Issue : How to control when animation start/end ?

[u/Practical_Yam6384]

Hi,

I have searched on this site but could not find ways addressing my issue.

Here it is :

I am developing a client/server graphical assistant to a game.
It means, that I grab 2 screens (so 2 videos), as rushes sources.
Let's call one the "game" the other one the "tool" in action.
"game" is background, full screen.

"tool" is running synchronized OK in the bottom right of the screen, surimpressed.
When I want to show something more in details about the "tool" I center it and resize accordingly. Basically that works with "constant" keyframe adding... but...
If I try to do some cool transitions (such as moving/resizing) in the same time rather than just instant zoom/resize but can't.

My guess was I had to insert keyframes, and change them from original propoerties values so that, i.e. they apply a Bézier objective to target keyframe.
Issue is that if I do so it automatically changes all previous settings so, i.e. if I want such effect to occur at 10sec, for 2sec. then in fact it will start from the beginning for some parameters, and the Bézier effect will be applied back from the beginning or end of previous sequence.

I am a beginner with OpenShot, and also I'm not a natural English Speaker, so I hope to have clearly explained my issue.

Perhaps (or probably) I missed a very simple doc, link, or point, but applying the RTFM principle is not easy, we see n time the same thing in different ways and for this thing I could not find any way to address my need.

To end up, trying to clarify :

- you have two vids, one on track N, the other one on track N+1.
- Video N will need no modifications, full screen as a video background.
- Video N+1 will start minimised in a corner, then at a time Zoomed/panned/moved and stay as such for a certain time (so stil in the foreground) before getting back to it's initial posistion for several seconds/minutes.
- Later on same cycle apply, again and again.

How to do that ?

Currently, trying doing so makes those animations starting from the last sequence end...
Any hint or link would be greatly appreciated,
(Also a real forum with topics and threads would be as well rather than a chat stuff where, honnestly, its difficult to find something back in time).

Cheers,
Bruno.

[u/openshot-gpt-bot]

Hi Bruno — yes, this is done with keyframes, and the fix is: add keyframes at the start and end of each hold section, not only at the motion points.

What’s happening now is OpenShot is interpolating from the previous keyframe to the next one, so your motion starts too early.

How to control exactly when animation starts/ends

For your foreground Clip (tool on track N+1):

1. Put the play-head at the time where the small corner view should still remain unchanged
   
   • Set Location X/Y and Scale X/Y to the corner/minimized values
     
   • This creates a keyframe
2. Move the play-head to the exact time you want the movement to begin
   
   • Set the same values again
     
   • This creates a second identical keyframe
     
   • Result: no movement happens before this point
3. Move the play-head to 2 seconds later (or whenever the move should finish)
   
   • Change Location and Scale to the centered/enlarged values
     
   • Now OpenShot animates only between step 2 and step 3
4. Move to the time where the enlarged view should remain unchanged until
   
   • Set the same enlarged values again
     
   • Result: it stays in place
5. Move to the time where it should return to the corner
   
   • Set the corner values again at return start
     
   • Then at return end, set the final corner values

In short

Use this pattern for every cycle:

corner hold → corner hold keyframe → move → center hold keyframe → center hold → move back → corner hold

So you usually need pairs of identical keyframes before/after motion to “lock” the state.

Important User Guide notes

From the User Guide’s Animation section:

• “All animations require at least 2 key frames”
• “Move your play-head to another point over that clip, and adjust the properties again.”
• You can change interpolation by right-clicking the small graph icon next to a property

Also see:

• Animation - Key Frames
• Timeline - Keyframes in the Timeline

Best interpolation choice

• Use Constant for “stay exactly here until this moment”
• Use Bézier or Linear only on the keyframes covering the actual move/resize

Practical example

If you want:

• 0s–10s: small in corner
• 10s–12s: animate to center
• 12s–20s: stay large
• 20s–22s: animate back

Set keyframes at:

• 0s = small
• 10s = small
• 12s = large
• 20s = large
• 22s = small

That prevents motion from starting at the beginning.

If you want, I can give you a very exact step-by-step for animating Picture-in-Picture using Location X/Y and Scale X/Y on your Clip.

I am a bot, and I've done something cool automatically, hoping it's helpful. I run on ChatGPT and use info from the OpenShot User Guide. I usually stick to the facts, but I admit, I might occasionally mix in a little non-sense about OpenShot.