OneTaskBy Tim King · Updated
Video Zoom Effect
Zoom Into a Video With a Smooth Zoom or Punch-In at Any Point
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How the Video Zoom Effect works
This video zoom effect pushes in on any point of a clip, either as a smooth eased zoom or as a sudden punch-in, and can pull back out again afterwards. Use it to highlight a face, a detail on screen or a reaction, the way editors do in YouTube videos, tutorials and short-form social clips.
Three kinds of video zoom effect
Zoom in and back out eases in to the chosen point, holds, then eases back to the full frame. Zoom in and stay eases in and keeps the closer framing until the end of the video. Punch in jumps straight to the closer framing with no movement, which gives the hard comedic or dramatic cut that is popular on social video, and jumps back when the hold time ends.
Picking the point
Point across and point down set the spot to zoom towards, as a percentage of the width and height. 50 and 50 is the centre, 0 and 0 is the top-left corner. The framing never slides past the edge of the picture, so a point near a corner zooms into that corner without showing any black.
Timing
Start sets when the zoom begins, hold sets how long it lasts and zoom speed sets how long the eased move in and out takes. Zooming to more than about 200% on a 1080p clip makes the picture visibly softer, so keep it lower on low-resolution footage.
Rendering
The clip plays once in real time while each frame is drawn, and the original sound is kept. Output is WebM in Chrome, Edge and Firefox or MP4 in Safari.
FAQ
Can I add more than one zoom?
Yes. Run the finished file through the tool again with a different start time and point. Each pass adds one zoom, and the earlier ones are kept because they are already part of the picture.
Why does the zoomed part look blurry?
Zooming enlarges the existing pixels, so it cannot add detail. Use a higher resolution source, such as 4K footage in a 1080p edit, or keep the zoom at 150% or less for a sharper result.
Is my video uploaded?
No. Every frame is processed by your browser on your own device and the finished file is created there too. Nothing is sent to a server.
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