-
Graphic and Text problem with FCP 5.04
Sorry in advance for the long winded post. First the back story, I am editing several long form industrials (20 to 50 Min) for a new client, in DV NTSC on their editing system (G5, 2GB RAM, FCP 5.04).
These are existing edits some one else did and I am trying to finish them.The client does editing himself on this system and was complaining that the text created in Title 3D and graphics that were created in Photoshop and Motion looked jagged. He found only good results when he switched the field dominance to none in the sequence settings. He was not viewing the video on an external monitor, so I brought one in.
I created a new sequence and put in text and showed him the text was fine on the external, noting to him the canvas window plays back low res. Thinking I had solved the problem, I went off editing on the existing edits. When I switched the existing edits to lower, the text and graphics on the external monitor suddenly had the jagged edges again. I did several experiments, duplicating the sequence, changing the compressor to DVCPro50 and Uncompressed, still jagged.
So I stayed with the none option selected in the settings and finished the edit. When it came to output on the DVD the graphics and text look fine, but the video played back stuttered in any shot that had a camera move. I tried a couple of options in compressor, changing from bottom and auto field dominance, and the problems were either jagged graphics or stuttered video.
So what am I doing wrong. Is the problem with the graphics (I checked the clip setting and it says it is in an animation codec.) Should they be in a different codec? I am exporting directly from FCP to Compressor.
Don
-
2 Replies
-
For graphics in photoshop they should be set to 72dpi. If I make moves on them, pushes in or pulls I like to use at leaset 150 dpi to give me room once their brought into FCP. If your set to say 300 dpi in photoshop and have to scale down in FCP in a DV codec the graphics or even pictures don’t hold up well. The DV codec is probably the root of you artifacting problems. I try to stay away from doing any kind of motion graphics in FCP especially in the DV codec. I use animation compression on any graphics that I bring into a DV timeline from say After Effects or Motion plus you can get an alpha overlay that way. I find that they look the best that way. I have never had any great luck with FCP studio graphics they just don’t look that great. But your using PSDs so they should work for you. Just make sure that the files your using are close to their 100% scale size when you bring them into your timeline. Click on the Motion tab to check the scale once they’re on the timeline. If they’r having to be scaled way down or up in your timeline to work then scale them in photoshop to get them at least close to the size they will be in FCP. That should help. Good luck.
Keith Golinski
FULVEW -
How many times have we said that DPI above 72 DPI simply does not matter? It’s frame size you want to be concerned with. The main cause for bad looking graphics are the RT Pop Up menu not set correctly (Safe RT, Full Quality, Full Frame Rate. Also, renders need to have the dark green FULL bar checked. They should not be placed using the wireframe, but the point controls in the Controls tab. Render qualities should also be checked. They have been greatly improved in FCP 5 on up.
Kevin Monahan
Take My FCP Master’s Workshop!
fcpworld.com
Pres. SF Cutters
Reply to this Discussion! Login or Sign Up