Bring your still images to life,
or add another dimension to your videos
with the FCPX Photo Pan and Dolly plugin
from Pixel Film Studios.
Hey guys, whats up.
My name is Serge
and welcome back to my channel.
In today’s video,
we’ll be taking a look at
the FCPX Photo Pan and Dolly plugin
from today’s sponsor, Pixel Film Studios.
Now this plugin isn’t quite as easy to use
as some of their other plugins,
but if you take the time to learn all the available controls,
and use it on the right image,
the results here can be quite amazing.
So, let’s dive right in
and take a look at some of the things
we can do with this plugin.
After downloading and installing this plugin,
open the Titles and Generators browser
and select the Pixel Film Studios FCPX Photo Pan and Dolly category.
Here, you’ll see all the tools and presets you get with this plugin.
First, let’s take a look at the simplest,
and my favourite tool included with this plugin,
the 3D Camera tool.
This is similar to the Ken Burns effect,
but where the Ken Burns effect just moves the image on screen,
the 3D Camera tool moves the camera,
giving the viewer a changing perspective.
Let’s add this effect to a clip to better demonstrate it.
For this demo, I have a screen shot of my website,
which by itself is pretty boring.
Grab the 3D Camera tool
and drag and drop it over an image
or a video clip in your timeline.
Ripple trim this adjustment later to the same length as your clip.
Place your playhead anywhere over your clip,
make sure the adjustment layer is selected,
and head up to the inspector window.
First thing we need to do is set a start point for out 3D camera,
so make sure Set Start Point is selected
from the Control Mode dropdown menu.
There is two ways to adjust the camera position.
You can use the on screen controls in the viewer,
or you can do the same thing in the inspector,
using the Start Point controls.
You also get this convenient picture in picture display,
so you can easily tell your camera’s position in relation to your image.
Using the on-screen controls,
you can adjust your camera’s position,
rotation,
and how close the camera is to your image.
If at any time you need to go back to the default starting point,
simply click the Reset All Data button in the inspector.
Let’s start off with our camera in the top left corner,
angled down onto our image.
We’ll use a combination of the on-screen controls to set our framing.
Right about there looks good.
Next, we need to set the end point for our camera.
In the inspector, from the Control Mode dropdown menu,
select Set End Point.
Once again, let’s use the on-screen controls
to move the 3D camera to the bottom right of the image, angled up.
Once, you’re happy with your start and end framing,
to animate the camera,
select the Camera Animation Mode from the dropdown menu.
Let your clip render out, and here’s what we have so far.
You can also fine tune this effect,
by modifying the animation curve,
adding some Depth of Field focus blur,
and even adding additional images or text
to your clip by using drop zones.
These drop zones are spaced out in a 3D space,
for a really cool 3D effect.
Next, let’s take a look at the Camera Path tools included in this plugin.
These presets are very similar to the 3D Camera tool,
but allow you to add up to 4 camera movements to your clip.
Let’s select the 4 Movement preset,
drag and drop it over the next clip in our timeline,
and ripple trim it to the same length as our clip.
Place your playhead anywhere over the clip,
and with the adjustment layer selected, head up to the inspector.
To set the starting position of your camera,
make sure Edit Mode Frame One is selected from the dropdown menu,
and use the on-screen controls to adjust your framing.
For this example, we’ll just zoom in on this clip
to get rid of the back bars, and move the clip down just a touch.
This will be our starting position.
Next, for our first camera move,
from the Edit Mode dropdown menu select Edit Mode Frame 2,
and once again, use the on screen controls to adjust your framing.
For my example, I’ll focus on the media browser in my clip,
zoom in a bit,
and angle the far end away form the camera.
Repeat these steps for Frames 3, 4 and 5,
changing the camera position and angles.
Once this is done, to activate your camera,
from the Edit Mode dropdown menu, select Active Camera.
Let your clip render out, and preview the result.
And last, let’s take a look at the cutout tools included in this plugin.
This allows you to use a mask to split your image into planes,
giving you a parallax effect when you add a camera to your clip.
My favourite here, is the Pan Tool with drop zone.
First, grab this effect and drag and drop it down into your timeline.
Go up to the inspector window,
and make sure all the values are zeroed out.
Next, click the drop zone button,
and select the image you want to use for this effect.
From the Control Mode, make sure Step 1 is selected,
and add a mask to your image.
This can be used to either add a mask around your subject,
or, as in my example, separate the background from the foreground.
Make it as accurate as you can.
Click on the first control point to complete your mask.
Next, from the Control Mode menu, select Step 2 - Edit Camera.
Move your playhead to the start of your clip,
and back in the inspector, in the Camera Conrols section,
use the controls for the start position to edit your start frame.
Move your playhead to the end of your clip,
and use the controls for End Position to set your end frame.
Next, to add the parallax effect, we’ll animate the mask cutout.
Scroll down to cutout controls,
move your playhead to the start of the clip,
and set the start frame for your mask cutout.
For this example, I’ll use the X parameter
to move the end of the dock back to the middle of the frame.
Move your playhead to the end of the clip,
and adjust the end framing.
Once gain, I’ll move the dock back to the middle of the frame,
zoom in a bit to simulate moving forward,
and adjust the Y parameter to cover the dock in the original frame.
We’ll let the clip render out, and here’s our result.
We just took a boring still image,
and brought it to life by faking a parallax effect.
Let’s take a look at one more example,
this time a little bit harder, and use one of the cutout presets.
Select the Path Cut Out preset with one movement,
and drag and drop it over your clip.
Ripple trim it to the same length as your clip.
With the adjustment layer selected, in the inspector,
zero out all the values,
and de-select the lighting and shadow checkboxes.
Next, in the viewer, add a mask to outline your subject.
Do this as accurately as possible,
especially where there is variations in the background.
Near the top of our subject head,
where the background is all the same color,
we don’t have to be as accurate.
Click the first control point to complete the mask.
Back in the inspector, use the softness slider to soften sharp edges.
Once you’re happy with your mask,
from the Edit Controls menu, select Edit Mode Frame 1.
Use either the on screen controls,
or Frame 1 controls in the inspector to set your start frame.
Select Edit Mode Frame 2, and set your end frame.
If we play it back right now,
all that happens is the entire image just rotates.
To make this look better,
we’ll separate and keyframe our cutout image.
Move your playhead to the start of the clip,
and with the Active Camera mode selected in the inspector,
scroll down to the cutout controls.
To separate the cutout from the background,
adjust the Z axis to bring the cutout forward.
Next adjust the rotation,
position
and scale of the cutout to cover the original image.
Add keyframes to the cutout parameters you adjusted.
Move your playhead to the end of the clip,
and adjust the cutout framing again.
Let your clip render out, and here’s our finished product.
Like I mentioned before,
this plugin does take a little bit of getting used to.
Play around with it to see what you can come up with.
And remember, with effects like this,
less is more, so for best results, make the camera moves subtle.
A little bit goes a long ways here.
If you want to try out the FCPX Photo Pan and Dolly plugin,
when checking out use the coupon code SergePixel
for 30% OFF your purchase, limited to the first 500 users.
Thanks for watching,
and I’ll see you back here next week.