FCP X: Smoothing “Ken Burns” Moves
Here’s a quick tip for Final Cut Pro X:
If you are adding Ken Burns moves to two clips and you want to add a transition between them, apply the transition between the two clips FIRST, then add a Ken Burns move to each of the two clips on either side of the transition.
If you add the transition after adding the moves, the moves will pause during the transition.
A “Ken Burns” move is one of the three Crop moves in FCP X. This effect allows you to create moves within an image; we generally use this on still images, but it works for both moving video and stills.
To create a Ken Burns move:
* Select a clip
* Click the crop icon in the lower left corner of the Viewer.
* Drag the green rectangle to indicate the starting shot
* Drag the red rectangle to indicate the ending shot
* Click the OK button.
The duration Ken Burns effects always equals the duration of the clip. Also, it always applies an Ease-in / Ease-out behavior to the effect. To create a move that only last for a portion of a clip, you’ll need to use keyframes.
Helpful post, Larry. Another Ken Burns challenge I have is wanting to “sit” on the opening position of a KB effect before it moves, then have it land, and sit on it for awhile before leaving the shot. I really enjoy working in FCP X, but that’s not part of the program. However, I Googled my question, and came up with this great Motion Effect from Alex Gollner that works like a charm, and is free to download: http://alex4d.wordpress.com/2011/08/04/smooth-move-fpx-effect/. Hope this is useful to others.
Alex is a very talented guy and I enjoy using his plug-ins.
As an even simpler approach, you could cut the clip with the razor blade, thus applying the effect only to a portion of the clip.
Larry
Larry, the automatic ease-in and ease-out that is applied to Ken Burns moves drives me crazy, and I can’t find any way to control it. I don’t want a pause at the start and end of the movement, and this appears regardless of when the transition is added. Have you found any way around this yet?
I’m also looking for a workaround to remove the ease-in and ease-out. It’s frustrating!
Gary:
Ken Burns ALWAYS has an ease-in/ease-out. To prevent it, you need to create the move manually using keyframes.
Larry
How weird because iMovie implements the KB without the ease in/out! You’d figure the more full functioning software would give you the option to choose.
Gary, do you have a link to a good tutorial on how to do this manually using key frames?