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Imported motion graphic stairstepping red on black
I’m trying use a graphic with an alpha channel created in after effects and it’s got a diagonal line that has some awful stairstepping when in Final Cut.
I created a layered vector file in Illustrator, imported it into after effects and animated the layers in a 720×480 widescreen sequence, and rendered out a 720×480 animation file(progressive 23.976) with an unmatted alpha channel. Viewing the file in quicktime player shows sharp edges.
When I bring it into my sequence, an anamorphic 720×480 sequence using the Prores codec the stairstepping shows up pretty badly. I don’t have a broadcast monitor but I have another graphic in this project that has similar angles and using the same workflow but there is no stairstepping, it’s not using the red colour though.Link to image of problem, final cut in back quicktime player in front
I’ve tried importing the graphic into motion and saving the project, then importing that motion project into my timeline but the results are the same.
I tried also rendering out the same graphic but in blue and viola no stairstepping, so it is a problem with the Red colour, I thought I was going to be able to avoid this by working with prores in FCP instead of DV (it’s the company’s corp colour).
Anyone have any ideas how I can deal with this red stairstepping? -
3 Replies
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In my experience… NTSC (YRB) absolutely HATES red. Anything higher than 235 in the red channel (if you are looking at the red in After Effects 8-bit color) is going to give you fits. Also, NTSC SD is no friend to sharp diagonal lines.
My recommendations would be to:
1) Fudge the red a bit to ensure it is color safe. In my opninion… close counts when working with NTSC. There is absolutely no chance that any monitor the video is played back on will faithfully reproduce whatever red you create. As long as it does not look orange, you are cool.
2) Create your motion graphics at 854X480. This is the square pixel size for SD wide screen. Anamorphic and non-square pixels always invite tears when creating motion graphics.
3) Apply a 1-2 pixel vertical blur to the image. Back in the day when everything was interlaced, this was an absolute requirement for all motion graphics. But it still comes in handy in the beautiful new world of progressive frames.
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I’ll try fudging the colour a bit and see if that helps.
And like I said, I’m working in the Prores codec, not DV. -
Well fudging the colour didn’t work out, it has to be pushed way to far from the real colour to make any difference.
However I have found that editing with the Photo JPEG codec instead of Prores produces a clean line without stairstepping and render times are similar if not a bit faster on my macbook pro.
Any downsides to using Photo-jpeg for my editing?
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