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Struggling with basic photo editing from Photoshop to FCP 7- posted but still seeking assistance
I apologize for posting this here after posting in the basics forum but I’m on this project now and am needing some guidance….
I’m having trouble getting it ‘right’ when bringing in PS graphics to use in FCP 7.
I’ve created several 1280×720 images (we display on the weekends in a widescreen format) in PS. But when I bring them in to FCP 7, they are getting stretched vertically.
My FCP 7 easy setup is on Pro res, but I believe that gets overridden anytime you drop something in the timeline & let it set the sequence. That actually doesn’t happen here, just a red bar for rendering when I drop a PSD file into the FCP timeline (then it’s stretched as I mentioned). So I started trying to set my timeline to HDV 720p which stated it was 1280×720, but then the
I’ve tried exporting a psd, png, and tiff to see if it would make a difference and it’s a mixed bag with none of it being right. For example…
This morning I brought in a tiff at the size mentioned above and, in the timeline (1280×720), with the file un-rendered, it was the correct size and looked crisp. As soon as I rendered it, the resolution was terrible, no longer crisp. Then I exported it as a test and not only was the resolution bad, but the video was stretched horizontally now.Since photo editing in a NLE is a basic function, I’m mystified as to why, with such powerful tools, I can’t get it to work right. I feel like I’m just doing one or two things wrong.
Any help would be much appreciated!
SeanPS- Rafael was kind enough to offer the suggestion of making sure in the browser that they show with square pixels, but I don’t know how to do that and wonder if that means it will show correctly in the timeline when inserted. Lastly, what should I use in FCP – PSD? Tiff? PNG?
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12 Replies
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If you capture the HDV as ProRes instead of HDV, then you’ll not see the problem. Or in Photoshop, you need to set the pixel aspect ratio from Square. When you create a new file in PS, open it’s properties to include the HDV shaped pixels. In CS 3 it’s in the advanced button when you create a new file and choose the video size.
Jerry
Apple Certified Trainer, Producer, Writer, Director Editor, Gun for Hire and other things. I ski. My Blog: https://blogs.creativecow.net/Jerry-Hofmann
Current DVD:
https://store.creativecow.net/p/81/jerry_hofmanns_final_cut_system_setup8-Core 3.0 Intel Mac Pro, Dual 2 gig G5, AJA Kona SD, AJA Kona 2, Huge Systems Array UL3D, AJA Io HD, 17″ MBP, Matrox MXO2 with MAX – Cinema Displays I have a 22″ that I paid 4k for still working. G4 with Kona SD card, and SCSI card.
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[Jerry Hofmann] “If you capture the HDV as ProRes instead of HDV, then you’ll not see the problem. “
Jerry,
Thank you for taking the time. I had no idea of these various settings and it’s starting to make sense now.
As my question relates to PS stills, can you explain what you meant about ‘capturing the HDV as ProRes’?Thanks again,
Sean -
In the log and capture prefs, you can capture HDV as ProRes files… they would be larger and not look any better than the native HDV. However all other files (like those from PS) would be 10 bit files, not 8. And the renders and compressions done in the end will be much faster in ProRes than from HDV.
You’ll need more space, but you save time, and improve all the graphics and stills… Look in the Audio/Video settings and select HDV to ProRes as the Capture preset.
Jerry
Apple Certified Trainer, Producer, Writer, Director Editor, Gun for Hire and other things. I ski. My Blog: https://blogs.creativecow.net/Jerry-Hofmann
Current DVD:
https://store.creativecow.net/p/81/jerry_hofmanns_final_cut_system_setup8-Core 3.0 Intel Mac Pro, Dual 2 gig G5, AJA Kona SD, AJA Kona 2, Huge Systems Array UL3D, AJA Io HD, 17″ MBP, Matrox MXO2 with MAX – Cinema Displays I have a 22″ that I paid 4k for still working. G4 with Kona SD card, and SCSI card.
