image blurry when rendered in FCP

Apple Final Cut Pro Legacy

image blurry when rendered in FCP

Posted by Anna Manos on January 24, 2011 at 11:52 pm

Hi, thanks in advance!
I have just recorded a voice and want to apply it to jpg images to create a presentation for a client! the client has supplied me with high res jpgs. The voice is working fine but!! for the life of me I can’t seem to get the dimensions right for the images. they are coming out sooo blurry
I have tried 72dpi 720 x 480 and much higher too 1920 x 1140 etc. and everything looks fine but when I render it, the image pixelates
I have tried changing the settings loads of times and have come to a stop!

PLEASE HELP!

thank you so much

Chris Dryer replied 15 years, 2 months ago 5 Members · 7 Replies
7 Replies

Steve Eisen
January 25, 2011 at 12:56 am

You need to view your images on a broadcast monitor to see full quality.

Steve Eisen
Eisen Video Productions
Vice President
Chicago Final Cut Pro Users Group
Zane Barker
January 25, 2011 at 1:14 am

You need to provide us with more info so we can help you.

For starters what are your timeline settings.

**Hindsight is always 1080p**
Anna Manos
January 25, 2011 at 10:34 am

To elaborate on my last post…

I am using Final Cut Pro 7. In my settings I have used “easy Set Up” which has given me the standard European codec settings of DV PAL. Importantly within the sequence setting I have set “Field dominance” to “NONE”.
Using these setting I have put the images (jpgs) (these images have text) into the sequence, once in the sequence they look perfect with the text displayed in high res as should be but when I render the quality is lost.

PLEASE HELP
Steve Eisen
January 25, 2011 at 3:03 pm

How are you viewing? You computer monitor? If so, you are not seeing full quality. Connect a DV camera/deck to your computer and take the video and audio output from the camera to a TV set.

Steve Eisen
Eisen Video Productions
Vice President
Chicago Final Cut Pro Users Group
Alex Elkins
January 25, 2011 at 3:14 pm

Hi Anna,

Why not work in an HD sequence if you’re only dealing with stills?

Anyway, just make sure the dimensions and pixel aspect ratio of your stills match up with whatever settings you decide to use in FCP. This information can be accessed by going to Sequence > Settings…
Set your compressor setting to Apple ProRes 422

You can modify stills to be whatever aspect ratio and dimensions you need using Photoshop. If you want to perform any zooms or pans on the stills make sure to keep the stills larger than they need to be, so you never have to zoom them to more than 100%. Do a search for ‘Ken Burns effect’ for examples and suggestions of these.

Alex Elkins
Twitter: @postbluetv
http://www.PostBlue.tv
Shot on RED @ 100fps, Post on FCP/Color: Capoeira Film
Anna Manos
January 31, 2011 at 6:39 pm

Thank you all for your help…
I’ve been trying hard at this and got to make the image look better but not perfect this helped alot. keep up the good work guys!

=)
Chris Dryer
February 22, 2011 at 7:36 pm

Hello! I had the same problem myself,… even the Mac “Geniuses” didn’t have a clue except to give me the same advice you got.

I don’t know if this helps, but if you go to the Sequence settings of whatever sequence you are working with, in the left side of the window there is something called “Quicktime Video Settings”, where I recommend changing the “Compression”.

I had to change mine to “Animation” and it looked perfect from then on (I was doing animations with these pictures anyway).

I hope you find the right one!

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