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4:3 “Pillar Box” in 16:9 4k
hi,
Im working in a 3840×2160 (16:9) timeline. I want to create “pillar boxes” or a centered 4:3 crop with black on either side of the 16:9 project. What is the very best way to do this and make sure that it is perfectly centered?
I want it to be down to the pixel 4:3 and also down to the pixel centered. I’ve read a lot of articles here and elsewhere on the subject but it still seems confusing. I’d like to apply an adjustment layer with the 4:3 / pillar box “effect”.As a separate question what would be the pixel by pixel size of a 4:3 timeline that was : ______ x 2160 ?
I’m working in Premiere 2017.1.2Also is this information correct?
https://therenderq.com/how-to-set-43-center-cut-safe-title-markers-in-premiere-cs5thanks for helping me,
jjr -
10 Replies
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Create a black frame on V2 and mask it using inverted track matte with a white frame on v3 that is 2880 pixels (3840*0.75) wide and 2160 tall. Nest the result
This will mask your 4×3 source layer on v1 that you can resize, independent of crop/mask, to fix blanking errors.
To see blanking errors more clearly, step into the nested sequence and add an effect to bring brightness up so the black bars are white. Turn off the effect before exporting to make it black again.
Beware that sim broadcasters will not accept black pillar boxing
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Safe title area is likely to be broadcaster specific but old school 80% in 4.3 frame you are creating above would be 80% of 2880×2160 = 2304×1728 (I think!). That is super safe, lots of later specs were 90% (which was safe action)
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I just went through this…..with an SD project but it should be similar. With your source clip selected in the bin, you can go to Clip>modify>interpret footage (or access it from the context menu). I have it mapped to shift-option-I. In there you can set your pixel aspect ratio. It will give the option of “use aspect ratio from file” which was 0.9091 in my case for the 4×3. It should automatically detect your aspect ratio (drag it into your timeline and see how it looks). If it doesn’t, if it’s wrong, you can conform it to the PAR of your choosing -1.00 for square pixels, etc.
Here are some resources to check out:
https://www.kenstone.net/fcp_homepage/faking_it.htmlIf you have a bottle of aspirin handy, here’s another resource
https://eugenia.queru.com/2007/10/30/understanding-pixel-aspect-ratios/ -
[Kell Smith] “In there you can set your pixel aspect ratio.”
You’re confusing aspect ratio with pixel aspect ratio. If you want a cropped and pillar boxed 4:3 image in a UHD sequence you crop it to 2880×2160. You don’t squeeze it with changing the pixel aspect ratio.
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Oh, you know what? No, I’m not actually confusing the two, I’m well aware of how that works.
I may have misread the original post and was thinking of native 4×3 material, not simply cropped material.
Oh well. Maybe it will help someone in the future who has that question regarding a project with 4×3 material… -
Unless one is shooting anamorphic or HDV all modern formats use square pixels so messing with the PARs doesn’t get you anywhere.
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I dealt with this issue in SD, so haven’t worked with it in higher res footage. I assume you would maintain aspect ratio when upscaling with software, although I have no experience at all with hardware upscales that might handle it differently, so maybe someone can chime in on that.
The most common use of 4×3 would be old footage, either SD or being upscaled, not something current. -
[Kell Smith] “The most common use of 4×3 would be old footage, either SD or being upscaled, not something current.
“Except if that would be an artistic choice to crop some shots to a different aspect ratio. I’ve done a bunch of this in HD projects.
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Exactly ☺ That’s specifically what I had in mind while saying ‘most.’ And so that’s what’s not really clear in the original post. Is this artistic or is it upscaled footage?
If someone is shooting 4×3 as an artistic thing it’s a different matter because they will shoot square pixels, frame for 4×3, and crop it. -
That math is little weird with the 4:3 ratio but got a simple trick … Wanna keep the height & crop wide… This ratio works like this. In any 16:9 sequence 720 to 8k footage. Just keep 75% of the width pixles…
Step 1( place a black color matte your sequence ratio in timeline) Step 2 ( place a white color matte over the black same same) Step 3 (Put crop effect on white color matte 12.5% on Left and12.5% on Right) BOOM 4:3 ratio… Step 4 (Nest black and white matte) Step 5 ( set nested clip opacity to darken) POW done
At Export Time 0.75×Width = New Width
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