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Can FCP be forced to render motion effects as frame-based instead of field-based?
I make trailers for a movie channel, and I want to start creating graphic elements for the trailers within FCP. You know the sort of thing – captions moving slowly towards the viewer saying “In a world…” or “Only one man…” etc.
It’s obviously simple enough to create these in FCP, but the problem is that when you apply moves to them, FCP renders the move as field-based rather than frame-based, which jars with the motion in the actual movie clips. The captions look like video instead of film.
Is there any way to force FCP to render motion effects (or, indeed, *all* its effects) as frame-based rather than field-based, or are you expected to use Motion for that?
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13 Replies
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You would have to switch the timeline to Progressive, but changing the field order to “None.” This could have a negative affect on the rest of your timeline though.
Walter Biscardi, Jr.
https://www.biscardicreative.com
HD Editorial & Animation for Broadcast and independent productions.All Things Apple Podcast! https://cowcast.creativecow.net/all_things_apple/index.html
Read my blog! https://blogs.creativecow.net/WalterBiscardi
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what i’ve done in the past is to nest the section, then de-interlace the nest.
i remember one time i used the “Strob” filter set to 0.5
seem to recall my graphics came out sharper than if de-interlaced.nick
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[GarethR] “t’s obviously simple enough to create these in FCP, but the problem is that when you apply moves to them, FCP renders the move as field-based rather than frame-based, which jars with the motion in the actual movie clips. The captions look like video instead of film. “
that would be the format you have chosen to work in.
720p is always a true progressive format. 1080 23.98 Psf is a progressive segmented frame, and therefor needs to be played back as interlaced content.
Many monitors and some video cards do not have the ability to playback 1080 as True Progressive, only as PsF.
gary adcock
Studio37
HD & Film Consultation
Post and Production Workflows -
>>that would be the format you have chosen to work in<< Sorry Gary, but you haven't understood what I'm saying or what I'm trying to do. Suffice it to say that I'm used to using alternative editing systems on which it's possible to render motion effects frame-based rather than field-based. You're still generating a piece of interlaced 625/50 or 525/60 video, but the motion is updated only once per frame, not once per field. This eliminates the characteristic "videoness" of the motion. It's a commonly-used technique when making movie promos for TV. Thanks to everyone for the other suggestions; it seems that FCP is less flexible that I hoped in this regard. It shouldn't be necessary to deinterlace, nor should it be necessary to have to switch the entire timeline into "progressive" mode.
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[GarethR] “Thanks to everyone for the other suggestions; it seems that FCP is less flexible that I hoped in this regard. It shouldn’t be necessary to deinterlace, nor should it be necessary to have to switch the entire timeline into “progressive” mode.”
FCP will always render what the timeline is set to. Progressive renders in a Progressive timeline. Interlaced renders in an Interlaced timeline.
I’ve not worked on a system that can do otherwise.
Walter Biscardi, Jr.
https://www.biscardicreative.com
HD Editorial & Animation for Broadcast and independent productions.All Things Apple Podcast! https://cowcast.creativecow.net/all_things_apple/index.html
Read my blog! https://blogs.creativecow.net/WalterBiscardi
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[GarethR] “Suffice it to say that I’m used to using alternative editing systems on which it’s possible to render motion effects frame-based rather than field-based.”
and those systems cost 10-20x what a box of FCP Does. (iQ, Baselight, Flame)
FCP was not ever intended to do frame based content handling.
Most people with this dilemma do one of 2 things, they handle the entire timeline as progressive and then output as interlace on delivery OR they render the graphics files at 60p so every interlaced field is converted from a single frame when doing the conversion to interlace. ( and this works the same for SD and HD content.
gary adcock
Studio37
HD & Film Consultation
Post and Production Workflows -
[walter biscardi] “Interlaced renders in an Interlaced timeline. “
Actually, that’s exactly what I’m talking about. You’re still working interlaced, but effects are rendered treating both fields of each frame the same, so the motion “steps” once each frame rather than interpolating smoothly between the fields. It give the effect a more filmic motion.
Even a 15-year-old DVE unit will do it. All it needs is a checkbox in the motion menu. Okay, you can more-or-less achieve the same result by deinterlacing after you’ve rendered the motion, but that’s a somewhat less elegant approach.
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[gary adcock] “nd those systems cost 10-20x what a box of FCP Does. (iQ, Baselight, Flame) “
What about AfterEffects?
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[GarethR] “What about AfterEffects? “
AE is not an editor in any stretch of the imagination, it is a graphics application that handles all of the content as progressive, since the base application is to create vector based motion graphics it handles all content as graphics.
FCP is a video editor and handles all of its content like video.
gary adcock
Studio37
HD & Film Consultation
Post and Production Workflows -
[gary adcock] “FCP is a video editor and handles all of its content like video”
All the DVEs I ever used (back in the days when I still used DVEs) handled their content like video, and yet they all offered the option of frame-based moves. It would hardly be difficult to add the option to FCP.
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