slow-zoom

Slow Zoom Camera Animation

Camera slowly pushes in from a wide establishing shot to a tight close-up on a hero detail (logo, texture, feature). Includes subtle dolly zoom (focal length shift) for cinematic compression.

When to Use

• User wants a "reveal" or "hero shot"
• User says "zoom in", "push in", "close-up on the logo", "cinematic reveal"
• Highlighting a specific detail or feature on the product

Prerequisites

• Blender MCP: Connected
• 3D model: Already imported in the Blender scene
• Output folder: ~/Desktop/Blender Videos/
• ffmpeg: Installed

Parameters

Parameter	Default	Description
duration	5	Video length in seconds
fps	24	Frames per second
start_distance	4.0	Starting camera distance
end_distance	1.8	Ending camera distance (close-up)
start_height	3.0	Starting camera height
end_height	1.2	Ending camera height
start_lens	35	Starting focal length (wide)
end_lens	65	Ending focal length (tight)
focus_point	(0,0,0.1)	Point to zoom toward (e.g. logo center)
transparent_bg	true	Transparent background

Flow

Step 1: Identify Focus Point

Ask user what detail to zoom into, or default to object center. Use AskUserQuestion if unclear.

Step 2: Set Up Camera

import bpy, math

# Focus target
bpy.ops.object.empty_add(type='PLAIN_AXES', location=FOCUS_POINT)
tgt = bpy.context.active_object
tgt.name = 'ZoomTarget'

# Camera
bpy.ops.object.camera_add(location=(START_X, -START_DISTANCE, START_HEIGHT))
cam = bpy.context.active_object
cam.name = 'SlowZoomCam'
cam.data.lens = START_LENS

track = cam.constraints.new(type='TRACK_TO')
track.target = tgt
track.track_axis = 'TRACK_NEGATIVE_Z'
track.up_axis = 'UP_Y'

bpy.context.scene.camera = cam

Step 3: Animate Push-In

import bpy

TOTAL_FRAMES = DURATION * FPS
scene = bpy.context.scene
scene.frame_start = 1
scene.frame_end = TOTAL_FRAMES
scene.render.fps = FPS

# Start wide
cam.location = (1.5, -START_DISTANCE, START_HEIGHT)
cam.keyframe_insert(data_path='location', frame=1)
cam.data.lens = START_LENS
cam.data.keyframe_insert(data_path='lens', frame=1)

# End tight
cam.location = (0.3, -END_DISTANCE, END_HEIGHT)
cam.keyframe_insert(data_path='location', frame=TOTAL_FRAMES)
cam.data.lens = END_LENS
cam.data.keyframe_insert(data_path='lens', frame=TOTAL_FRAMES)

# Keep default BEZIER interpolation for smooth ease in/out

Step 4: Lighting + Render

Use the same golden hour lighting setup as turntable skill. Render as PNG sequence with Cycles, encode with ffmpeg to ProRes 4444.

ffmpeg -y -framerate 24 \
  -i "~/Desktop/Blender Videos/slowzoom_frames/%04d.png" \
  -c:v prores_ks -profile:v 4444 -pix_fmt yuva444p10le \
  "~/Desktop/Blender Videos/slow_zoom.mov"

Tips

• The focal length shift (35mm to 65mm) creates a subtle dolly zoom / Hitchcock effect
• BEZIER interpolation gives smooth ease-in/out — don't use LINEAR for this animation
• Offset the start position slightly on X (e.g. 1.5) for a more cinematic diagonal approach