Using the BCC Pan and Zoom Filter in Avid Editing Systems

Media Used in this Exercise: Tomato Tiff Image

Working with the Pan and Zoom filter is a little different to the workflow that most other filters use. Because the filter makes heavy use of on-screen controls, which occupy strategic positioning in the frame, the recommended workflow is to apply this filter to a slug in the timeline into which it has been placed. Let's start by creating an SD project in Avid. We now import a 5 second placeholder clip into the project, and drag it into the timeline. We'll import the media file that we want to work with directly into the timeline via the filter, bypassing the bin import. The file that we are going to work with is a 9 Mb tiff file that is 3072 x 2048 pixels.

Now that the project has been set up, we are ready to make the pan and zoom effect. First, select the slug in the timeline and apply the BCC Pan and Zoom filter. The Pan and Zoom filter should appear in the effects control window. The filter was designed to guide the user through the process of setting up and working with parameter controls, which were grouped into the most logical order based on a top to bottom workflow in the filter UI.

Promote the filter effect to AVX 2 by clicking on the promote button at the bottom of the effect control window and then twirl down the Source group - the Source group is where we set the source media file that the filter is going to work with.

The Pan and Zoom filter can import media files directly from the system's hard drive bypassing the import process in the host. Click on the Source pop-up and select the External File option and then click on the External File button to bring up the system standard file navigation window. Select the file that we want to use - the image now appears centered within the SD frame in the Avid timeline. Other options in the Source menu include settings for the source pixel aspect ratio, which in this case we will leave at it's default setting of square pixels. We'll also enable the Watch Folder option for this project - the Watch Folder makes it possible for the image used in the Pan and Zoom filter to automatically re-link when the project is opened up on a different system. The filter "watches" this folder, even reading recursively through several levels of subfolders, every time the project is loaded in order to find the image in case this image is not found at it's original location.

Now that we've set the source, lets move on to the Preview group. The first option in the group is Preview Mode, which enables and disables the on-screen controls for the Pan and Zoom filter. Enable the Preview Mode function and observe that the record monitor changes to show the entire image, with the filters' on-screen controls visible over the image. The box at the top right within the blue frame is a preview display of the filter output or final result and there is a pop-up menu called Preview Monitor to control the position of this preview box in the window, it can also be disabled entirely if it is in the way. The red colored rectangle widgets at the center of the frame are user modifiable and are used to control the region that appears in the final output - the inner rectangle displays a standard action safe zone. At the center of the red rectangle, there is a circle around which the center point for rotation, or anchor, occurs. There is a larger blue circular shape that is used to control the rotation of the image. The center anchor point can be offset from the main rectangle by dragging within the circle region. To move the region and anchor point together, click in the center of the rectangle on the anchor point, to move either the anchor point circle or the region rectangle independently, click and drag within the bounds of either shape but not directly on the center point.

So, let's get on to working with the controls. First, make sure the CTI is at the start of the clip in the timeline. Select Transform A from a pop-up Workflow. Select Floating Viewport from the Preview Mode pop-up. Thenadd a keyframe. Set the Luma Shift parameter to a value of negative 50 so that the region that is not included in the output is dimmed. Twirl down the Transform group and set the scale to 250 percent. Now drag the rectangle so that it covers the region at top of the tomato at the upper left portion of the image - you can also enter the following numeric values into the Position parameters X = 231, Y = 106.

Move the CTI to the end of the timeline and add a new keyframe. Set the scale to 30 percent and reposition the region rectangle so that it covers the pair of tomatoes at the bottom portion of the image - the numeric values for the Position Point should be X = 442, Y = 269. Preview the result by clicking on the play button. Observe that the region UI moves smoothly across the frame and that the preview window shows the final result.

Disable the on-screen UI by unchecking the preview mode box and again preview the final result by pressing the play button.

The third group is for enabling and controlling motion blur. The built-in motion blur is only visible when the image has been subject to a DVE move, therefore until you actually keyframe the rotation or position of the source in the filter as we have just done, you will not be able to see any motion blur in the result. Another caveat is that Motion Blur is not visible while working in Preview mode therefore to see any motion blur that you have applied to the image you should disable the Preview Mode checkbox. We'll leave it disabled for this clip as we have completed the pan and zoom. It is also worth noting that the Motion Blur function will cause some parameters to appear or disappear. For instance with MB enabled, the options in the quality group will disappear because use of MB will negate and disable use of the quality controls. Let's disable the motion blur by clicking once again on the motion blur button. Twirl down the Quality group in the Pan and Zoom filter, and observe that we can select from a list of sophisticated algorithms that are used to enhance the image result. These proprietary algorithms increase the apparent sharpness, smooth the image, and generate a result that cannot be matched by host controls.

The list of available algorithms is:
Draft
Fast
Sharp
Standard
Smooth
Magic Smooth
Magic Sharp

Each of these algorithms will generate a different result but for the most part, image quality will go up as performance goes down. The algorithms are listed in order of image quality, with the highest quality Magic Smooth and Magic Sharp at the bottom of the list. Move the CTI to the start of the timeline and disable the Draft Mode button. Then select Magic Sharp from the method pop-up menu and set the sharpness parameter value to 100. Observe how sharp the image result has become.

We are now finished with the effect set up and can render the clip to disc.

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