Sapphire Plug-ins for Open Fx: InfiniteZoom

S_InfiniteZoom Zooms into endlessly repeating copies of an image, reminiscent of certain M.C. Escher drawings. Works best with clips with transparent edges, such as clocks or plates; or transparent centers, such as picture frames. Transparency can come from the source clip's alpha or the mask. Animate the Zoom param to get the full effect. In the Sapphire Distort effects submenu. Inputs: Source: The clip to be processed. Mask: Optional. Defines the transparent area of the source.

Parameters:

Load Preset: Push-button .
Brings up the Preset Browser to browse all available presets for this effect.

Save Preset: Push-button .
Brings up the Preset Save dialog to save a preset for this effect.

Mocha Project: Default: 0, Range: 0 or greater.
Brings up the Mocha window for tracking footage and generating masks.

Blur Mocha: Default: 0, Range: 0 or greater.
Blurs the Mocha Mask by this amount before using. This can be used to soften the edges or quantization artifacts of the mask, and smooth out the time displacements.

Mocha Opacity: Default: 1, Range: 0 to 1.
Controls the strength of the Mocha mask. Lower values reduce the intensity of the effect.

Invert Mocha: Check-box,  Default: off.
If enabled, the black and white of the Mocha Mask are inverted before applying the effect.

Resize Mocha: Default: 1, Range: 0 to 2.
Scales the Mocha Mask. 1.0 is the original size.

Resize Rel X: Default: 1, Range: 0 to 2.
The relative horizontal size of the Mocha Mask.

Resize Rel Y: Default: 1, Range: 0 to 2.
The relative vertical size of the Mocha Mask.

Shift Mocha: X & Y,   Default: [0 0], Range: any.
Offsets the position of the Mocha Mask.

Bypass Mocha: Check-box,  Default: off.
Ignore the Mocha Mask and apply the effect to the entire source clip.

Show Mocha Only: Check-box,  Default: off.
Bypass the effect and show the Mocha Mask itself.

Combine Masks: Popup menu,  Default: Union .
Determines how to combine the Mocha Mask and Input Mask when both are supplied to the effect.

Union: Uses the area covered by both masks together.

Intersect: Uses the area that overlaps between the two masks.

Mocha Only: Ignore the Input Mask and only use the Mocha Mask.

Transparent Area: Popup menu,  Default: Outside .
If the source is transparent in the center, such as a picture frame, set this to Inside. Otherwise if it's transparent around the edges (such as a green-screen person or masked flower), or there is no transparency, set this to Outside.

Inside: Use this for picture frames or anything with a transparent center region where you want the copies to appear inside the empty space. This makes the copies appear behind the original.

Outside: Use this for flowers, plates or clocks where the background outside the object has been made transparent, so the smaller copies appear in front of the original. This is also the mode to use if you have no transparency at all.

Shrink Per Level: Default: 0.5, Range: 0.001 to 0.9.
How much to shrink each smaller copy compared to the previous larger copy. 0.8 means each level will be 0.8 times as big as the previous, so small values here mean the copies are much smaller at each level. Large values give closer spacing between levels.

Zoom: Default: 1, Range: 0.001 or greater.
Overall zoom of the image. You usually want to animate this param to get the infinite-zoom effect. Linear animation should give a nice smooth zoom.

Zoom Center: X & Y,   Default: [0 0], Range: any.
Center point of the infinite zoom. You can get interesting looks by animating this at the same time as Zoom. This parameter can be adjusted using the Zoom Center Widget.

Twist: Default: 0, Range: -5 or greater.
Amount of twist between levels. Increase or decrease to get spiral zooms. In No Spiral mode, this is in units of 30 degrees per unit of twist. In the spiral modes, it's nonlinear, so best to adjust by eye.

Spiral Strands: Popup menu,  Default: 1 Counterclockwise .
When set to No Spiral, the effect makes direct copies of the image at each level (they still may be twisted, depending on Twist). With the other spiral options, it warps each copy of the image so each level joins seamlessly to the next level in an ever-decreasing spiral.

No Spiral: The image isn't warped to provide a continuous spiral. This is good for picture frames.

1 Clockwise: Warps the image to create one continuous spiral strand in a clockwise direction.

1 Counterclockwise: Warps the image to create one continuous spiral strand in a counterclockwise direction.

2 Clockwise: Warps the image to create two continuous spiral strands in a clockwise direction.

2 Counterclockwise: Warps the image to create two continuous spiral strands in a counterclockwise direction.

Rotate: Default: 0, Range: any.
Overall rotation of the result image.

Shift: X & Y,   Default: [0 0], Range: any.
Overall shift of the result image.

Wrap: Popup menu,  Default: No .
Sets what happens with pixels outside the source image. Reflect can be useful with Transparent Area: Inside to fill in small black areas, and Tile can lead to interesting effects when used with Transparent Area: Outside, as long as the image has some transparency around the edges. If your clip has no transparency, leave this at the default (None).

No: gives black beyond the borders.

Tile: repeats a copy of the image.

Reflect: repeats a mirrored copy. Edges are often less visible with this method.

Mask Use: Popup menu,  Default: Luma .
Determines how the Mask input channels are used to make a monochrome mask.

Luma: the luminance of the RGB channels is used.

Alpha: only the Alpha channel is used.

Invert Mask: Check-box,  Default: off.
If on, inverts the mask input so the effect is applied to areas where the Mask is black instead of white. This has no effect unless the Mask input is provided.

Show Zoom Center: Check-box, Default: on.
Turns on or off the screen user interface for adjusting the Zoom Center parameter.

See Also:

WarpTransform KaleidoTriangles KaleidoSquares KaleidoDiamonds KaleidoOct KaleidoRadial KaleidoPolar

Sapphire Plug-ins Introduction