Aspect ratio for workflow from Photoshop to FCP Sequence in HD

[Michael Gissing]

If your camera shoots 1920 x 1080 then that is the correct size for your sequence. In Photoshop you use the same aspect ration which is true 16:9 so square pixel.

I don’t see what the issue is here as you are not working with anamorphic sequences. HD sequences in FCP are true 16:9.

[Corby Anderson]

MIcheal – I am not sure what the hell is going on, actually.

So, I will start over with a new project with new sequence presets at 1920×1080, and will use the 1920×1080 30 p pro res. Then I will create some graphics in p-shop at 1920/1080/72, and then import footage from the camera and see what happens

It looks like the graphics that I created in FCP that keep getting resized and skewed will have to be recreated from scratch to figure out if the problem was an originally bad aspect ratio setting on the sequence presets. I’ll chime in when I see what happens in the AM.

Corby Anderson

[Corby Anderson]

Here is a question. I think that one of my problems lies in that I have somehow broken the layers out of a PSD from their singular track and they are now splayed out on my timeline in about 16 channels of video tracks.

One one timeline, 1920×1080, the individual tracks are all sized correctly. When I copy and paste the whole lot to a new sequence with the same ratio, everything gets really stretched vertically.

First – I realize that my problem might lie in the fact that I made these edits outside of the singular PSD video track, and am just writing to see if anyone can explain why that would happen.

Second. is there to just copy and paste without having to resize or start all over?

Third, in general. Is it vital in FCP to take any video clip directly into the viewer first, and then apply it to the timeline after placing I/O on the viewer timeline rather than just drag the clip directly into the sequence and edit in’s and out’s on the sequence itself? Coming over from Media 100, I am self-taught and might be doing some things wrong regarding the process. Currently I do not use the canvas to apply clips to the sequence, I just lay them in from the browser and manipulate what can be worked on in the sequence, in the sequence.

OK, if anyone has any thoughts, I am open to learning the right way to do things so that my foundations are correct. And anything about this aspect ratio situation is helpful. It is quite vexing to me.
Corby Anderson
Schipper Design

[Christopher Mcdonell]

I can’t answer all of your questions, but I might be able to steer you in the right direction. I’ve done a fair bit of graphics work and have learned to ALWAYS import images that are sized to match your timeline for best results. Otherwise, as you’ve noted, FCP skewers the aspect ratio – and almost never in a good way. If only we knew the correct numbers to fix this ourselves. (Anyone?). So, if you’re working with HDV for instance, use photoshop’s hdv preset (1440 x 1080 , 72dpi). For text especially, I’d suggest using the title/action safe guidelines as well. They’re awesome.

Now, the important stuff. If you’re just going to use stills, without applying any motion to them, FLATTEN your file first – exactly as you want it to appear in fcp. Then import, throw it in the timeline, render (if necessary), and boom. You’re good to go. If I’m working with a file that has layers (text on photo for instance), I’ll always save a layered version for re-editing (with ps), and a flattened version to import into fcp.

If you need layers in fcp, however, like if you’re bringing in a map and want to fade in one layer at a time, and need everything to be lined up just so – or if you want to zoom in or out of a photo (explained later) – then you’ll have to save your file as LAYERED (basically do nothing) and import that. When you import a layered psd, it appears as a sequence, not a file. When you double-click on the sequence, you’ll see each layer as a separate video layer in your timeline. Drag each of these layers, one at a time, into your browser (a graphics bin or something). They will turn into workable files. Name them accordingly as you drag them over as they will take on the name of your layered file and things can get confusing pretty quick. Once you’ve copied them all over and named them, close the sequence they came from. You may even want to just delete the sequence. Now you can edit with the files, dropping them into your timeline, and their sizing and aspect ratio should be exactly as they were in photoshop. (Actually, sometimes fcp changes the size and x/y’s./ But you can reset this to 100 and 0, 0 – and voila! Least it doesn’t muck up the aspect ratio).

As you probably know, the image of a flattened file only exists within the borders of the visible frame (1440 * 1080 for example). The image of a layered file can exist beyond the borders. So if you want to zoom in to an image, you’re best to save it in photoshop at its FINAL-SIZED STAGE and import it as a layered file. Does that make sense? That way, in fcp, you can start at 80% and finish at 100% (for instance), rather than having to finish at 120% – which will kill your image quality. This is also useful for moving around on a large image.

One more thing. If you make changes in photoshop to the imported file, fcp will recognize this and usually re-link the file (with the amendments) just fine. But not always with layered files. This is generally where I see fcp mucking up the aspect ratio. Maybe someone out there has an answer to this. Otherwise, you may have to just reimport and go through all the steps again.

Hope this helps in some way.

Chris

[Christopher Mcdonell]

I can’t answer all of your questions, but I might be able to steer you in the right direction. I’ve done a fair bit of graphics work and have learned to ALWAYS import images that are sized to match your timeline for best results. Otherwise, as you’ve noted, FCP skewers the aspect ratio – and almost never in a good way. If only we knew the correct numbers to fix this ourselves. (Anyone?). So, if you’re working with HDV for instance, use photoshop’s hdv preset (1440 x 1080 , 72dpi). For text especially, I’d suggest using the title/action safe guidelines as well. They’re awesome.

Now, the important stuff. If you’re just going to use stills, without applying any motion to them, FLATTEN your file first – exactly as you want it to appear in fcp. Then import, throw it in the timeline, render (if necessary), and boom. You’re good to go. If I’m working with a file that has layers (text on photo for instance), I’ll always save a layered version for re-editing (with ps), and a flattened version to import into fcp.

If you need layers in fcp, however, like if you’re bringing in a map and want to fade in one layer at a time, and need everything to be lined up just so – or if you want to zoom in or out of a photo (explained later) – then you’ll have to save your file as LAYERED (basically do nothing) and import that. When you import a layered psd, it appears as a sequence, not a file. When you double-click on the sequence, you’ll see each layer as a separate video layer in your timeline. Drag each of these layers, one at a time, into your browser (a graphics bin or something). They will turn into workable files. Name them accordingly as you drag them over as they will take on the name of your layered file and things can get confusing pretty quick. Once you’ve copied them all over and named them, close the sequence they came from. You may even want to just delete the sequence. Now you can edit with the files, dropping them into your timeline, and their sizing and aspect ratio should be exactly as they were in photoshop. (Actually, sometimes fcp changes the size and x/y’s./ But you can reset this to 100 and 0, 0 – and voila! Least it doesn’t muck up the aspect ratio).

As you probably know, the image of a flattened file only exists within the borders of the visible frame (1440 * 1080 for example). The image of a layered file can exist beyond the borders. So if you want to zoom in to an image, you’re best to save it in photoshop at its FINAL-SIZED STAGE and import it as a layered file. Does that make sense? That way, in fcp, you can start at 80% and finish at 100% (for instance), rather than having to finish at 120% – which will kill your image quality. This is also useful for moving around on a large image.

One more thing. If you make changes in photoshop to the imported file, fcp will recognize this and usually re-link the file (with the amendments) just fine. But not always with layered files. This is generally where I see fcp mucking up the aspect ratio. Maybe someone out there has an answer to this. Otherwise, you may have to just reimport and go through all the steps again.

Hope this helps in some way.

Chris