3/26/2015 10:05:12 AM

This is one of my most-used advanced effects. The implementation has always been strange and that seems to have continued into vs. 8.1. In vs.7, it worked well but the multi-zoom input section was a little hard to get used to and difficult to use since the scroll ribbon moved to the left after the values were entered, thus requiring a good amount of scrolling just to set it up. I think that the changes for vs. 8.1 are even worse! First of all, what is "percent" zoom suppose to mean? For example, is 10% suppose to indicate that the image will be 110% the original size, or 10% (that is reduced to 1/10th the original). If my measurements are correct 10% actually means 200%, that is, doubled in size. I haven't made a measurement for "100% zoom," but it looks like an enormous magnification -- not doubled as one might reasonably expect. Even using "percent" is a poor choice when the "percent of what" isn't provided. The zoom multiplication factor, as in vs. 7, makes more sense and is easier to understand. Since this new "percent" is restricted to 0-100, how does one zoom out?

The other problem with the "new & improved" input procedure is that there can only be 2 intermediate points, whereas vs. 7 allowed more (I never checked the maximum allowed, but I believe I once used 4.)

All in all, it looks like a botched job at improvement. I hope I've missed some key instructions that make this a more reasonable effect.

5/14/2015 8:43:26 AM

Since it has been 7 weeks w/o any reply, I assume that this isn't a problem for anyone but me ;-)
So now the question becomes: if I use vs. 7 for all my pan/zoom slides, can I expect them to work
correctly when used in a program developed with vs. 8.1 or 2??

5/21/2015 1:05:28 PM

WOW!First time I can remember seven days of no activity on this site -- hope it's not an
indication of activity and interest.

5/26/2015 12:45:56 PM

Given that this is a forum for those who are having problems using the software, it seems the less activity, the better. But there has been activity in the 8.2 forum.

You did bring up an interesting question earlier. Just how many people actually do want to use the multi-part feature of Pan/Zoom. It would interesting to know if that number is greater than 1.

5/26/2015 1:21:44 PM

Regarding your other questions:

Regarding the zoom amount: When the zoom amount is 100%, this translates to 10x magnification. Your observation about 10% being a 2x magnification is correct.

Regarding pan/zoom settings from version 7 carrying over to 8.x -- I doubt the multi-part settings will carry over, but I'll need to look into that further.

How are you using pan/zoom? Are they for backgrounds or featured pictures? Are these slide shows that you set up once and use over again multiple times?

5/28/2015 4:02:01 PM

Regarding the zoom amount: When the zoom amount is 100%, this translates to 10x magnification. Your observation about 10% being a 2x magnification is correct.

Let's see: if100=10 and 10=2 and x=1; find x. If there is some logic here, I'd like to know it.

As for the other questions: I use the pan/zoom essentially every week. Mostly on background images. I most often have two steps (zoom-zoom or pan-zoom), but have had as many as 8-10 especially panning to different parts of a picture. I haven't found anything that "catches the eye" as well as this kind of presentation. The vs 7 interface I found to be "klutzy" and complained about it at least once since some simple changes would have made it much better. The changes made in vs 8 are a giant step backwards in my opinion and I don't think I will be able to use it for most of my work. Over time I have gotten used to the vs 7 interface and can use it reasonably proficiently -- although I still consider it a simple technique that was made hard to use.

6/8/2015 5:55:20 PM

Regarding logic of the setting: I can't answer that. I didn't build this component. If I discussed that setting, I have no recollection of it. When I have a chance, I'll ask about it.

I'd like to get a copy or two of the slide shows you are building that use this feature so I have a better understanding of what you are trying to achieve. Sounds interesting.

6/11/2015 8:37:44 PM

am out of town -- will get back with you later. Dick

7/10/2015 1:21:53 PM

Doug, sorry to have been away so long -- how do I add a 110 kb "package-to-go" file for you?

7/11/2015 3:02:03 PM

Dropbox works great for stuff like that.

7/12/2015 11:28:35 AM

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u...%29.ssppak

Let me know if there is any problem getting this.

8/4/2015 1:28:33 PM

Dick,

We've looked at the slide show you sent to us. Nice use of pan/zoom.

The good news is that you can build the pan/zoom effects in 8.2 to do exactly as you did in these slide shows as you did in 7. The less good news is that 8.x does not import the settings from 7 (at least not at this time). Do you have many slides that are already configured with specific pan/zoom settings built in 7 that you will continue to use in 8.x?

