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To the credit of the folks at Virtix, they are always working hard to make sure their plug-ins work well and appear to be revising them on a moderately regular basis. Such is the case with the new Virtix Zoom And Pan (version 2) plug-in, which is actually a combination of two previous plug-ins rolled into one.
This product is an enhanced replacement for the Virtix Zoom and Virtix Pan & Scan iMovie plug-ins. It allows you to zoom into and pan across video and still images (including high resolution images) as well as providing support for rotation of video on screen.
It appears that Virtix has done away with there slightly confusing installer for this plug-in, instead opting to provide users with more simpler HTML pages that direct the user on how to install the plug-in to the appropriate folder. I would still like to see Virtix work on the instructions a little more, as the seem too brief and basic, with no images included to guide anyone who may find the while process slightly confusing.
This lack of information is also highlighted in the brief details on how the plug-ins actually work. These are not as descriptive as they could be (or need to be), leading to confusion when first using the plug-in. At the same time, the plug-in has no help that you can access while working with it.
That aside, an incredibly welcome revision to this (and any future plug-ins I would ask!) is the move away from the cluttered iMovie interface to provide a window that appears in which the user controls the various settings. This means that once installed, the list of effects that actually appear in the default effects window are brief. As more and more plug-ins come onto the market, the transitions and effects windows are becoming cluttered and I congratulate Virtix for acknowledging this and dealing with it superbly. I hope that other plug-in makers might take note and do the same.
So instead, once installed, you option-click on the Zoom and Pan effect (again, nice to see that the listing reminds you to option click) and a new dialogue window appears. From here, once you get to grips with the plug-in, you can master a number of pans and zooms, as well as using the rotation feature to dizzying effect. The fact that high resolution images can also be used is great to see.
 Bearing in mind just what iMovie is (it ain 't no Final Cut Pro) is is nice to see a plug-in that allows some advance techniques and which renders the transitions moderately smoothly. However, I often start a review of software by completely ignoring the 'Read Me' files and I found this plug-in quite confusing at first. On going back to the HTML files, I didn't feel all that more comfortable with it, just slightly assured that I was on the right track when figuring out what everything does.
I'd suggest to Virtix that a picture paints a thousand words and that the help and installation files could do with some images to support users. At the same time, it would be nice to see a more graphic explanation of the plug-in window and even some static image examples of what a zoom, a pan and a rotate is. You can't assume that users will immediate understand what it is they are dealing with. A classic example of this is the "Witness protection" effect (I still love the name of it) that with just one or two small images next to the description included, would make users feel far more comfortable about how to use it.
There's no denying that this is a useful and worthwhile plug-in, however the documentation and support needs to be enhanced to make the average user more comfortable. Those already comfortable with the concepts that the plug-in provides, will find it both fun and an asset to their plug-in collection.
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