Adobe Ultra CS3 User Guide

Grid control

The grid control on the Pan & Zoom tab sets the scale and position of each pan and zoom point. The following explains what the grid control displays and how it works.

    Visible frame: The black rectangle around the edge represents the visible frame, or the area that will be exported. This area remains stationary when you move the grid. The shape of this area is controlled by the setting for the aspect ratio of the session on the Output tab.

    Scene: The blue-gray 4 x 4 grid represents the composited scene. The aspect ratio of the grid corresponds to the aspect ratio of the current set. The size and position of the grid change when you drag it or enter values in the X, Y, and Z fields.

The perimeter of the grid reliably represents the boundaries of the scene only if the following occur:

    You're using a virtual set from a Master Sets Library or the background for the Basic set is the same aspect ratio as the session

    The scale of the background is set to 0.000 (1:1) on the Scene tab.

    No other layers extend beyond edges of the background.

However, if you use the Scene tab to enlarge the scale of the background or another layer or if other layers are distributed beyond the background, then by definition there is content outside the grid. In that case, the grid display loses any meaningful context, so you must rely entirely on what's shown in the Output Preview Monitor. The bottom line is that you can set pan and zoom points where the grid is entirely out of view in this control. If there's content there, then it it's visible. If there's no content there, then all you see is solid black.

NOTE

 

To avoid breaking the context of the Pan & Zoom grid control, Adobe recommends that you do not increase the scale of a layer plane by using the Scene tab beyond the size of the visible frame unless there's a good reason to do so. For example, you may want to enlarge a 4:3 image to fill a 16:9 frame or zoom in further during a virtual camera move than is possible with the layer plane's scale at 1:1.
A) Black box represents the borders of the publishing frame. Content beyond the box is cropped; area inside the box but beyond the grid may be blank.  B) Y axis - Vertical position: Drag up and down.
C) Z axis - Scale: Shift-drag vertically.  D) X axis - Horizontal position: Drag sideways.

    To pan right and left along the X axis, drag the grid sideways, or enter a value in the X field.

    To pan up and down (that is, tilt the Y axis), drag up and down, or enter a value in the Y field.

    To zoom in and out, Shift-drag up and down, or enter a value in the Z field. You cannot zoom out any farther than 1:1 (0.000).

The right-click menu for the grid control provides options for resetting values individually or collectively.