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Very helpful – am making notes on all this.
Appreciate your time and information today…
Sean -
One other question if I might…
I had some PNG’s in the timeline and when I render, the quality drops. I test exported the files with & without rendering and sure enough, a sizable quality difference. If you don’t render in FCP, you can’t watch your edit correct? But if you render these image files you lose quality. Any way around this?
Does it matter whether you use PSD, PNG, or Tiff’s from Photoshop?Thank you,
Sean -
It comes down to the fact that you are making them smaller in size most the time (like for photos)… so it does allow you to zoom in on them, but that quality loss is going to be there most of the time. You can experiment with the sizes of the graphics for better results. The less you change their size from 100% in FCP, the better they’ll look. i.e., scaling the graphics in PS is better than the scaling in FCP big time.
Jerry
Apple Certified Trainer, Producer, Writer, Director Editor, Gun for Hire and other things. I ski. My Blog: https://blogs.creativecow.net/Jerry-Hofmann
Current DVD:
https://store.creativecow.net/p/81/jerry_hofmanns_final_cut_system_setup8-Core 3.0 Intel Mac Pro, Dual 2 gig G5, AJA Kona SD, AJA Kona 2, Huge Systems Array UL3D, AJA Io HD, 17″ MBP, Matrox MXO2 with MAX – Cinema Displays I have a 22″ that I paid 4k for still working. G4 with Kona SD card, and SCSI card.
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It comes down to the fact that you are making them smaller in size most the time (like for photos)… so it does allow you to zoom in on them if they are larger than the frame size you’re editing.
You can experiment with the sizes of the graphics for better results. The less you change their size from 100% in FCP, the better they’ll look. i.e., resizing (scaling) in PS is better than the scaling in FCP big time.
Jerry
Apple Certified Trainer, Producer, Writer, Director Editor, Gun for Hire and other things. I ski. My Blog: https://blogs.creativecow.net/Jerry-Hofmann
Current DVD:
https://store.creativecow.net/p/81/jerry_hofmanns_final_cut_system_setup8-Core 3.0 Intel Mac Pro, Dual 2 gig G5, AJA Kona SD, AJA Kona 2, Huge Systems Array UL3D, AJA Io HD, 17″ MBP, Matrox MXO2 with MAX – Cinema Displays I have a 22″ that I paid 4k for still working. G4 with Kona SD card, and SCSI card.
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Jerry, thanks…
There’s actually no zooming or resizing the pics on my part in FCP.I import the PNG, drop it in the timeline, and it’s unrendered. When I put the scrubber over it, it looks good quality-wise in the canvas.
Then I render it and the quality goes down significantly.
I would assume this is what’s going to happen regardless EXCEPT that when I exported it unrendered the quality was high, and when I rendered the PNG and exported it the quality was low. So, I can get better quality if I export without rendering, but then can’t see me edited piece in fcp pro without rendering.
Hmmm..
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It may not look as bad as it does in the Canvas… Look at it externally rendered. or set the Canvas to 100% to see both fields rendered if the sequence setting is interlaced. 1080i for example.
Jerry
Apple Certified Trainer, Producer, Writer, Director Editor, Gun for Hire and other things. I ski. My Blog: https://blogs.creativecow.net/Jerry-Hofmann
Current DVD:
https://store.creativecow.net/p/81/jerry_hofmanns_final_cut_system_setup8-Core 3.0 Intel Mac Pro, Dual 2 gig G5, AJA Kona SD, AJA Kona 2, Huge Systems Array UL3D, AJA Io HD, 17″ MBP, Matrox MXO2 with MAX – Cinema Displays I have a 22″ that I paid 4k for still working. G4 with Kona SD card, and SCSI card.
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I set the compressor to ProRes LT in the sequence settings and everything in the timeline immediately rendered (or did not need rendering any longer) and the quality was clear.
I assume this all came down then to the fact that I had it set on DV/DVCpro NTSC?
Sean
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