The rubberband is an orange line that runs through a Timeline's video and audio clip. By default the video clip's rubberband represents Opacity, and the audio clip's rubberband represents Volume. At the Timeline level that rubberband can be a convenient way to change Opacity and/or Volume of the whole clip or to keyframe* the Opacity and/or Volume property so that it varies along the duration of the clip. The rubberband's defaults of Opacity and Volume were detailed in the June 2013 blog post titled "PE:11 Video and Audio Track Content Rubberband"
It was shown in that blog post that the video rubberband can be moved down or up to change the clip's Opacity from 100 to 0% and back. (The default is 100%.) And, the audio rubberband can be moved up to increase the clip's Volume from 0.0 dB to 6.02 dB or down to decrease the clip's Volume from 0.0 dB to -infinity symbol. (The default is 0.0 dB.) It was also pointed out that these changes going on at Timeline rubberband are reflected** in Applied Effects Tab/Applied Effects Palette/Opacity Panel expanded and Adjust Tab/Adjustments Palette/Volume Panel expanded, alternative locations to make the Opacity and Volume changes respectively.
Our focus in what follows will be on the video clip's rubberband and replacing its default Opacity with Motion properties. The relationship of the rubberband settings and Applied Effects Tab/Applied Effects Palette/Motion Panel expanded settings for these properties will also be explored.
ISSUE
But, the video and audio clip rubberbands can be made to represent other than the default Opacity and Volume respectively. The alternative choice for Opacity is Motion, and Motion has several property options which are:
- Position
- Scale
- Constrain Proportions
- Rotation
- Anchor Point
- Anti-flicker filter
How do these properties behave when each is adjusted at the Timeline rubberband level and at the Applied Effects level?
SOLUTION
The ISSUE's' "How do these properties behave when each is adjusted at the Timeline rubberband level and at the Applied Effects level?" will be explored and detailed.
OBSERVATIONS
Position
When the Timeline video title is changed to include Motion Position instead of Opacity Opacity, the rubberband represents Position and presents with the rubberband running horizontally across the middle of the clip. At this point, it was not found possible to move that rubberband in any way nor change its shape.
It was only after keyframes were added to the clip that the rubberband shape and position could be modified by changing the two Position values and in addition using Bezier handles.
The two Position values can be changed in either of 2 ways
- with the Timeline Indicator at a particular keyframe (white dot) above the Timeline rubberband, change the position of the image in the screen
- in Applied Effects Tab/Applied Effects Palette/Motion Panel expanded/Position - change first value, decrease the value to move image to the left and increase it moves image to right; whereas, second value, decrease the value to move image upward and increase it to move image downward)
Lots more details. More another time.
Scale
When the Timeline video title is changed to include Motion Scale instead of Opacity Opacity, the rubberband represents Scale and moving that rubberband up and down determines the level of scaling to be applied to a clip. The rubberband default displays as 100% (range 0 to 1200%) when the Applied Effects Tab/Applied Effects Palette/Motion Panel expanded Anti-flicker filter reading shows as 100.0% (range 0.0 to 1200.0%). However, the Scale rubberband readings between the extreme values display with 2 places to the right of the decimal point when the Applied Effects Tab route is displaying with 1 place to the right of the decimal point.
Scale is a keyframable properties at the Timeline rubberband level as well as via the Applied Effects Tab route. Also see Constrain Proportions property write up as it relates to Scale property.
Constrain Proportions
When the Timeline video title is changed to include Motion Constrain Proportions instead of Opacity Opacity, the rubberband represents Constrain Proportions which determines whether Scale is going to scale width and height together or just one or the other. The rubberband in this case has only two possible positions
ALL THE WAY TO TOP
(Default, allows Width and Height To be Scaled Together)
- Enables Constrain Proportions
- Leaves check mark next to Constrain Proportions in Applied Effects Tab/Applied Effects Palette/Motion Panel expanded
- Offers the choice of Scale (width and height together) when the next step is changing the Timeline video title to include Motion Scale instead of the previously set Motion Constrain Proportions
ALL THE WAY TO BOTTOM
(Allows Width and Height To Be Scaled Separately)
- Disables Constrain Proportions
- Triggers the removal of the check mark next to Constrain Proportions in Applied Effects Tab/Applied Effects/Palette/Motion Panel expanded
- Triggers the choices of Scale Height and Scale Width when the next step is changing the Timeline video title to include Motion Scale Height or Scale Width instead of the previously set Motion Constrain Proportions.
