Onscreen controls Dynamic Zoom need improvement

I just remembered why I never use the Dynamic Zoom feature:
The onscreen controls are really bad.

Drag anywhere within either bounding box to adjust
pan and tilt for either the start or the end of the animated effect, and drag any of the corners to
adjust the size.

This doesn't work half the time...

1. When I drag the corners, the frame is often moved and not scaled.
2. How to edit the second frame if it's completely inside the first one ?
Do I have to use the Swap button ?
It should select the second frame if a corner is clicked and keep it selected until I click a corner of the first frame or somewhere outside the frame.

Or am I missing something ?

I think you're missing something. Screen real estate maybe?

What's your display resolution? You have Display Scaling set to 100%?

Screen real estate maybe?

Even when I fully enlarge my viewer on the second monitor, I have the same problems.

You have Display Scaling set to 100%?

Yes, my Display Scaling is set to 100%.

So you don't have any issues selecting, scaling and moving the 2 frames?

Not seeing any problem with Dynamic Zoom here.
To select either the green or red boxes just click on one of the corner dots. You also use the corners for resizing. With either box highlighted you can move its position by clicking and holding down the left mouse button and moving it with the curser. You also get extra controls in the Inspector such as swapping the direction and ease in/out.

Dynamic Zoom.jpg (440.11 KiB) Viewed 923 times

The only downside on using a zoom on a 2 dimensional image is that you don't get the parallax shift that you would get with a zoom lens.

Sorry, Charles, but with a zoom lens you are enlarging only in two dimensions as well. A dolly move would get you parallax and look much more naturalistic.

To select either the green or red boxes just click on one of the corner dots. You also use the corners for resizing. With either box highlighted you can move its position by clicking and holding down the left mouse button and moving it with the curser.

Thanks for your reply.

As I wrote in my first post, this is exactly what is not working for me.
Half the time when I click on the corners, the frame is not resized, but moved.
And I can't select a frame if it's completely inside another one - even if I click on the corners.
I have to use the swap button in the inpector to be able to adjust this frame.

You may want to get familiar with Fusion instead.

You're right, Uli. Maybe it's the change in the depth of field between objects that I notice when zooming.

Christoph, I have no answer, sorry.

You may want to get familiar with Fusion instead.

I know other ways to accomplish the same thing.
What I am trying to achieve with this post is for BMD to improve the UI -
because for me it's a bug, and I can't be the only one who has these issues.

I agree that there are some things to bei pointed out that can be improved.
Getting access to a smaller frame inside a bigger frame works fine for me as mentioned from other users by clicking on the corner dots of the boundary.
Scaling the frames could be better because it always scales in all directions. I not found a way to let one corner point where it is but dragging the opposite point with an optional key. Any idea for this?
But my major problem is that the frames do not fit if you have a scaled clip/picture. I actually work with HighRes-Photos I want to zoom in. If the picture is zoomed in the Transform Section the Dynamic Zoom does not lead to the wanted result.
Using a compound clip also does not solve the problem because the compound clip only has timeline resolution.

Going back to the differences between a Dynamic Zoom and a lens zoom, a lot depends on what's in the foreground and whether there is panning as well. Here s a quick test between a (rather jerky) lens zoom and the equivalent Dynamic zoom. You can see parallax movement in the lens zoom. The Dynamic Zoom appears much flatter. Is it important? Probably not, it's just me being pedantic.

Sure there‘s a difference: the camera is moving.
Put a camera with enough DoF on sticks and there will be no 3D left.

Going back to the differences between a Dynamic Zoom and a lens zoom, a lot depends on what's in the foreground and whether there is panning as well. Here s a quick test between a (rather jerky) lens zoom and the equivalent Dynamic zoom. You can see parallax movement in the lens zoom. The Dynamic Zoom appears much flatter. Is it important? Probably not, it's just me being pedantic.

Since you're spamming my post, here's my two cents:

In general, when the camera is not moving, while zooming there is no (obvious) prallax!
There is a film technique that takes advantage of this principle - it's called the Vertigo effect - named after the Hitchcock film that made it popular. As the camera moves forward on a dolly, the lens zooms out and vice versa.

There are lenses where an obvious parallax effect can occur when zooming without the camera moving.
This happens in particular with big zoom lenses with variable focal lengths, where the construction of the lenses changes during the zoom process.

Apologies Christoph, I just wanted to show the differences. Yes, I'm well aware of the dolly zoom which was also used in Jaws, and used to achieve the shrinking and growing effect in 1972s Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

to OP: could it be that when the on-screen dynamic zoom controls are activated, you are not seeing any changes, but when you play back/disable on screen controls, you actually see the result? because this is intended behaviour. and to be fair, i think that is actually better.

the only thing that is actually a bug (what i experience), is that the easing option is not working properly. If you pay close attention, the zoom works fine, but the x/y position change stays more or less linear.

could it be that when the on-screen dynamic zoom controls are activated, you are not seeing any changes, but when you play back/disable on screen controls, you actually see the result? because this is intended behaviour. and to be fair, i think that is actually better.

No, my problem is simply that the on-screen controls don't always work as they should.
But I can't tell why they don't work at that moment.

If you pay close attention, the zoom works fine, but the x/y position change stays more or less linear.

I noticed that too. And I just found out another thing: If you set an easing for position keyframes on the first and last frame of a clip in the inspector, it's not applied - you have to open the keyframe editor and do it manually... this seems to be connected.

... I just found a Bug report dealing with this issue:
viewtopic.php?f=21&t=201138

If you set an easing for position keyframes on the first and last frame of a clip in the inspector, it's not applied

I also find this working perfectly fine.

Maybe you have a botched install here?

Although the theme of this treat is related to problems with the Onscreen Controls of Dynamic Zoom I would endorse Ulis position. If the Zoom Lens does not move there are no geometrical differences in the result compared with the Dynamic Zoom. Except one that was not mentioned yet: If the magnification changes there will be a difference in depth of field when the aperture is constant.
In Dynamic Zoom there is no change of DoF.