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Anamorphic Footage Yields Normal Faces but Squished Text
So I shot some footage on a Canon XH A1 in SD 16:9 format. I bring it into Final Cut as DV NTSC 48 kHz Anamorphic. The sequence setting is a 720×280 frame with an NTSC/DV PAR of 720×480 with the Anamorphic 16:9 box checked. The footage looks just how I want it to in Final Cut: widescreen with no tall letters. (There’s a few parts with text in the video.) I need to convert it to an .mp4 file to upload to the web. I used to just export it in Compressor with the frame size setting at 100% of source and the pixel aspect ratio greyed at “default for size” (1.000). This would give me a 720×480 file that I would resize to 640×360 in QuickTime Pro. This would upload to Blip.tv fine, but when I tried uploading it to YouTube recently, it gets squished and pillarboxed. (Same thing happens with Viddler.) I tried changing the Compressor settings to a 640×360 frame size with default PAR (again 1.000) – the file looks good (16:9) except for the text: people’s faces are normal, but the text is squished and tall. I tried changing the PAR to the DV 16:9 setting as well as customizing it to 1.333 (‘cuz anamorphic means non-square pixels, right?), but everything yields a nice 16:9 frame size for all the video content and the text gets squished. What is the solution? What should I do to get a 16:9 file out of Compressor (because I guess YouTube is converting the resized file to its native format?) that has properly proportioned video and text?
Pickup Productions.
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7 Replies
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[Stephen Metzger] ” and the pixel aspect ratio greyed at “default for size” “
try selecting Square pixels that is what you need.
rafael(and here some clips for the friends: https://www.vimeo.com/2694745 )
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As I mentioned above, the grayed “default for size” PAR is 1.000 (square). I have also tried selecting the square pixel aspect as you suggested, but it’s the same as default for size (1.000), so I get the same result: everything seems fine except for the text that is noticeably tall/skinny.
Pickup Productions.
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Hi Stephen,
Your workflow is a bit complicated.
You star saying: The sequence setting is a 720×280 frame with an NTSC/DV PAR of 720×480.
I don’t understand what aspect are you trying to achieve.About the text distortion, if you are rendering your 720×480 Anamorphic, and the picture (faces) and the graphics looks well over there, there is no mean that on resizing the faces looks OK and the text distorted. If there is distortion must be the same for the whole picture.
rafael(and here some clips for the friends: https://www.vimeo.com/2694745 )
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I apologize, I meant 720×480 and not 720×280. I am trying to create a video with a 16:9 aspect ratio. Using the DV NTSC Anamorphic settings in Final Cut (the only way I know how to view 16:9 SD DV footage in Final Cut) gives a 720×480 frame size and pixel ratio with the box labeled “Anamorphic 16:9” checked in the sequence settings. When I export the video as an .mp4 through Compressor (100% of source frame size and 1.000 pixel ratio) and resize it to 640×360 (16:9) in QuickTime, everything looks fine. However, when I upload this resized file to YouTube, it automatically pillarboxes it (bars on left and right – I think the aspect ratio it converts it to is 720×480 or something similar, definitely not 16:9). Weirdly, if I export the video through Compressor with the frame size set to 640×360 (seemingly regardless of pixel ratio, square or 1.333), the file looks identical to the resized video from before, except for the text I made in Final Cut. The video images (people, etc.) look exactly the same, but the text is definitely taller, and I have no idea why. (Posting this version to YouTube results in the correct 16:9 aspect ratio, Youtube does not change the aspect ratio like with the video file I resized.)
Pickup Productions.
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Hi Stephen,
In the end is a matter of pixels aspect.
640×360 will looks 16×9 in a computer ONLY if the pixels are Squared.
Why don’t you just open a new sequence in FC: 640×360 Square pixels and drop your 720×480 sequence inside?
rafael(and here some clips for the friends: https://www.vimeo.com/2694745 )
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Hey Stephen, I’m getting the same issue, I do understand you.
My export from HDV 1080i60 (anamorphic actual 1440) to HDV 720p looks great, but the text overlay is squashed.Looks like FCP is making some wrong decision. Have you found a solution?
Rgds, Dennis -
Yeah, I wound up taking Rafael’s advice: I create a separate sequence once I’m done editing, and give the new sequence the aspect ratio settings I want (some 16:9 variation – usually 960×540 or 854×480), then I select a square Pixel Aspect Ratio. Then I drag the edited sequence as a whole (from the browser, not the individual pieces from the timeline) into the new sequence. This seems to work fine and exports properly. This can also be helpful for exporting HDV sequences as smaller aspect ratio files.
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