being able to pan 180 degrees across a panoramic photo
 

Hi, I will try to keep this simple!
I need to work out how to take a photo (or series of photos depicting a scene) overlay a video effect (which I know how to do) but then I think possibly using after effects pan accross and round the photo to give the impression you are looking 180 degrees whilst keeping the video effect going.

Not sure if i've explained that well enough but just ask what you need to ask if not! I really need some help here!
thanks

David, a little more information would be good.. I don't quite understand the "keep the video effect going" thing.

Quick shot at it though. In After Effects, you can make the layer bigger than your composition, so you could have your image be wider than the composition, and then simply move the image from one side to the other to get your pan effect (move it in the x axis).

The video effect can be applied to your image layer, but if for some reason the paning of the image is messing up your effect, just create an adjustment layer above the the image layer, and apply the effect to the adjustment layer.

There are a million and one effects in After Effects, so I have absolutely no idea what you mean by "video effect" so I can't give you more detailed information.

If you have After Effects 7 Pro, you might want to look into the CC Cylinder effect as this could make your image look like it was being projected on a curved surface. Hope this helps!

many people are doing this, mainly to fake the bullet time matrix effect.
you just need to remember that the pan into the panorama is reverse direction than camera direction, since it is behind the subject.
the limitation is you cannot use moving background, since it is a still picture.

ok guys thanks for your help, here is a more detailed explanation of what i'm trying to do.

go to a scene, lets say a car parked on the corner of a street. take pictures from a few different angles so that when i lay them out in a line it gives a big long (panoramic) view of the scene. Then i want to add a fire video that i have with a flame on a background to the car in premiere pro 2.0. apply a matte to remove the black. This I can do but the problem is then telling the video to start with the car central, but then more as far left as possible, then stop and go all the way right (past the car on fire and beyond). creating the 3d environment impression.
Hopefully this helps...?

i don't get it, but it does not matter.
SInce you are describing something very static, why not simply shoot the scene with video ?
why do you need a rebuilded panoramic view from stills ?

If you use a good leveled tripod and a good digital camera, you can take a series of shots in a full 360 degs if you like. Photoshop will make them into a panorama view.

If you can import that into AF or PP, haven't tried it, then you can pan in either program.

Mike

because i need to use the photoshop effects to create burning around the edges etc and plus I if i use a background video and add the flame effect, as i pan surely the flame will remain static and highlight the fact that its a seperate video effect. I will see if I can get hold of an existing file to show you what I'm talking about next week

EDIT: having said that, even using photos I still have the original problem that without painstakingly keyframing the fire effect i cant imaging how to get it to move with the camera (or the simulated pan if i use photos)

what you need is a simple motion track.
you stick some tags on the scene as reference then you shoot on video.
then you create your fire and match its position with the references.
for sure if additional make-up is needed on the picture (like burning marks, stains etc...) you better go with still picture.
a good idea would be to to create an unusual video format (the size of your panarama) so you can animate things were they need to be.
then you can slide a window onto this animated background.
the problem being to find a program that will accept non standard frame size.
Illusion is creating nice fire and smoke, but is very finnicky about video size.
Probably after effect is the best solution if you can overlay small video of fire and smoke.
Mirage from Bauhaus is really great at that. It is a kind of photoshop that can use animated brushes.

What i would do is:

1- take the pictures (at least 16 for 180 deg pan) from a tripod, make sure everything is on manual
eventually use bracketing to get 3 different exposures and do a HDR panorama.

2- assemble pictures

3- remove the sky from picture (you will key in a moving sky later)
3.5 - try to shoot a pan of a nice cloudy sky with circular polarizer.

4- add all the static make-up on the picture.

5- add all the fire & smoke (duration must be long enough for the pan )

6- cut a pan(sliding) window in this animation

7- key-in the sky