Exporting Stills in Final Cut Pro

[David Roth weiss]

Nothing has changed Lulu, FCP has always exported anamorphic stills from anamorphic video. This means that if you’re editing HDV video, which is shot at 1440×1080, but displays at 1920×1080, an exported still will be exported at 1440×1080. To get it to display properly as full raster, you must either stretch it with Photoshop or another application.

And BTW, there is no need to create a freeze in FCP before using Quicktime conversion to export a still, simply put and in and an out point on the timeline where your cursor sits and then use Quicktime Conversion to export a still. It will export just that frame, thus saving you a step.

David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor/Colorist
David Weiss Productions, Inc.
Los Angeles

POST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY ™

EPK Colorist – UP IN THE AIR – nominated for six academy awards

A forum host of Creative COW’s Apple Final Cut Pro, Business & Marketing, Indie Film & Documentary, and Film History & Appreciations forums.

[Lulu Malmgren]

Hey thanks for responding.

Hi thanks for responding.

I’m shooting with DV NTSC – not HDV.

I’ve had another look, and something definitely has ‘happened’.

Looking at a still I exported in January – it’s preserved the aspect ratio. In preview it says it has 853 x480 pixels. Whereas, when I follow the same process today to export a still, preview says it has 720 x 480 pixels.

In my sequence settings, it says frame size 720×480 NTSC DV (3:2) – which is the natural settings fcp goes to with my footage.

Any thoughts?

Also, I’ve exported anamorphic stills before without having to stretch in photoshop.

[David Roth weiss]

You’re obviously dealing with widescreen anamorphic DV, which is recorded at 720×480, but displays at 853×480. It’s exactly the same as I mentioned to you before in my last post, except DV rather than HDV.

How you did it last time I certainly don’t know, but you must have scaled the images somehow, because Quicktime Conversion has not changed, it has always exported stills in their native pixel dimensions and pixel aspect.

David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor/Colorist
David Weiss Productions, Inc.
Los Angeles

POST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY ™

EPK Colorist – UP IN THE AIR – nominated for six academy awards

A forum host of Creative COW’s Apple Final Cut Pro, Business & Marketing, Indie Film & Documentary, and Film History & Appreciations forums.

[Lulu Malmgren]

I’ve recently updated my version of FCP…I saw on an older post re: this, that different versions of fcp swap and change bits (see below).

“You were right Dave. It had changed, and then changed back. In FCE4 export still image converts to 190×1080. In FCP6 it did this as well. In either 6.0.2 or 6.0.3 it changed back. I think because there were complaints by people who were going to Photoshop for fixes in image sequences. The scaling and rescaling was a huge time waster. So now still images reverted as well. It would have been nice is still image export and image sequence export had different behavior. ”

Basically, I don’t have photoshop, so how can I get a still from one of my vids with the aspect ratio preserved, without having to export and then re-size?

Someone’s suggested a screengrab, but the stills are going to be blown up on my website, and it’s tricky getting exactly along the edges.

Best wishes

Lulu

[Lulu Malmgren]

Yep, something has definitely happened.

Just looked back at an old project, through a folder of exported stills that I did in December (there’s about 57 of them) and they’re all 853×480.

There is no way I re-sized them in photoshop as I don’t have the software, or automator, as I wasn’t that aware of aspect ratio info back then.

Also I distinctly remember the speed at which I would scan through the film and export all the stills I wanted.

If I did it then – I must be able to do it now – unless fcp exports differently in the new fcp upgrade.

[Lulu Malmgren]

https://www.larryjordan.biz/articles/lj_creating_freeze_frames.html

Also:

https://www.apple.com/support/releasenotes/en/Final_Cut_Pro_6.0_rn/

“When using Final Cut Pro 6.0.2 to export video to formats compatible with Apple TV, iPhone, or iPod devices, the video was scaled to the correct aspect ratio. However, exported still images were also scaled, leading to a loss in quality. When using QuickTime conversion in Final Cut Pro 6.0.3, still images are exported at their native aspect ratio.”

So basically, 6.0.2 (which is what I had before I did the software update earlier this year), would export the images as displayed, but you would loose quality, so 6.0.3 and later, exports in native format, hence the squishing.

OK, so it can’t be done in fcp. Can anyone recommend a way to re-size exported fcp stills back to their aspect ratio, without photoshop?

Lulu

[David Roth weiss]

You can use Preview on your Mac, I just tried it.

Go to Tools>>Adjust Size.

Uncheck the Scale Proportionally checkbox, leave the resample box checked, change the parameter drop-down from inches to pixels, and change the Width from 1440 to 1920, then save.

David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor/Colorist
David Weiss Productions, Inc.
Los Angeles

POST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY ™

EPK Colorist – UP IN THE AIR – nominated for six academy awards

A forum host of Creative COW’s Apple Final Cut Pro, Business & Marketing, Indie Film & Documentary, and Film History & Appreciations forums.

[Lulu Malmgren]

OK but don’t understand why 1440 to 1920? Why not from 720 to 853?

And also – what’s crazy is that it does the reverse with my non-anamorphic footage. They’re stretched!

FCP used to export those stills into 640×480 – now exports them into 720×480 as well.

Guess this has been a good learning experience in aspect ratio – but still (excuse the pun) quite annoying.

Best

[David Roth weiss]

You’re right, my only anamorphic stills are from HD material, so I tested with those and put that number in my post to you by mistake.

David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor/Colorist
David Weiss Productions, Inc.
Los Angeles

POST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY ™

EPK Colorist – UP IN THE AIR – nominated for six academy awards

A forum host of Creative COW’s Apple Final Cut Pro, Business & Marketing, Indie Film & Documentary, and Film History & Appreciations forums.

[Lulu Malmgren]

Thank you for your help. Preview is an excellent way of doing it. I’ve now completed my task – so much appreciated!

Lulu x