8/6/2015 9:22:42 AM

Dreece, Thanks for taking the time to look into this matter. I generally don't save slides except for one week, so having them transfer from 7 to 8.2 isn't a big deal, although it would be nice. After investigating the new pan/zoom and trying to duplicate past slides, I find that it is not as functional as in 7 and it is a whole lot harder to use. Besides the absolute craziness of the zoom percentage scales, there is no way to time individual segments which makes it about useless. Also, there is only 4 possible segments which, although usually enough, sometimes would be a limit. Zoom percent is meaningless unless based on the original as zero and double sized as 100%. Double sized looks to be about 3 or 4% -- does that make any sense to you?? My suggestion is to revert back to the vs. 7 pan/zoom until, and if, you come up with a better idea. I have given several suggestions, in the past, as to how the previous pan/zoom could easily be improved; I think those still apply. It is a bummer to not be able to use the new software because of a few things like this.

8/7/2015 4:30:00 PM

Dick, I asked for you to provide and example and we demonstrated that what you did in version 7 could be done in version 8. Perhaps you should show us an example of how you use more than four parts and where the timing is different for each part. I haven't seen multi-part pan/zoom used for things myself so I'd like to see what you have in mind. In any case, the example you provided to us was handled completely in version 8.

8/8/2015 9:29:37 AM

The example I sent had 3 zooms, each with a duration of 3s. The original of that slide had durations of 4s, 3s, and 4s. Can you duplicate that? The first two zooms were 2 (meaning doubled or 100%), what percentage would I use?

I made another simple example which has 6 zooms (using vs 7 nomenclature) and it is in my DropBox:
   h     v     z    d
  .5    .5     1    3
  .05  .5     3    2
  .39  .5     3    3
  .68  .75   3    2
  .82  .32   3    3
  .5    .5     1    5

With vs 7 there seems to be no limit as to the segments nor the timing and all the nomenclature is so standard that no one should be confused.
The only real problems are: sequences can not be saved, nor can they be pasted, and the entry window is too small and scrolls in a very strange manner.
All in all, I think the new implementation is a large step backwards and the previous one should be used until someone can come up with an improvement.
I use pan/zoom weekly and think its potential for eye-catching slides is great. I hope R-Technics has the inclination, time, and a programmer to handle this task. 

8/18/2015 3:56:20 PM

Hi again Dick,

You mentioned that you created one with 6 zooms but you did not include a link.  I do not have access to your Dropbox.   Please send a link for the new package.

Thanks.

8/23/2015 12:14:53 PM

check your email

8/24/2015 9:31:54 AM

Awesome - Got it - Thanks.

Will take a look at this one as well.

8/27/2015 1:03:54 PM

George, you might look at "multipath pan/zoom changes" in the wish list discussions for my thoughts (rants) about
the pan/zoom in vs. 7. The new implementation may well be an attempt to answer some of those problems, but
have made it worst in my opinion. If the old version was made so that each step was on one line and all the lines were
visible; and if a sequence could be saved as a preset, if desired; and if there was a small visualization of each step
when one was selected --- oh, how happy I would be ;-)

8/27/2015 1:38:57 PM

Dick, I'm kind of surprised that you use 6 different zooms on a pic in SongShow. That's a lot of time/work to figure that all out. I doubt most users have ever used 1 zoom much less 6.

It must be a challenge to keep all of us happy with our varying requirements/opinions of what is important in a presentation package. My hat is off to George Taylor and the SSP team for how personalized they are dealing with stuff like this. Good luck getting that with other software packages. SongShow rocks!

8/28/2015 10:08:13 AM

Panning and zooming are pretty common techniques for drawing attention in the media industry -- just trying
to get into the 21 century

10/9/2015 10:13:59 AM

Would it be possible to just put the older implementation into effects along with the new one?
Perhaps call it "Pan/Zoom (legacy)."

10/20/2015 11:21:32 AM

Interesting idea. I'll look into it.

10/21/2015 8:26:15 AM

Thanks for checking this out.

3/1/2016 10:13:02 AM

ME: Would it be possible to just put the older implementation into effects along with the new one?
Perhaps call it "Pan/Zoom (legacy)."
DREECE: Interesting idea. I'll look into it.

Haven't heard anything about this. Are we to be forced to use the new, less friendly, and less useful version??

3/1/2016 10:16:13 AM

OOPS ... sorry about the extra D in your name " src="http://www.ssplash.com/DesktopModules/ActiveForums/themes/rtechnics_grey/emoticons/shocked.gif" />