Final Cut Pro makes TEXT images look like ctrap!

[Walter Biscardi]

What type of Sequence are you editing in and what type of external monitor are you watching this on?

Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Biscardi Creative Media
HD and SD Production for Broadcast and Independent Productions.

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[Thomas Newman]

Hi,

Its a simple DV NTSC 720 X 480 timeline sequence preset. The monitors are the same two monitors I have used for years with HD footage and no problems. This is suddenly happening with the new sequence I created. They are ACER 19 inch monitors.

Thanks
Thomas

[Jeremy Garchow]

Well, ctrap is a huge problem.

You are at the mercy of dv compression, but make sure your canvas window is set to 100% to get a closer approzimation of what your text looks like.

Jeremy

[Jim Carswell]

You will likely get better results using Motion.
Jim

Jim Carswell
Spyhop Productions, Inc.
Savannah, GA
http://www.spyhopproductions.com

[Thomas Newman]

Yeah I think this is a total FCP studio 2 BS problem. There is no way TEXT should look this bad. I have never had this problem with older versions of FCP but now since I bought the newest version this problem has occurred. When I set the canvas to 100 percent it just looks like a larger version of the same crappy fonts. No matter what program they are created in when they come into FCP they turn to crap! The only time they look great is when you are stationed on a single frame with no render. Once its render, its hello crap! If you were to start a fresh new sequence in FCP what would you set the presets to if working with DV footage at 720 X 480??

Thanks
THomas

[Jeremy Garchow]

[Thomas Newman] “If you were to start a fresh new sequence in FCP what would you set the presets to if working with DV footage at 720 X 480??”

I would capture the dv to 10bit Compressed for SD (or even ProRes, but for SD I still like Uncompressed).

[Thomas Newman]

I fixed the issue!!
OK,
SO here goes.

Please dont take my words as god but I believe I have managed to get rid of the crappy font issues in FC Studio 2. It had nothing to do with which monitor or viewing it at 100 percent or not. This is what I did and it worked.

First in Live Type:

I created my floating TEXT then exported it from Live type and selected
– Compression ( NONE )
– SIZE – Current

In Final Cut Pro I decide to right click and select
– NEW SEQUENCE
– Import new FILE

I brought in my new titles that I just created in LIVE TYPE.
I grabbed the titles and placed them in my new sequence. FC asked me if I would like my new sequence to match the settings of my new clip. I said YES!

Now no more crappy text and the animation is 99.9999999 % perfect. It no longer looks like someone took a dump on my text then ran it over with a truck!

Once again, Im not sure why this made a difference but perhaps by letting FC chose its own settings based on the imported clip is best. Now no matter where you get your happy little font animations from, they work!

Try it!

Thomas

[Walter Biscardi]

[Thomas Newman] “Yeah I think this is a total FCP studio 2 BS problem. There is no way TEXT should look this bad. I have never had this problem with older versions of FCP but now since I bought the newest version this problem has occurred”

No, the BS is the fact that you are not properly monitoring your video. The Canvas is only a approximation of video quality, it is NOT designed to be your primary video monitor, never has. You can look it up in numerous posts on this forum or better yet, the FAQ’s.

DV especially look terrible in the Canvas, besides the fact that it’s 5:1 compression. And besides the fact that you’re looking at an interlaced image on a progressive monitor. That’s never gonna look good even in 10bit Uncompressed SD.

Set yourself up for properly viewing your video on an external monitor and you will see better results, even with DV.

Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Biscardi Creative Media
HD and SD Production for Broadcast and Independent Productions.

Read my Blog!

STOP STARING AND START GRADING WITH APPLE COLOR Apple Color Training DVD available now!

[Jeremy Garchow]

Uh, dude? That’s because you aren’t working dv anymore, you’re working in a ‘none’ compression. That why I said I’d capture Uncompressed or ProRes and then work in that format and your graphics will come out much more clean. If you now have a None compression timeline, you will have no rt at all; and all of your footage will need to be rendered.

Jeremy

[Walter Biscardi]

[Thomas Newman] “Once again, Im not sure why this made a difference but perhaps by letting FC chose its own settings based on the imported clip is best. Now no matter where you get your happy little font animations from, they work! “

Because you created a Lossless (Animation Codec) clip in progressive and then FCP set you up for a matching timeline.

This is wholly different than the DV NTSC text you described earlier. What you have created is optimized for computer playback.

Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Biscardi Creative Media
HD and SD Production for Broadcast and Independent Productions.

Read my Blog!

STOP STARING AND START GRADING WITH APPLE COLOR Apple Color Training DVD available now!