I really could use some help here. Im essentially trying to recreate something someone else started for a project and am having a world of difficulty on something that should be quite easy. 

I have a large JPG, and Tiff Image file. same image, currently using the JPG. I import the file as a 1:1, RGB file into my 720 x 480 timeline, and it looks like crap, despite the fact that the original file is 3,000 or so pixels wide. I need to do Pan & Zoom effects on the image and have heard that just adding that effect will make the quality look better when zoomed, but every time I add the P&Z effect the window just goes black and all i see is some sort of tv safe square. I Really need some help, and yes, i have read and watched various tutorial videos that have not helped, if anyone could guide me with words you would save my day. thanks.

Hi,

I can think of a couple of things to check:

1. Have you done the step where you click the little grey square at the top of the Effect Editor window and point the system to the original JPEG file?  That step is crucial.

2. Also in the Effect Editor window, you have to change one of the drop down choices from Source to Target in order to see the results of your adjustments.

With those two things in mind, try watching this tutorial.

good luck,
Carl 

Hi,

and you should set the render-setting to "gaussian", this gets pretty nice results without rendering too long.

Forget "avid ultra quality"...

When the effect is applied and not rendered yet, the resolution/picture quality will allways look like crap, but when you've rendered it looks like it is supposed to!

Happy editing,

Chris

What version of Media Composer are you using? 4.0.2 has a bug with Avid Pan & Zoom that Avid is working on.

The workaround is to use the Pan & Zoom AVX plug-in from 3.5 or earlier.

Right now I'm testing 4.0.3, released 2 days ago, and it works fine.

The last stable version I used was 3.5.4 or 3.5.0.

3.5.4 is the best one, stay away from 3.5.1 to 3.5.3!

Good luck, Chris

My interpretation of the original post is that he was importing the image to a bin, then applying the effect to the clip on the timeline, which is not the correct use of that plugin.

So yes, after you apply the P&S effect to a clip or filler, you must go to the effect controls and press the little square in the upper left hand corner and externally load the image.

Totally backwards from how every other piece of footage is handled in Avid.

You're right in this part,

lmerino:

you must go to the effect controls and press the little square in the upper left hand corner and externally load the image.

but, when you say

lmerino:

My interpretation of the original post is that he was importing the image to a bin, then applying the effect to the clip on the timeline, which is not the correct use of that plugin.

Actually, importing the clip and placing it on the Timeline and then adding the effect is the recommended way because it gives you a placeholder that is an exact representation of what image you will be using.  If you're looking through the sequence, the clip name would appear on the Timeline (or if you have your TimeCode window set up to show you the clip names).  Otherwise, the plug-in would sit over Filler and the clip name would show as Filler, which would give you no clue as to what image was supposed to be there if the link was lost. 

Kenton.VanNatten:

Otherwise, the plug-in would sit over Filler and the clip name would show as Filler, which would give you no clue as to what image was supposed to be there if the link was lost.   

This is a drawback of the Pan & Zoom filter. It would make a good feature request for Avid to put a file path field in the effect parameters. Sometimes it's really difficult to locate original files after a drive letter has been changed, for example.