freeze first frame as a still picture?

[Alter Ego]

What is the best way to freeze the first frame of a clip, for say 10 seconds? What I am doing is making still photos from the first frame, and than having it go on to moving video as though the photo comes to life. Using the speed control I can only go to 1%. Do I need to use the "create freeze frame" command in the timeline on the 1st frame? And than butt this up to the 2nd frame of where the moving video starts? Thanks.

Tom

[GrassValley_BH]

I'd take a still image of the first frame, then butt it up with the rest of the clip.

[Alter Ego]

I should have added that I have multiple stills on a page using pip's. I want only 1 photo to start moving, the rest to remain still, and than the one pip will slowly zoom out to full screen. At the end of the clip I will do everything in reverse. The video will freeze the last frame and go back to being a still, and zoom back in to reveal the other still pics on the screen. In a nut shell I am making a magazine page where a still comes to life, goes back to a still, and than do a page turn to the next magazine page, and repeat. It's a video magazine that I making for someone. Any suggestions would be most appreciated.

Tom

[GrassValley_BH]

Sounds slightly tedious, but once you have the template you can duplicate the sequence and replace clips for additional pages and such.

[Alter Ego]

Thanks, I think I have devised a plan that should work now. I'll make a a still page template and just overlap the still that I wish to move, on top, on another track. It will cover up the still underneath in the template and have the same coordinates, and will zoom out covering the whole template below. It's actually easier than I first thought.

A nice feature to add to the speed command window, would be another check box..... "Make still from video clip". The first frame would be frozen for the entire length of the video clip. No need to make another still and bring it back out of the bin. I'll have to write this on the suggestion thread.

[Alter Ego]

Ooops, upon further review, the size in pip isn't keyframable. Not as easy as I thought. Hmmm, I don't know if this can be done.

[Rusty]

PiP size is keyframable... use "Crop"

[Alter Ego]

PiP size is keyframable... use "Crop"

You are referring to the 3D PIP, not the PIP which isn't keyframeable. That is where I went wrong. I needed to use the 3D PIP to make my still template all along. I was using plain ole PIP. arggggh. Thanks Rusty.

Got it now using the crop and scaling controls.......

[GrassValley_BH]

2D PIP is keyframeable. Just click another point off of the image and it'll define a new keyframe position. You can adjust size and whatnot from there and it'll interpolate between. It's been this way since it was introduced, but a lot of people never figured it out (and didn't read the manual either).

[Alter Ego]

2D PIP is keyframeable. Just click another point off of the image and it'll define a new keyframe position. You can adjust size and whatnot from there and it'll interpolate between. It's been this way since it was introduced, but a lot of people never figured it out (and didn't read the manual either).

I read the manual first as I always do before posting.... It still doesn't make sense to me how to keyframe the PIP over time. Click off another point where? Do you use the motion keyframe control? Is the sub picture what I am supposed to be adjusting. It isn't real obvious in the manual.

Here's the deal, I am starting with a PIP size of 302 x 201. I wish to keyframe the size, so that over 5 seconds on the timeline the PIP will go from 302 x 201 to full screen resolution of 720 x 480.

I can't seem to adjust the sub picture window in the PIP info box to make this happen. Has anyone used PIP keyframes to adjust the screen size? I could use some help here on the steps.

This is getting pretty frustrating because I have experimented every which way with no success.

[GrassValley_BH]

Let me try to de-mystify... :)

First off, stay away from the Motion Keyframe tab for now. It's just going to frustrate you.

So let's get started!

1. Put a clip in the timeline above a color bar clip (this isn't required, but it will help see things more easily later)
2. Be sure to position the timeline cursor at the start of the clip (this will make it less confusing later)
3. Apply Picture in Picture to the Keyer track of the clip
4. Open the Picture in Picture settings
   The image appears scaled down in the dialog's preview.
5. Put the cursor over the edge of the image - it will change to resize cursor and you can click and drag to resize. No problem.
6. Now click somewhere else in the dialog's preview (say, to the right).
   Now you should have a checkerboarded image of the frame with a square in the middle with an E under it. This is now the new End position.
   The original location should have a point in the middle with an S above it. This is the Start position.
   Congratulations, you have now defined a motion path for the Picture in Picture!
7. Put the cursor over the edge of the End position, and resize it.
8. Move the picture location by putting the mouse over the square in the middle (it will get an orange outline), then click and drag. Careful! If you click something other than the square, you'll define yet another keyframe.
   To delete a keyframe, put the cursor over the square so it gets an orange outline, right-click, and choose Delete (or hit the Delete key).
9. Now move the timeline cursor back and forth - you can see the picture-in-picture will scale from the Start to the End points and move to the appropriate position.

