Digital Photographer's Software Guide - Bertemes - Net

306
The Digital Photographer's Software Guide
ImageMatics StillMotion Professional
Vendor: NetCorporation
Purpose: Professional pan and zoom animation tool for “Ken Burns” effects
Description
ImageMatics StillMotion lets you create sophisticated slide shows in Flash or video by
zooming and panning within high-res images, in the style of American documentary
filmmaker Ken Burns. Most documentary films now use this technique, but Ken Burns
made it popular in such films as The Civil War (1990) and Baseball (1994). By introducing
motion to still images—for example, by zooming in to one particular face in a
group shot—he showed how you could hold the audience’s attention and create compelling
footage.
You can use ImageMatics StillMotion for creating virtual tour segments or still image
animation for commercials, news, documentaries, wedding and event videos, and many
other applications. Saved in the Flash format as SWF (pronounced “swiff”) files, the
animations take up very little bandwidth online. In fact, a full minute of animation
requires only 600 bytes in addition to those needed to show the original image. As the
vendor points out, 98% of all browsers in current use can support Flash.
ImageMatics StillMotion comes in two editions: StillMotion Personal Edition-II and
StillMotion Professional. Personal Edition-II supports single-click publishing output
such as auto-play CD-ROM, video for DVD and YouTube, Web pages, SWF files, and
self-extracting movies. The Pro edition adds facilities for Web page navigation, thus
enabling you to create linked content.
Comments
The vendor describes this product as “an essential tool for any digital photographer,”
and it is hard to disagree. Yes, it removes a vital quality (the “stillness” of still photography),
but in doing so it brings movement, which is essential if you are using your
images to tell a story, create a slide show, or form an insert to a video. The history of the
product dates back to founder Bill Strum’s long-term relationship with StageTools
(www.stagetools.com), a creator of professional film animation software. By bringing
this technology to a wider market, ImageMatics made a serious contribution to the art
of digital photography. It should be noted that other slide show software (such as
Canopus Imaginate) now offers panning and zooming as standard effects. StageTools
itself also markets these techniques to the prosumer as a plug-in to Adobe Premiere,
After Effects, and other multimedia software.
Version: ImageMatics StillMotion Professional (2008)
OS: Windows 95, 98, 2000, XP, and Vista