Midjourney’s new Pan feature: 5 things you need to know

“Pan” isn’t just for cooking. Use [Pan] for a “pan-oramic’ view of your creativity

Futuristic panoramic view of a bio-city created using [Pan] in Midjourney

Midjourney (MJ) released a new Outpainting feature called “Pan” yesterday. Pan allows you to move your image in four directions: left, right, up, and down. MJ will automatically add more canvas and details as you pan your image.

What you need to know about the Pan feature:

(1) Pan is one of the Outpainting features.

• [Zoom Out 1.5x], [Zoom Out 2x], [Custom Zoom], and [Pan] all add more canvas to your original image. Their primary working mechanism is the same.
• Zoom produces an image with the same dimensions as the original, but the original image shrinks and becomes smaller within. Pan, on the other hand, will add 512 pixels either horizontally or vertically per pan.
• Outpainting buttons, including the new [Pan] feature, will appear after you have upscaled an image (by pressing the U1, U2, U3, or U4 buttons).
• Outpainting features, including [Pan], will keep your original image intact unless you mistakenly click the Variation buttons (V1, V2, V3, or V4), which will reset or wipe out the original image, forcing you to start over.
• Rerolls will only affect or change the canvas areas that have been added. The original image is preserved and unaffected.
• Variations are not supported on panned images. After panning an image, all variation buttons will disappear from the subsequent image grid.

(2) Pan expands the canvas in only horizontal or vertical directions. In contrast to [Zoom Out] and [Custom Zoom], both add more canvas surrounding the original image.

• You can either pan the image horizontally or vertically. But not both at the same time. For example, if you pan the image horizontally by clicking the left OR right Pan buttons, you can only extend the image horizontally in the next Pan. The buttons to pan vertically (up and down buttons) will disappear in the new image grid.
• Changing the panning direction is possible with a new, simple technique (the new story will be published).