Friday Update: Panning Images
Added 2023-06-09 18:00:06 +0000 UTCIf you've ever watched Wing (and I know I have!) you've probably noticed how much the show likes to pan across long shots to give a feeling of motion where there really is none. It's a technique meant to make things visually stimulating without actually having to animate multiple frames. Wing uses it a lot.
The problem this presents for what we do is that these panning shots are often jittery and don't start or stop smoothly. They're a linear A-to-B movement, with a harsh start and a harsh stop, and often don't time correctly with our new script or new music attached. So what do we do about it?
Well, I simply take multiple screenshots of the panning image-- one at the very start, one at the very end, and one in the middle-- and layer them in photoshop to recreate the full image myself, then pan it at whatever speed I want in Vegas. This doesn't always work out cleanly, as sometimes the coloring of each frame doesn't match or the final screenshot is, like, five pixels to the right of the top. Or, in the case of Duo's jail cell, there's a static shading that doesn't move with the image, meaning I have to kind of recreate the shading in spots to make it all match. But ultimately, it makes everything look much cleaner and allows me to put things like lip flaps, eye movement or TV screens on it and have it all move correctly.
So, the more you know! (They also make nice phone lock screens sometimes.)
Have a great weekend. Ep.13 is getting so close.
- Grey
