Importing PPT slides into FCP 6.0

[Zane Barker]

Make sure that the PPT project is set up with the same pixel dimensions as your timeline settings.

There are no “technical solutions” to your “artistic problems”.
Don’t let technology get in the way of your creativity!

[Bob Paul]

I resized the PPT slides in PS 3 to a resolution of 300 and sharpened them and they are still soft in the timeline.

[Zane Barker]

[Bob Paul] “I resized the PPT slides in PS 3 to a resolution of 300”

Bob you did not understand what I said.

The sizing that you need to do is in PPT with the original PPT file. You need to change the dimensions of the PPT project to mat the frame size of the video you are working on.

For example if you are working with 1080 video but the PPT file is set to the dimensions if 1024×768 then when the still export is added to the FCP timeline then it will scale it up and make it look fuzzy.

Also what are your timeline settings if you are using a crappy codec like dv then no matter what you do graphics will look bad.

There are no “technical solutions” to your “artistic problems”.
Don’t let technology get in the way of your creativity!

[Bob Paul]

Thank you Zane, Yes I am working in the DV codec since it was shot with a DV camera. Is it possible to change the DV codec to make the PPT slides look better? Thank you.

[David Roth weiss]

When you are done editing, duplicate the timeline, now open the new version, go to Sequence>>Settings and change the compressor to ProRes, now re-render the entire timeline.

Then, compare your graphics and text on the two timelines. The text and graphics on ProRes timeline should be substantially better. That’s because you have just rendered using a 10-bit 4:2:2 codec rather than in DV’s 8-bit 4:1:1 color space, which chucks out vast numbers of pixels and interpolates or “guestimates” the color of large numbers of remaining pixels nearby.

David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor/Colorist
David Weiss Productions, Inc.
Los Angeles

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A forum host of Creative COW’s Apple Final Cut Pro, Business & Marketing, Indie Film & Documentary, and Film History & Appreciations forums.

[Bob Paul]

Thank you David for explaining it to me. The graphics look very good
on a DVD. I am getting ready to use a SONY Z7U on a project this week. I think that the Z7’s files are imported into FCP as an M2T files. Should I convert these files to Pro Res too? Thank you, Bob