cropping still images for use in video (what size?)

[Shane Ross]

Just for sitting there full size, or do you want to do moves?

For full size they need to be adjusted to 720×534

After you’ve made your graphic, go to Image Size and, making sure Constrain Proportions is deselected and Bicubic is selected, change the height of the image to 480 or 486, as appropriate.

Or, if you want to do movement on them, don’t resize them. Leave them as big as you can and watch this tutorial:

https://forums.creativecow.net/cgi-bin/page_wrapper.cgi?forumid=8&page=https://www.creativecow.net/articles/ross_shane/movement_on_stills/index.html

Shane

Littlefrog Post
http://www.lfhd.net

[Kevin Monahan]

Crop to 720 x 540, then save as to 720 x 480. The picture looks squashed at this point.
Import into FCP and place in a standard DV sequence. It will look normal.

Kevin Monahan
Take My FCP Master’s Workshop!
fcpworld.com
Pres. SF Cutters

[Kevin Monahan]

Shane,
I used to use 720 x 534, but a K-base article indeed says it should be 720 x 540. It’s been fully vetted by Apple engineering.

https://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=301599

Kevin Monahan
Take My FCP Master’s Workshop!
fcpworld.com
Pres. SF Cutters

[Shane Ross]

Thanks Kevin. I have never worked with stills full screen, I have always done move on them…so this is good to know.

Shane

Littlefrog Post
http://www.lfhd.net

[Kevin Monahan]

The “formula” comes in handy for titles and lower third elements you make in PS.
BTW, the presets in Photoshop for television are for Adobe products and shouldn’t be used for FCP.

The values are different for FCP. Non-square offsets are not universal.
FCP and Adobe have different ratios, but are still within the same spec.

Wacky.

Kevin Monahan
Take My FCP Master’s Workshop!
fcpworld.com
Pres. SF Cutters

[Kevin Monahan]

Sorry: wrong article.

Here it is:
https://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=36836

Kevin Monahan
Take My FCP Master’s Workshop!
fcpworld.com
Pres. SF Cutters

[Chris Wright]

Thanks Shane. I cropped the images at 720 x 534 as you suggested. I was unclear about why I needed to resize the image to a height of 480 pixels after I cropped it to 720×534, so I ran a test. It looks like the image shows up within the action safe area if I resize the image to a height of 480 px, but that it leaves a black border around the image too.

My conclusion is that if I want the image to fill up the entire screen without the black border, then I should not resize the 720×534 image to a height of 480px, right? I’ll just need to be aware that the main content in my image will need to stay within what will be the title safe and action safe parameters of the video.

~Chris

[Kevin Monahan]

I guess you just blew by my post.
720 x 534 is incorrect.

Crop to 720 x 540.
Save As > 720 x 480.
The image is squashed
Import the file
Edit it into a standard sequence
The image appears unsquashed

If you are experiencing any anomalies after that, (black borders) you don’t have a standard setup for your sequence.
It should NOT be a square pixel sequence unless it’s HD.
Go to Final Cut Pro > Easy Setup and choose DV-NTSC. Create a new sequence and drop your image into that.

If you are unclear as to why you would squeeze the image before importing it is to compensate for sq pixels vs. non-sq. pixels.

Good luck.

Kevin Monahan
Take My FCP Master’s Workshop!
fcpworld.com
Pres. SF Cutters