Hi All, Can we have an added feature with the picture movement. We have panning and zooming, which is great! How about being able to “truck”?
What is "truck"ing?? I’ve never heard that term (at least not in relation to panning and/or zooming an image). Do you mean “tracking”? And if so, what are you trying to accomplish? Thanks. Inquiring minds would like to know 
Yes, that’s right some say dollying or tracking. So, can we get it?
Okay, “tracking.” Again, though – what are you trying to accomplish? Can you describe it exactly? Assuming that the FM “stage” is your camera lens (which it basically is), what are you trying to do with the fixed image within the frame (that is, that can’t be accomplished with panning and zooming and/or masking)?
I’ve been using FM for a few years and I’m always interested in how – or WHAT – people are trying to do with it, OTHER THAN just throwing a bunch of slides at it and creating a simple slide presentation. When layers came out, I started playing with that (multiple images on screen moving in different ways, sliding past each other, etc.) and when masks came out, I started using those. When I figured out how to do the 3D effect (using .png files), I started using that. There are a few things I’ve been able to do along the way that aren’t “built-in” but just require a bit of trickery.
it gives a different movement on screen than just pan /zoom. It’s a cool effect.and no one else does it? Your program is one of the best that I have used.
FM isn’t “my” program – it’s made by Boinx. I’m just a very frequent visitor to this forum, and I’ve been using it for a number of years. If I know an answer to someone’s question, I’ll try to help by posting it. If not, I’ll defer to the guys at Boinx.
For a simple answer to your original question – no, FM does not currently do tracking. Although I STILL DON’T KNOW exactly what you’re asking for as a final result. What kind of “different” movement is there other than pan/zoom. I can imagine an image possibly “rotating” in space, say left to right, or top to bottom, with a sort of back and forth motion. But I still don’t understand what the cool effect would be.
If you want to suggest they implement it, you might try the Feature Requests Forum (instead of, or as well as, this one).
I thought about what you asked for last night and wondered if you meant that kinda creepy looking 3-D effect in movies which is really cool – where they place a large number of cameras “around” an action scene and then fire them off sequentially. When played back it looks like the camera sweeps around the action (which is usually frozen in time), when in reality it’s just taken from multiple viewpoints. Is THAT what you’re trying to accomplish? If so, I can’t see how that can be done using a 2-D image to start with and make it look good without a lot of distortion.
I’m interested too what you are talking about. Do you mean that shown in this URL about CAMERA MOVEMENT TECHNIQUES - TILT, PAN, ZOOM, PEDESTAL, DOLLY AND TRUCK?
I looked at the link willyman provided, and I think I understand (maybe!) what Dunc is asking for. But I’m still trying to figure out how it relates and can be applied to a 2-D image (a slide) rather than during the actual filming of a motion video. The idea of “dollying” in that link talks about keeping the zoom constant while moving the camera to follow the action (along a rail). In that case I can imaging a person, for example, staying in focus as he walks up a street, while the rest of the scenery would stay out of focus. But that still applies to movement “within the scene” – how can it apply to a static 2-D slide? You’d have to do massive amounts of Photoshop editing to vignette the person from the image, then keep him in focus, and let the background change zoom in or out behind him (but you’d have to do something with the “missing” image after you vignette the person. Hard for me to describe this – but it’s getting complicated. FM is a photo-presenter, not a motion-picture editor.
Maybe the easier way to say this is:
A C
B
Now, there is an arc movement that goes from A to C. Each point is adjustable. It would like you taking your video camera and without using the zoom. Pushing the camera in and doing a dolly at the same time. sure it might be difficult, but thats what we as “photo presenters” push for. More variety in our presentations.