Importing JPG sequence

[Erik Pontius]

You might be missing something. HDV and HD use a 16×9 aspect ratio. Your graphics are are 4×3. When importing graphics, you have a choice as to what you want Avid to do with items that are not the same aspect/size as your project…leave it as is, squeeze/stretch, maintain aspect, etc…
Since the aspect ratio of the graphics doesn’t match the aspect of the project, Avid is a stretching the image or adding black bars to make it so.
You could either recreate your graphics to 16×9 square pixels (ie 1920×1080), use Avid’s “pan and scan” effect to crop a portion of your image out or use After Effects to do something similar and export a Quicktime file to import into Avid.

Erik

[Matthew Skeris]

Erik, thanks for the explanation. My graphics are indeed the wrong ratio for HD/HDV, but as individual jpgs, before turning them into “sequentially imported masterclips” they exceed 1920×1080.

I guess I was wondering if there was a 5th import option, one that would perfectly fit the widest dimension (2816) and throw away some part of the shortest dimension (2112).
With an option like that, I wouldn’t need to “Pan and Scan”, which as I understand it, degrades an image by zooming in on that 1920×1080 masterclip. (btw, does XproHD even offer Pan and Scan?). Yes, I’m doing an offline, so image-quality shouldn’t matter all that much, however I do not understand the workflow. Which online avid product would permit the image sequences I import in XproHD to maximize their “pixel potential” and avoid any upscaling upon import.
Is this what DS does?

[Erik Pontius]

I usually use After Effects for these kinds of things since I seem to have more control over what’s happening and it seems to me to do a better job. You can very easily do what you want there. Import the jpegs as a image sequence, drop it into a 1920×1080 comp and position your image sequence to suit.
Yes. Express Pro has the “pan & zoom” effect. I think its behavior will depend on how you imported your images…You can import your images into the “pan & zoom” and use the image resolution…then manipulate it to get what you want…

Erik

[Grinner Hester]

DS just imports the image, whatever size it may be. then allows ya to move it around as ya like. The way it otta be with every NLE.
You can always rezise em in photoshop first. Are there too may for this? If not too many, is animating them in AE for the online n option at this point? You cold do em at hirez so they’ already be ready for the online.

[Matthew Skeris]

Thanks again, Erik. AE is an option, but I am dealing with over 800GB of jpgs that I shot over the past year. If I render an uncompressed AVI at 1920×1080, it creates a file that may be rather large, especially if I add slow-downs at that stage. Plus, the avid mediafiles will take up some room, too. I don’t mind investing in more drives, but I am asking for a proven workflow so I don’t just wing it.

A friend once showed me on his AE system how he could set up a Comp to render at low-res, like DV25. Possibly HDV-size. That makes sense, but I just can’t put the pieces together in terms of how I would get an Avid (XpressProHD or above)to communicate with AE so that I can re-render each original Comp back to full uncompressed AVI, then “Relink”. And hopefully just the bits I need after I Consolidate a first draft.

p.s. I don’t understand what you are saying about importing into “pan and Zoom”. As far as I know, that’s a tool for single Jpgs.

[Matthew Skeris]

Thankyou, Grinner. I am willing to do whatever prepwork it takes if it allows me to function in a creatively flexible way. I know avid editing, but I don’t know HD or AE well at all. If the smart choice, as you suggest, is to render my JPG sequences as uncompressed AVI and do imports into the AvidXpressProHD, I can see how that makes sense.
(I’ve got upwards of 750GB in Jpgs)

Note to self: does Consolidating a first draft in Avid also reduce the size of the original uncompressed AVI? Answer to self: probably not.

At some point I need to clarify what Automatic Duck does in terms of my project. from what I gather, it will create comps that mimick my avid timeline, but will it allow me to “uprez”. (see my last post)

p.s. I may not be following you about DS- were you talking about single images only, or would “move it around as ya like” also apply to
Jpegs Sequence imports that may exceed the 1920×1080 frame?

[Grinner Hester]

that’d apply to sequences imported as media as well, man. They’ll be able to import the oversized video and zoom and pan on demand in any sized project.

[Matthew Skeris]

Thanks for the detail. So what about offlining in XProHD with that in mind? Is there a way for me to do all those time-consuming
re-positionings during an offline and have those FX (as well as dissolves, timewarps) come across into a DS project?

I was thinking of offlining in an HDV Project. With the possible exception of viewing my full-frame-but stretched-wide imported Jpg sequences in 4:3 mode (to squeeze them back to normal) and applying PiPs to reposition clips up or down, I can’t imagine how to do it- except with the DS editor taking over on a shot-by-shot basis.

I’m gonna lay my eyes on a DS one of these days– good to know it’s an option. I imagine the media storage costs are not trivial for a feature length project.

I’m still interested in AE and other workflows, especially if I can do the nudging and noodling myself.

[Erik Pontius]

You could theoretically build your comps in AE the way you want them, then export a low resize format. Import them into Avid, at a low rez, cut everything up, then re-export the comps at full rez from AE, then delete just the media from your old imported clips keeping the master clips and offlining the media in your sequences. Then select all your master clips in the bin, choose “batch import” and re-import your new high rez clips at high rez…this will then replace the edited clips in your sequence with the new hi-rez stuff.

Erik

[Matthew Skeris]

Thanks again for your workflow advice, Erik.

I am guessing, but suspect, that even after I use Avid’s consolidate on my first draft, I would still need to uprez/re-render the full version of the various Comps still used in order for them to Relink to my timeline after I delete the low-rez media. Does that sound correct?

This is where I start getting interested in exploring Automatic Duck, to learn if it can reduce the amount of uprezzing I would need to do- making the uprez more efficient in terms of time and storage.