Okay, play with that for a while... Once you have that mastered, continue reading onto the oddity that is the Motion Keyframe tab...

[GrassValley_BH]

So, you think you're ready for the Motion Keyframe tab? Good! No bad!!

BTW: You probably noticed (or maybe not) that right-click gives you other options like Layout|Center and such... if not, go check that out. It affects the selected (if any) keyframe position.

Well, okay anyway, whatever, let's go.

1. Add a Picture-in-Picture.
2. Add three keyframes. You should have a Start position (marked with S), an End position (marked with E), and another position in-between.
3. Scrub the timeline cursor to the center (middle) of the clip.
   Unless you happened to put the keyframe exactly in the lengthwise middle of the motion path (the line between points), you'll notice that at the middle of the clip does not correspond to the keyframe set between the Start and End positions.
   In fact, the middle of the clip corresponds to the halfway point of the motion path between the Start and End positions.
   It's like if you took the motion paths and put them all in a straight line. The middle of that straight line is position of the PiP at the middle of the clip.
   This is important. If you don't understand the above, play with it until you do.
4. Now, go to the Motion Keyframe tab.
   You'll see a gray diagonal line, a vertical (up-down) red line and a horizontal (left-right) red line in a graph.
   The gray diagonal line we'll get to later - ignore it for now.
   The vertical red line corresponds to the timeline cursor. Scrub the timeline cursor and watch it move because you don't believe me.
   The horizontal red line corresponds to that in-between keyframe (you know, the one between the S and the E keyframes).
   The bottom of the graph corresponds to the Start position keyframe.
   The top of the graph corresponds to the End position keyframe.
   That's why you don't see three red horizontal lines and just one. If you had four keyframes, you'd see two red horizontal lines, etc.
5. Okay, now for the gray line. The gray line represents the progression of the movement from start to end (vertical axis), from the beginning to the end of the clip (horizontal axis).
6. Scrub the timeline cursor so the horizontal red line, the vertical red line and the gray line all cross at the same point.
   Now look at the PiP preview - you'll see that the image is at the in-between keyframe you set.
7. Now, click somewhere in the graph (not on the end points of the gray line). This will create a new point on the line, highlighted in orange.
8. Move the point so it appears on the red horizontal line at a different position (not where the two red lines cross).
9. Now move the timeline cursor toward where new node. Notice how the position of the PiP is moves toward the in-between keyframe position and meets it when the timeline location and the in-between keyframe location (horizontal red line) meet.
   What you are defining by changing the gray line is the progression from the Start position to the End position. When the gray line crosses a horizontal red line, the PiP "hits" a defined keyframe.
10. Add another node to the gray line by clicking somewhere else.
    Move the node so the gray line "rides" the red horizontal line (make the gray line flat at that point).
    Scrub the timeline cursor through.
    Notice how the clip "holds" at the keyframe position where the gray line is "riding" the red horizontal line.
11. Now, add another node to the gray line, between the two points on the red horizontal line, and drag it so it under the red horizontal line.
    Scrub through. You should see the PiP progress to the first keyframe position, then back-track a bit, then move back to the first keyframe position, then continue to the End position.
    Hopefully this is making some sense now...
12. Okay, last thing...
    Click in the PiP preview to add another PiP keyframe.
    Notice how another red horizontal line appears in the Motion Keyframe graph?
    The old End position has now become another in-between keyframe, and the position you added the new keyframe is now the new End position.
13. The first red horizontal line that was there has now moved! This is because when you added another keyframe, the overall length of the motion path changed. So the position of the lines (remember it's relative from start at bottom to end at the top) has changed too.
14. Move the nodes on the gray line so the line crosses the red lines at the desired time in the clip.

As you can see, Motion Keyframe is quite tedious because it isn't time-based like the other keyframers.

Thus, the best strategy is to define all your keyframes ("hit" points) first, then go into Motion Keyframe and adjust the gray progression line so PiP "hits" the keyframe locations at the right times.

Have fun, and don't let your head explode.

[Alter Ego]

Brilliant! I am printing this out and adding to my printed manual. A very big thanks to you Brandon! This should be added as a sticky. I am quite sure more than a few people can benefit from your tutorial. I know I did!

I have been working also with the 3D PIP with no problems because it is very straight forward.

[GrassValley_BH]

I'm not sure if I did a better or worse job than I did in the DVRexRT and DVStorm manuals, but I'm glad it helped!

Yes, the 3D PIP interface is generally much more intuitive, but we still did some cool things with 2D PIP in the pre-3D days!