How to use camera effects in Powtoon Studio

How to use camera effects in Powtoon Studio

Camera effects let you control how the viewer's eye moves across a slide — panning across the stage, zooming in on a detail, or pulling back to reveal the full scene. This article covers everything you need to set up and manage camera effects in Powtoon Studio.

Plan requirement: Camera effects require a Business plan.

In this article:

• Adding a camera to a slide
• Adding movement to the camera
• Timing the movement of the camera
• Removing the camera and camera movement
• Locating the camera on the slide
• Switching between Camera 1 and Camera 2

Adding a camera to a slide

Adding a camera to a slide defines the area of the stage the viewer sees during playback. By default, the camera covers the entire slide.

1. Open the slide you want to add a camera effect to in Powtoon Studio.
2. Click the Camera button in the slide toolbar. A purple rectangle appears on the stage, indicating the camera's field of view. By default, this rectangle covers the full slide.
3. Resize the purple rectangle by dragging its edges or corners.
   • ► Making the rectangle smaller causes the camera to focus on a narrower section of the stage, creating a zoom-in effect during playback.
   • ► Leaving the rectangle at full size keeps the entire stage in view.

When you play back the slide, the viewer sees only the area inside the purple rectangle.

Adding movement to the camera

Camera movement lets you animate the camera between two positions on the same slide, producing pan, zoom-in, and zoom-out effects. The starting position is called Camera 1 and the ending position is called Camera 2.

1. With a camera already added to the slide, click the Add camera animation button in the slide toolbar. A second camera rectangle appears on the stage.
2. Adjust the position and size of the second rectangle to set where the camera ends up.
   • ► The original camera position (Camera 1) is shown as a checkered box.
   • ► The end position (Camera 2) is outlined in purple.
   • ► To create a zoom-out effect, make Camera 2 larger than Camera 1 so it covers more of the stage. To create a zoom-in effect, make Camera 2 smaller.
   • ► To create a pan, keep both rectangles the same size but move Camera 2 to a different position on the stage.

During playback, the camera animates smoothly from Camera 1 to Camera 2.

Timing the movement of the camera

Once you have added a camera animation, you can control when the movement starts and how long it lasts using the timeline.

1. Locate the camera animation block on the timeline. It appears as a dark purple rectangle.
2. Drag the dark purple rectangle left or right along the timeline to set when the camera movement begins.
3. Drag the three vertical dots at either end of the block to shorten or lengthen the duration of the movement.
   • ► For example, positioning the block so it starts at 0 seconds and ends at 3 seconds means the camera will complete its movement in the first three seconds of the slide.

Note: The camera movement block on the timeline is separate from other element animations. Adjusting it does not affect the timing of other objects on the slide.

Removing the camera and camera movement

You can remove the camera or its animation independently.

1. To remove the camera entirely from the slide, click the Remove camera button in the slide toolbar. The purple rectangle and any associated animation are deleted.
2. To remove only the camera animation (Camera 2) while keeping the static camera (Camera 1), click the Remove camera animation button in the slide toolbar. The camera remains on the slide but no longer moves during playback.

Locating the camera on the slide

The camera does not appear as a clickable object on the timeline the way other elements do. To select or highlight the camera, use one of these two methods:

• Click the Camera button at the top of the slide toolbar. This immediately highlights the camera rectangle on the stage.
• Click directly on the camera rectangle as it appears on the stage.

Either action selects the camera and makes its handles available for resizing or repositioning.

Switching between Camera 1 and Camera 2

When a slide has a camera animation, you can switch between Camera 1 (the start position) and Camera 2 (the end position) to adjust each independently.

• The currently selected camera position is shown as a solid purple rectangle on the stage.
• The alternate camera position is shown as a checkered box.
• Click the Camera 1 or Camera 2 toggle in the slide toolbar to switch between the two positions.

When Camera 1 is selected, you can resize or reposition the start position without affecting Camera 2, and vice versa.