exporting from FCP 7 with square pixels

[Neil Patience]

Hi Anne

Apologies but I am not totally sure what your issue is. Is it that you dont know how to set square pixels ?
If so if you look in the inspector window for your given setting and under the geometry tab – which is the 5th icon from the left you will see “pixel aspect”

You can set square pixels or not there. Hope that helps – if not could you give a few more details of what you are trying to do – thanks

best wishes
Neil
http://www.patience.tv

8 Core MacPro, Kona 3, Tangent Wave, Mackie Universal Symphony 6.5 FCP7
i7 2.7 Gig MBP (non retina) 16Gigs Ram Blackmagic Monitor Mini Symphony 6.5 FCP7

[Anne Flournoy]

Thank you Neil!

I’ve made a 150 second video using some 16:9 sequences intercut with some 4:3 sequences, both HD shot on consumer camcorders.

The sequence settings in FCP 7 are
sequencesettingsofpitchvideo.png [x]:

the QT inspector of the pitch video is:
sequencesettingsofpitchvideo.png [x]

Though I was able to upload the video to youtube without a hitch, the crowd funder site it’s intended for is seeing it as stretched.

So I was trying to reset the sequence settings to 1920 X 1080.

The 16:9 sequences are fine with that. The 4:3 get stretched.

Any suggestions??

I’m not very techy and can barely use Compressor.
Thank you very much.

[Anne Flournoy]

woops.

[Neil Patience]

Hi Anne

OK I think the issue is that you have 2 aspect ratios and I guess 2 frame sizes (HD & SD) in the same sequence. Obviously the HD is going to be 16:9 and you have some 4:3 as well.

Assuming the majority of the footage is 16:9 it makes sense to have a 16:9 sequence, which it sounds like you have done. This will however affect how the 4:3 looks, which I assume is not HD but SD ?

Right click on one of the 4:3 shots in the sequence and select remove attributes. I sounds like FCP has applied distort and basic motion.
If you uncheck distort you should get the right shape but the picture will likely be too small. You have to zoom it in to fill the frame but you will lose some of the top and or bottom of the frame. The alternative is to leave the shot with the black bars left and right. Its up to you.
You will need to do this for each 4:3 shot. However you can right click the one that is good and select copy and select another shot and select paste attributes and that will duplicate the settings.

Then you should be able to export it and everything should be distortion free.

best wishes
Neil
http://www.patience.tv

8 Core MacPro, Kona 3, Tangent Wave, Mackie Universal Symphony 6.5 FCP7
i7 2.7 Gig MBP (non retina) 16Gigs Ram Blackmagic Monitor Mini Symphony 6.5 FCP7

[Anne Flournoy]

Neil, thank you! Mercifully @Snowdrum_AV, a guy I met on twitter yesterday in a #filmcurious chat, came to the same conclusion just a few hours ago. Nevertheless I so appreciate your having taken the time to brainstorm it and help me.