- Rather than set for Motion Scale Height or Scale Width, there is the opportunity to leave the Motion Constrain Proportions set as is, click on the image in the Edit area monitor to bring up the image's bounding box, and then use the handles on the bounding box to scale the image's height and width separately.
Lots of variations.
Rotation
When the Timeline video title is changed to include Motion Rotation instead of Opacity Opacity, the rubberband represents Rotation with a default of 0 x 0.0 at the Rubberband level and 0.0 at the Applied Effects Tab area. The Rotation Rubberband can be moved up to rotate the clip to the right and moved down to rotate the clip left. The range is -91x-8.0 to 91x7.0 in the Rotation Rubberband readout at the Timeline level; whereas it is -90x-359.0 to 90 x 359.0. Whatever does all that mean?
When it gets to the keyframing aspects of Rotation, Rotation is apparently set up to allow the rotation from 0 to 360 degrees more than once - judging from the prefix used, probably up to 91 times. Guess-estimate is that the range -90x-359.9 to 90 x 359.0 is the rounded off version of -91x-8.0 to 91x7.0. When keyframing of Rotation is not involved in this scheme of things, consequently 45, 1x45, 2x45, 3x45 and so on through 90x45 is the same 45 degree rotation to the right. And, -45, -1x-45, -2x-45, -3x-45 and so on through -90x-45 is the same 45 degrees rotation to the left.
With all this going on, if the goal is to rotate a cell phone photo to correct its orientation, best right click the video clip and select Rotate 90 Left or Rotate 90 Right.
Rotation appears to be a keyframable property at the Timeline rubberband level as well as via the Applied Effects Tab route.
Anchor Point
The Anchor Point of an image is the image's center point by default. And, if you would go to rotate the image, the image would rotate around the image's center point, the Anchor Point. The values for Position, Scale, and Rotation are calculated from this Anchor Point.
In one SD project with Anchor Points 1632.0 and 1224.0, it was seen
- if just the first value of the pair was decreased, the Anchor Point moved to the left
- if just the first value of the pair was increased, the Anchor Point moved to the right
- if just the second value of the pair was decreased, the Anchor Point moved up
- if just the second value of the pair was increased, the Anchor Point moved down
The Anti-flicker Filter is used to reduce flicker in an image. Blurriness may be a consequence of too high an Anti-flicker Filter setting.
When the Timeline video title is changed to include Motion Anti-flicker Filter instead of Opacity Opacity, the rubberband represents Anti-flicker Filter, and moving that rubberband up and down determines the level of Anti-flicker to be applied to a clip. The rubberband default displays as 0 (range 0 to 1) when the Applied Effects Tab/Applied Effects Palette/Motion Panel expanded Anti-flicker filter reading shows as 0.00 (range 0.00 to 1.00). However, the Anti-flicker Filter rubberband readings between the extreme values in both cases display with 2 places to the right of the decimal point.
Anti-flicker Filter is a keyframable properties at the Timeline rubberband level as well as via the Applied Effects Tab route.
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* Keyframes (white dots) for a property, example Opacity, can be set on the rubberband by
- placing the Timeline Indicator at the location for the keyframe to be generated and then clicking on the Add/Remove Keyframe icon located below the Video Track name
- Holding down the Ctrl key of the computer main keyboard and clicking on the location on the rubberband where the keyframe is to be placed
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| Screenshot 1. Premiere Elements 12. Overview Keyframing Video Clip Opacity At Timeline Rubberband Level. |
** Audio rubberband Volume Volume range is actually 0.0 to 6.02 dB when the Adjust Tab/
Adjustment Palette/Volume Panel expanded shows 0.0 to 6.0 dB. But both show the same range 0.0 to - infinity symbol at the extremes. The rubberband in between readings go out to 2 places to the right of the decimal point, whereas Adjust Tab route to Volume readings go out to 1 place to the right of the decimal point.
Video rubberband Opacity Opacity range is actually 0 to 100% when the Applied Tab/Applied Effects Palette/Opacity Panel shows 0.0 to 100.0%. But, the rubberband in between readings goes out to 2 places to the right of the decimal point; whereas Applied Tab route to Opacity readings goes out to 1 place to the right of the decimal point.
Blog post has been proof read several times, and all looks OK. But, still work in progress.
