It still doesn't work for me. I believe I followed your clip exactly but it still won't zoom.

My steps are (in Timeline mode):

1.Click fx

2.Click Camera/zoom shot

3.Select the picture in the timeline

4.Click "To section"

5.Use the mouse to frame the "zoom to" section

6.Click the Begin symbol (to set time to 00:00)

7.Click Play.

The timeline moves from beginning to end but no zoom occurs. Did I miss a step or is there some setting that I might have that disables the zoom? Thanks for your help.

@Terry-Dunbar

Hi

. . . .  Did I miss a step or is there some setting that I might have that disables the zoom?  . . . .

That is exactly what I did in the example above - did you get the 2 keyframes as shown below.

What is the duration of the clip/image you applied the effect to?

John EB

I had selected "Over full duration" so my two keyframes were the same as yours, i.e., one on each end. I did notice your Camera/zoom shot dashboard was slightly different from mine -- you had a preview button/indicator at the top opposite (to the right of) the Direction of Motion selector whereas I have a Preview checkbox at the bottom under the Duration selection list. Additionally, you have a Section Movie Size indication under the Zoom From/To Section icons which I don't have at all so you may have a different version of PhotoStory. I have attempted to insert a video clip of my steps; hopefully it will come through. Notice my dashboard in the clip.

Thanks again for your attempts to help.

@Terry-Dunbar

Hi

I do have the latest version, which I used for the testing, the Preview button is the Preview option that was checked in your clip above. I did not use this.

The Movie size button was added in the 2022 version.

Try deselecting the image clip and then playback the effect - if you still see nothing i suspect the issue is with the GPU(s) settings.

Is the Lenovo processor the i7-3770 and do you have an optional Nvidia or AMD graphics card - if so which one?

What are the settings in the Display tab of the Program settings - a screenshot would be ideal ?

John EB

I do have a Nvidia card. And here is an interesting piece of information (I think) -- the almost same version of MAGIX Movie Edit Pro (MEP), 19.0.2.49, has the same capability, i.e., Camera/zoom shot, and its dashboard looks like your PhotoStory dashboard, and it does work (on the same computer, Windows 10 OS, Display settings, Duration, and image). I can use the zoom clip from MEP, of course, and move it to my PhotoStory project but I would like the convenience of being able to accomplish it directly in PhotoStory as you seem to be able to do. Here are my Display settings; however, since it does work under MEP and based on the fact that you are using a later version and your version has the same dashboard as my slightly later version of MEP, I am suspecting a bug in my version of PhotoStory that was fixed in later versions or a change in the interface so now, the steps that I use, work. I will try to update my version and see if the problem disappears.

@Terry-Dunbar

Hi

Unfortunately the images you posted are the Windows, Display settings, I asked for a screenshot of the settings in the Display tab of the Program settings ie Photostory, Program settings, Display tab

The Camera/ zoom shot effects are the same effect in both programs. The interface difference would suggest that Photostory 2020 missed an update.

The fact that Movie Edit Pro works would suggest that the Display settings in Photostory may be incorrect.

In addition to the Photostory 2020 Program settings, Display tab screenshot, please post a screenshot of the Movie Edit Pro 2020 Program settings, Display options tab so we can compare them.

. . . . I do have a Nvidia card . . . .

What is its full name?

John EB

Sorry, I misunderstood; here are the respective programs' display settings:

NVIDIA GeForce GT 620

BTW FYI, the transitions effects are previewed properly; so far it only seems to be the zoom effects that are not shown.

@Terry-Dunbar

Hi

Thanks for the images, that is interesting, I was expecting the GPU in use to be different.

Is Photostory up to date with the last patch for that version - see under Help, Update online

In Photostory Program settings, Display tab  try changing the GPU from the GT 620 to the HD 4000 GPU, this is integrated in the processor, if available, if not then set it to CPU and test the playback of the effect.

John EB

I've updated to 2022 and everything is now working without any changes to the display settings. However, one of the images' zoom is jumpy. Is there a setting for improving the smoothness of the zoom on a particular image?

I have two other questions:

1. When outlining a section, is there a way to unlock the rectangular proportions?
2. Is there a way to define a slightly rotated section so the zoom will also achieve the rotation while zooming in on a section?

Thanks so much for your help and efforts. 🙂

@Terry-Dunbar

Hi

. . . . one of the images' zoom is jumpy. Is there a setting for improving the smoothness of the zoom . . . .

Check there is not a set of stray keyframes between the start and end of the zoom, if there are select and delete them.

. . . . outlining a section, is there a way to unlock the rectangular proportions . . . .

In Camera zoom this is not possible.

Using the Section effect this is possible though the section effect cannot be keyframed directly ie you cannot zoom from a full screen rectangular image to a square selected portion.

You can use the Camera zoom effect to zoom in on the section, however the section will be full screen height or width depending on which is the larger dimension, it does even if you turn off the Full screen option in the Section effect. There may be black bars top/bottom or left/right. and the zoom effect may exhibit odd behaviours.

For the rotation you would have to keyframe this separately in the Size, Position & Rotation effect.

Hope this makes sense - if not try playing with these effects on an image and see how the interactions work.

HTH

John EB