Images at 100% scale are blurry

[Jeff Handy]

Final Cut works only within the limitations of your timeline. After Effects adjusts to your output – different tools for different uses. Size it first (in PS or whatever you work with for images), then bring it into Final Cut.

HandyGeek

[Kevin Monahan]

If you look in a video monitor, as you should be, what do you see?
What happens when you put your Canvas at 100% precisely?

Kevin Monahan
http://www.fcpworld.com
Author – Motion Graphics and Effects in Final Cut Pro

[Nicole Haddock]

Did you render?

[David Bogie]

> When I scale the source clip up to 100%…the image is blurry. < Nicole's question is more relevant that flippant. When you scale you 3k up to 100% you are seeing a pixel-to-pixel version of your still image but, of course, you're only seeing a very small piece of it through an approximately 500x800 pixel window. but your Canvas viewer is not showing you your raw still image. it's showing you the image through your timeline's codec and whatever processing that has performed on your pixels. It's like when you bring your NEF or Canon raw image into PS and then export it as a full size JPEG. Some things are going to change even though the pixel-to-pixel map is the same size, your pixels have been processed. bogiesan

[Jason Brown]

I’m not using an external monitor…I know I should be. But I’ve experienced the same thing on a setup with a KonaLHe card.

Since we’ve gotten on the subject. What is a very simple external monitoring setup? Is KonaLHe an easy solution? There may be times where I want to dub from the timeline directly to a DVD recorder (NTSC-SD)

I’m sure it’s been covered over and over…I’ll check the forum as well.

-Jason

[Jason Brown]

Thanks David…very good explanation.

So if I’m doing a piece with a lot of large movements through large sized images (no video to determine codec)…then what timeline codec is the most efficient for doing this?

Obviously animation would give me lossless quality images…but the file sizes would be crazy…is DVCProHD an option? I also have the microcosm codec on my machine from Red Giant…

What is everyone else doing with large sized images?

-Jason

[Alan Okey]

DVCPRO HD and Apple ProRes are both excellent high-quality codecs that don’t require crazy storage space or disk throughput speed.

FCP absolutely chokes on large stills, so it’s best to reduce/prep any stills first in Photoshop prior to importing them into FCP. Downscale your stills to the minimum size required for panning/zooming across the desired section at 100%. Work with .tiff files for the best quality.

Another issue you may run across on occasion is vibrating or shimmering video when using large stills scaled to less than 100%. This effect can be alleviated by using a slight gaussian blur or anit-aliasing filter.

[Jason Brown]

I have illustrators providing me HUGE dimension files…so I’ll keep it in mind to resize to a manageable size. (Sounds like a job for a Photoshop action!)

[Natalie Rishe]

I am having the same problem. I’m importing an image with a dimension of 2000px X 2800px @ 72ppi into a 4:3 ntsc set-up and would like to be able to “pan” around the image at this magnification. When I import it, the image comes in at a lower scale % and when I scale up to 100% it looks awful.

What are the other options for doing this? And I’m not sure why a pixel doesn’t translate as a pixel, one for one…

Thanks!