Banding on gradient in FCP from Motion import. Reason?

[Jeff Greenberg]

FCP does quite a bit of ‘under the hood’ stuff to get items to display – they’re not always at their best quality.

Sequence Menu> Settings >
•Render control tab, change the motion project quality to Normal.

That should fix it….but if not…Let’s just ‘turn everything on’

•VIdeo Processing tab, switch the Motion Filtering Quality (the motion tab) to Best
•Change the Codec from XDCam to ProRes 422

Best,

Jeff G

Apple Master Trainer | Avid Cert. Instructor DS/MC
Come See me speak at NAB!
Compressor Essentials from Lynda.com
(older but still good) Marquee, Media Composer (3.5) and Basic/Advanced Color DVDs (1.0) from Vasst.com
Contact me through my Website

[Andy Neil]

If both projects are the same, why does the still from FCP have a different aspect ratio from the Motion still? It looks to me like they AREN’T the same.

Secondly, in the FCP sequence settings, you need to change the render settings for Motion projects to Best (Normal is default), to ensure the best rendering.

You may also need to change the Motion project settings to 32-bit floating point to get rid of all the banding. Gradient’s can be difficult sometimes.

Finally, what you’re viewing in Motion is a codec independent view of your scene. When you import the file into FCP, the project is force rendered into the codec you chose for your project. XDCam EX is not necessarily a good codec for rendering graphics. I would try rendering it in a prores sequence with the above setting tweak to see if it looks better. I would do this before switching the Motion project to 32-bit (which will add a ton to render time).

Andy

https://www.timesavertutorials.com

[Craig Moore]

thanks Jeff,

I now put Motion to best and everything else mentioned.
still the same.

Trying the Andy’s next

Spider Video
https://spidervideo.tv
XDCAM Ex1-R
MacPro FCP3

[Craig Moore]

Hi Andy,

both are 1920×1080, square pixel, filed order = none. prob just the frame window size difference.

I tweaked all settings, even to 32 bit float and it’s still a banded beast.

I think I’ll just have to vignette filter it instead as, it may be a lost cause.

I built the gradient using the gradient generator and then I tried it with only the colour gradient fill inside a rectangle and it seemed to handle it a bit better re: banding but still not as smooth as Motion native.

thanks to both

Craig

Spider Video
https://spidervideo.tv
XDCAM Ex1-R
MacPro FCP3

[Andy Neil]

Saying things like, “I tweaked all settings” doesn’t help people who are trying to diagnose your problem without sitting at your computer with your project. In order to be helpful, you need to detail exactly what you’ve done, what you’ve tried in BOTH programs.

After all, what you may think are “all settings” are not all the settings after all. I have had issues with gradients before, and I’ve also been able to create beautiful gradients. Being able to tell what might be going on is an exercise is specificity, not vagueness.

You CAN get good gradients if you’re willing to work through the problem. Don’t give up so easily.

Andy

https://www.timesavertutorials.com

[Craig Moore]

tweaked as in, I did all the things you both said in all variations.

32 bit float, “best” in Motion render tab in FCP, both projects are 1920×1080 square. Prores in FCP. Even if I do a vignette on the colour in Motion it bands in FCP. I must be missing something.

Spider Video
https://spidervideo.tv
XDCAM Ex1-R
MacPro FCP3

[Andy Neil]

Can you post your FCP and Motion project sans media?

Andy

https://www.timesavertutorials.com

[Craig Moore]

just the project(s) file you mean?

and thanks for your persistence 🙂

Spider Video
https://spidervideo.tv
XDCAM Ex1-R
MacPro FCP3

[Andy Neil]

Well, you’d need to upload the FCP project file. And also the Motion project file.

Andy

https://www.timesavertutorials.com

[Craig Moore]

I think thee uploads will work:

FCP file
1760_gradienttest.fcp.zip

Motion file
1761_textpanelfuncopy.motn.zip

thanks Craig

Spider Video
https://spidervideo.tv
XDCAM Ex1-R
MacPro FCP3