Ken Burns Effect

john whitneyjohn whitney
Posted:
in Mac Software edited January 2014
I've been playing with the latest iMovie (3.0.2), specifically the Ken Burns Effect on a photo.



I find that the effect produced is very unsatisfying. The aliasing of lines in the picture is hash, and the panning is very jerky. I'm using large pictures (5.11 Mpixels), so it's not like it doesn't have enough to work with.



After watching the standard slideshow screensaver do such a beautiful job, I can't understand why this iMovie effect is so bad. <img src="graemlins/oyvey.gif" border="0" alt="[oyvey]" />



Am I misusing the effect in some way? Is there some settings I can use to smooth it out? I've tried increasing the effect time and playing with the zoom amount (start/finish zoom ratio, etc.)



Is it just reducing the resolution by a large amount (and the screensaver doesn't)?



John

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 6
    hmurchisonhmurchison Posts: 12,425member
    From what I hear the KBE sucks right now.



    Give <a href="http://www.grantedsw.com/still-life/index.shtml"; target="_blank">this</a> a whirl. Looks like the KBE done right.
  • Reply 2 of 6
    salmonstksalmonstk Posts: 568member
    I like the Ken burns...



    Have you exported your movie or are you looking at in iMovie. The quality is better after export and looses the jerks and lines.
  • Reply 3 of 6
    john whitneyjohn whitney Posts: 99member
    [quote]Originally posted by salmonstk:

    <strong>I like the Ken burns...



    Have you exported your movie or are you looking at in iMovie. The quality is better after export and looses the jerks and lines.</strong><hr></blockquote>



    I have exported it to Quicktime, and the jerkiness and lines are there. I haven't yet tried exporting it to iDVD (when ARE DVD-R prices coming down?), but I'll try that next. Certainly, the DVD title text that I thought looked horribly blocky in iMovie did indeed smooth out nicely when on DVD, perhaps this will be the same.



    John
  • Reply 4 of 6
    gardenofearthlydelightsgardenofearthlydelights Posts: 963member
    [quote]Originally posted by John Whitney:

    <strong>

    I find that the effect produced is very unsatisfying. The aliasing of lines in the picture is hash, and the panning is very jerky. I'm using large pictures (5.11 Mpixels), so it's not like it doesn't have enough to work with.

    </strong><hr></blockquote>



    I've had no issues with the Ken Burns Effect, other than turning it off is a pain. When I burn a DVD, or put the movie back to DV tape, it looks fine. What machine are you working on? It's okay on my G4 (Sonnet 1GHz).
  • Reply 5 of 6
    dogcowdogcow Posts: 713member
    Can you export it to a DV tape? You wouldn't have to waste a whole DVD just to test it out.
  • Reply 6 of 6
    michael greymichael grey Posts: 384member
    The KBE, like most of the titling in iMovie, looks rough in your iMovie window, but is much smoother when viewed on a TV.



    This effect is growing on me. I think the key is not to over-do. I find that, when I add stills to a project, a very subtle zoom/pull gives stills a much better look than just a frozen frame. I wish it had some rotation capability, but I'm grateful that we have it at all (i.e. free).



    [ 03-17-2003: Message edited by: Michael Grey ]</p>
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