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Final Cut Pro X Transform Zoom In/Out
Hi! I’m new to the forum, so apologies if this has been covered elsewhere…
I make very simple ‘software how-to’ video tutorials using Snapz Pro X screen capture program and Final Cut Pro. I have been happily working with FCP 7 but now trying to take a leap into FCP X!
Some things are very quick and easy in FCPX especially for my needs, however I can’t get my head around some bizarre quirks?
For keyframe linear ease and out nonsense at least there’s a work around, but for Zoom In picture quality I can’t find a solution and have to resort to going back to FCP 7 for very basic motion effects.
Basically, my question is: has anyone else noticed a massive difference in picture quality when zooming in?
In FCP7 Motion tab I could easily go up to 200-250% Scale and have very clear sharp picture, but with FCPX any Transform Scale amount blurs the picture and kills the detail?
I suspect I’m doing something wrong, but since the source material is identical, as well as codecs (capture Apple Animation convert to Apple ProRes 422 (HQ) for editing), I cannot understand how a new Final Cut Pro give such poor results?
And NO! I wouldn’t like to use another program like Motion to do such basic thing like zoom in/outAny ideas?
Many thanks
Darius
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7 Replies
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Make sure your clip resolution matches or exceeds your project resolution. FCPX will scale a smaller clip beyond it’s native resolution in order to fit it to the project size thus compounding the scale quality problems.
Here’s an easy way to do advanced transform moves without keyframes: ReelPath animation tools, springIt and bounceIt. https://www.reelpath.com -
hi Darius,
Did you solve this issue?
Strangely enough if I set a project custom to 1080p all is well with all Motion alterations…even though the footage is 1080i
if I use 1080i settings for the project I have blurry video with any motion transform or color etc -
Hey Humberto, the problem still there, can’t quite figure out why, but FCPX and even Motion5 do Transform scale in different way or using different algorithm than FCP7 and FCP7 result looks a lot better to me!
For example, in Apple ProRes4444 using Transform function to Scale from 100% to 103% over 10 seconds, I do this a lot in my screencast to create an illusion of movement in static images, export from FCPX you can see blurring straight away and it sort of changes every frame, export the same clip, all identical settings, from FCP7 I get some artefacts, but picture looks miles better and manages to maintain clarity and sharpness.
It might be than I’m not aware of some magic button in FCPX but as I said, I did experiment with Motion5 as well, changing export settings like turning off Motion Blur, Frame Blending, all sorts of things… but still the same, as soon as scale changes from 100% everything gets blurry. I’m not saying FCP7 Scale is perfect, I understand that perhaps technically it’s not possible to have sharpness when not in native resolution, but it’s so much better…
Unbelievable, but I constantly bump into issues when trying to complete a project in FCPX! -
Hi,
Did you try changing the interlace to progressive setting on the project?
Best
H -
Darius, did you ever export a short test clip from FCPX and view the result? Then compare it side-by-side to the same source clips and effects exported from FCP7/Motion? It seems like you only mention exporting from FCP7/Motion but not FCPX.
In FCPX> Preferences are the playback settings on “high quality” or “better performance”? Better performance drops the video quality in trade for Realtime playback, but does not effect export quality. like the unlimited RT dropdown options in 7.
What is your computer setup and OS X/FCPX versions?
How are you judging the image from FCPX? Viewer window on computer monitor or external monitoring?
Is your work around for the linear/ease keyframes issue the “add and delete a keyframe repeatedly” trick? Or something else that requires less clicks?
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Hi David, I did all that you mention and more 🙂 exported, imported, changed codecs, you name it!
My computer set up is simple, everything is up-to-date.
I don’t judge the picture from the Viewer window, but I don’t see why would I need an external video monitor, since I don’t shoot anything with cameras, in the real world. I use screen capture software, the footage doesn’t leave the computer and it’s being delivered to view on computer monitor.
So, as I mentioned before, let’s say I take a 5 seconds clip captured in ProRes, import it into FCP7 and FCPX, apply keyframed Scale changes from 100% to 105%, then export both clips and watch with QT Player. Results are quite different. -
Hi there,
Did you ever work this out? I’ve got it right now. A screen capture converted to 422HQ. Clearly works fine in FCP7 with all zooms/moves etc. Get it into x and it initially looks rubbish by comparison. Remove spatial conform and it looks great. Problem solved…. Only no it’s bloody not! Turn on “transform” to scale it and it quite obviously looks like theres a bit of blur added to it. Looses all it’s sharpness completely. I’m only zooming a couple of % so not going mad with it.
Have tested exports and it’s reflected in them. What I see rendered in X is what it spits out. FCP 7 same file same process, fine!?!?!?
I tried this with some go pro footage to make sure I wasn’t going mad and it was fine?!?! No blurring at all.
To which I thought haha – Its the pro res so tried an .mp4 with h.264 and nope. Same result. A bit strange!
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