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dpi and pixels needed for high def video
hi,
i am wanting to use high res stills in a video but i need to know what the specs need to be on the stills. ie, what should the dpi of the image be and what should the pixels be 720×486 or something like 1440×972.i’ve heard that final cut doesnt like certain settings so please let me know the highest res i can get without upsetting final cut.
cheers.
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5 Replies
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FCP has a limit of 4000×4000 pixels (dpi is pretty much useless in the video world). Depending on the power of your computer you might struggle with images that are approaching this size.
A HD frame size is traditionally 1920×1080 but it’s good to have an image slightly larger as this allows you to move it around in the frame. If you aren’t doing any motion effects you can always prepare the image in photoshop and make it exactly 1920×1080.
If you have the choice work with uncompressed image formats like TIFF or PNG rather than JPEG. The files will be larger but FCP doesn’t have to work so hard to uncompress them.
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FCP and Avid Technical Support
Air Post Production
Shoreditch – London -
great guys, thanks a lot for your help.
that just about answers that for me.
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If you intend to do “Ken burns” style moves… I typically make the stills double the size of the video frame.
As Dave said, FCP is a little clunky for this on it’s own. Motion is great ( as is AE).
Noise Industries has a nice free plug in for this on their website.
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I find that files approaching 3000 pixels start to cause problems and take time to render.
double the size is the way to go.FCP 6.06, OS 10.5.8 2x3GHZ Quad-Core Intel Xeon, Kona LHe, Dulce Duo-eSATA 8 Drive, 4TB Raid.
John Knapich
Creative Director/Partner
Assembypix.tv -
Walter Biscardi’s excellent tutorial on DPI and stills in FCP is available here at the Cow. Just search for Walter and the still tutorial is his latest I think.
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