Track Motion questions

OldTimer wrote on 2/25/2003, 6:55 AM
I'm still learning the program but have a few small problems that I have yet to work out. For instance when adding motion to an event should I be using the pan/crop tool or the track motion tool? They appear to be almost identcal. In fact I has wondering if they really are the same except that the track motion has the drop shadow etc & might apply to all events on a track. I have managed to resize the window & get the picture around the screen. But how do I completely remove either the pan/crop or track motion effects from a project?

When moving an event using these using either off these tools I often find that what seems to be the smallest zoom setting doesn't appear to go small enough. In other words I am trying to click on a handle that is out of range. Is there some trick around this situation?

It's obvious that one could use the track motion tool to get an event do more complicated things like getting a clip to spin & change size at the same time. Is there anyway to get this done so that these are done smoothly?

I have several events that I wish to resize & apply motion to can I do this using track motion or am I required to create a new track fo each event? I also looked at using the track motion tool to apply settings to an event but when you do this the first frame the tool selects is the first frame on track & not first frame of selected event.

If you have finally gotten a small section of your project just the way you like it with transitions, effects titles etc & you rerender it will the prerendered file stay with the clips in question even if you move them along the timeline as a group?

Comments

ibliss wrote on 2/25/2003, 7:43 AM
"But how do I completely remove either the pan/crop or track motion effects from a project?

I don't know if there is a quick 'one button' solution to this, but you can do this:
Track Motion - create a new video track. Select the events (right click on the first event and choose 'Select Events to End') on the original track and then hit 8 on the Numeric Pad to move the events up onto the new track (or 2 to move them down).

With bothe Motion and Pan Crop keyframes - open up the control window. Select the first keyframe diamond. Hold down Shift and select the last Keyframe. They should all be highlighted. Hit 'Delete' on your keyboard.

"When moving an event using these using either off these tools I often find that what seems to be the smallest zoom setting doesn't appear to go small enough"

If you have a mouse wheel you can use it to zoom in/out of the pan/crop/track motion window. Alternatively to the left there is a box called 'zoom view' which has the same effect.

"It's obvious that one could use the track motion tool to get an event do more complicated things like getting a clip to spin & change size at the same time. Is there anyway to get this done so that these are done smoothly?"

How are they not smooth at the moment? Essentially you need a start and end keyframe. Set one to the 'Default' preset. Set the other up with 'Angle' set to 720 degrees (or whatever) and size to 0 x 0.

"I have several events that I wish to resize & apply motion to can I do this using track motion or am I required to create a new track fo each event?"

This is really the best application of track motion - assuming you want to apply the same motion to all the events. Even if they need different settings all you need to do is create a new keyframe at the start of each event.

"I also looked at using the track motion tool to apply settings to an event but when you do this the first frame the tool selects is the first frame on track & not first frame of selected event."

It sounds like you need to turn on the 'Sync cursor to timeline' button. It is the first button in the track motion window under the keyframe timeline.

jetdv wrote on 2/25/2003, 9:23 AM
"when adding motion to an event should I be using the pan/crop tool or the track motion tool? They appear to be almost identcal. In fact I has wondering if they really are the same except that the track motion has the drop shadow etc & might apply to all events on a track."

Here is how I generally differentiate the two: I use Pan/Crop to zoom in on photos. Pan/Crop will use the full resolution of a photo when zooming in. If you zoom in with Track Motion, it will only use the resolution of the displayed VIDEO.

I generally use Track Motion to zoom OUT and change the placement (i.e. for PIPs - so I can get a blurred edges around the PIP).

While they are both very similar, the both behave uniquely. However the differences have blurred further now that effects can be applied "pre" or "post" on the Pan/Crop. I MAY start using Pan/Crop in more areas where I have traditionally used Track Motion. Play with both of them. There may be SOME instances where you need BOTH to get the results you desire (like creating lower thirds???)


But how do I completely remove either the pan/crop or track motion effects from a project?

If you have applied Track Motion to a track and wish to no longer have it on that track, simply delete ALL of the Track Motion keyframes. The first one may have to be reset to "Default". The same applies to Pan/Crop - just delete all of the keyframes and reset the first (built-in) one to "Default".
TheHappyFriar wrote on 2/25/2003, 1:21 PM
The track motion affects EVERYTHING of the track, while the pan/crop only affects the clip oyu have selected. Also, with the pan/crop, you can use video/stills that are bigger then the project. I used this one in a scene where I made a strfield 2x wider then my project, and I could pan across the starfield. Of course, probley the most obivious example would be when converting a wide-screen clip to pan & scan: you just pan your view!