.

It doesn't crop out anything that you can't retain by changing size. Your comment implied that once you change the Match Output, then the image is cropped and all is lost. Yes, of course if you change the size to 200 x 200, it is now 200 x 200, but it still treats the original image at its original resolution. So if you enter a 2000 x 2000 image in the crop/pan and do zooms, you can zoom up to the equivalent of 2000 x 2000 (cropped of course if it is a 1920 x 1080 project) and not lose any quality. If you bring a 2000 x 2000 image on the timeline and use track motion to zoom in, it is treated as a 1920 x 1080 image so anything above that resolution equivalent zoom will lose quality. If I am using my DSLR images, I can retain the quality zooming in and out using Pan/Crop because I can zoom up to the equivalent resolution and not lose anything. You have mentioned that you think it is a bad practice, but have not really given me a reason or an example of why you say that.

Why tie up multiple tracks when you can do it all on one track?

This is what I have always liked about Vegas, there are many ways to arrive at the same end.

I also agree, that using pan crop tool for positioning and resizing a PIP instead of using trackmotion is a bad habit, for following reasons: once used the pan crop tool you're not able to use it again for a pan or crop on that PIP, each time when you use pan crop tool you have to manually adjust to the project aspect ratio to avoid the problem Johny_Olde described. You have to copy/ paste events attributes to give other events the same PIP properties.

When using a PIP track with a certain track motion setting, automatically all events placed on that track will get the same PIP settings. Also no need to use for each PIP event an extra track, when trackmotion settings should differs for each PIP event. Just use keyframes with "hold" on the PIP track.

I am beginning to think you guys are using a different Pan/Crop than I am. Can you explain what you mean by "once used the pan crop tool you're not able to use it again for a pan or crop on that PIP,"? Is it not an effect that you can keep adding, it is a state of that particular event. Yes, you do have to adjust for each image, rightclick-match, adjusted. Not really a big deal.

" When using a PIP track with a certain track motion setting, automatically all events placed on that track will get the same PIP settings". If that is what you want. I normally am not cropping or positioning all images identical. If I do by chance have a series of titles that I need to reposition all the same, I have used track motion for that.

"Just use keyframes with "hold" on the PIP track"- yes that is a good trick as long as you only need to cut between scenes. Add a dissolve and you are at least 2 tracks.

I think the trade off of keeping the original resolution of the image is worth any extra setting. I have used it for dozens of slide shows very successfully, so I still don't see it as a bad habit, just another tool.

Johnny olde was already using Pan/Crop and I explained to him how to make it work.

Johny_Olde, I think you just want "Yes" on "Stretch to fill frame". As for the Pan/Crop track motion argument, seems to me you're both right but talking about different situations - if as typical you want pip across a whole range of clips, use track motion, if you want to motion track something across a clip you could use track motion, but like david says, you're just as well off using pan/crop, you can animate either just as effectively.

Can you explain what you mean by "once used the pan crop tool you're not able to use it again for a pan or crop on that PIP,"?

Example, you want to create a PIP with a Ken Burns effect. You create the Ken Burns effect with the pan crop tool and with track motion you adjust position and size of the PIP. When you use the pan crop tool to adjust the size and position of the PIP you are not able to do the Ken Burns effect, because you can only use the pan crop tool once.

Another example: you want to create a PIP from a part of a larger image (cropping). You use the pan crop tool for the cropping and again with track motion you adjust its size and position.  When you use in this case again the pan crop tool for resizing and positioning the PIP, than the cropping must be done first by an external application. Seems not a flexible workflow for me.

Remember, use pan crop tool for panning, zooming-in (Ken Burns fx) and cropping images and use track motion for re-sizing (zooming-out) and positioning images.

Ofcourse you may still use the pan crop tool to make a single PIP but keep in mind that you're not that flexible anymore.

Thanks for your explanation. I do all of my cropping before bringing on the timeline. I guess this is why i have not encountered this concern. But again, if you only need to reposition, I still do not see a problem in using Pan/Crop. But to each his own.