StageTools, of Middleburg, Va., has announced it is offering its MovingPicture pan and zoom application as a Plug-In for Adobe Premiere and other nonlinear editors. MovingPicture is a new tool for documentary and industrial filmmakers to pan and zoom on high-resolution images. Rather than using expensive and bulky motion-control rigs to create pans and zooms on stills, MovingPicture uses digital images on a desktop PC. This is done directly from the timeline of the nonlinear editor. MovingPicture uses an animation-stand metaphor, where a virtual camera viewfinder is positioned over the digital image in real time. A series of “key frames” can be set, each one specifying what the camera will see at some point in time. The program will smoothly flow from one key frame to the next in real time. MovingPicture is Windows 95/98/NT based, although an Apple Macintosh version for Avid and Premiere editors will be available this fall. Plug-ins are available for Premiere, dpsVelocity, RexEdit, Speed Razor and After Effects (to support Discreet Logic’s edit NLE). A fully functional evaluation copy can be downloaded from the website: http://www.stagetools.com. The MovingPicture Plug-In is priced at US$199 and available now. Screen shots available at: www.stagetools.com/pressimages.html.
Prices listed are in US currency.