Fake pan

Fake pan

by Jannik Pitt

on Sep 18, 2015 at 5:00:24 pm

Hey,
I'm shooting timelapses and to add some movement to the camera I've always keyframed position / scale in After Effects. But recently I've stumbled upon a very interesting approach a program is taking: Panolapse adds movement in post by using perspectival correction. (http://www.panolapse360.com). As I understand, it "warps" the image so it looks like the camera was actually panning while shooting. The results look very good: https://vimeo.com/67080335
So my question: I was wondering wether it would be possible to achieve a similar effect in After Effects. Is there a way to bend / warp footage and keyframe that so it looks like the camera is actually moving? Maybe anyone here can help me.
Thanks in advance,
Jannik

Re: Fake pan

by Dave LaRonde

on Sep 19, 2015 at 2:41:39 pm

If you're a novice AE user, I'd just buy the panning software.

You can fake such things in AE, but it's a very painstaking and time-consuming process, and NOT something you want to undertake with a manual in your lap as you work.

Dave LaRonde
Promotion Producer
KGAN (CBS) & KFXA (Fox) Cedar Rapids, IA

Re: Fake pan

by Kalle Kannisto

on Sep 21, 2015 at 6:15:59 pm

I would think you can get a similar if not the same result using the Optics Compensation Effect (reversed compensation) on a precomposed layer within which the original footage is panning.

Re: Fake pan

by Jannik Pitt

on Sep 26, 2015 at 2:02:03 pm

Wow that works great, thanks!