-
Letterbox and 1/2 line removal.
Hi again.
Ok, I don’t have an ARC here – or at least I don’t have one I want to put my finished projects anywhere near.
I’m about to master an anamorphic sequence to digi-beta – which has been created using some DV footage. We all know how DV loves to put in the TC information right at the top of the screen – and I love to hate it. If I was working with Avid, I’d create a new video track, add a resize effect and crop the top and bottom 5 lines off, master it in real time and still send it out for duplication in an anamorphic state for the duplicators to then do the letterbox conversion. How do I do something similar with FCP?
I’ve already got a stack of key effects on most of the shots, and really don’t want to have to re-render everything when I change the basic motion tabs. I’ve put on a slug, with a matte rectangle shape inverted over it (to mask the lines I want to remove) but that’s going to take an hour to render a 10min sequence – so i don’t want to do that either.
I’d make a quicktime, chuck it into After Effects, and bring it back in, but that’s going to take 10 mins to make the Qt – and though it’s a getaround now, it’s not something I want to rely on (for the next project is a 30 HD min piece, and I don’t have that creation time available). (Is it only Avid that makes QT references by the way??)
As a point of action, I always remove these lines to not have the half lines showing when letterboxing occurs for duplication anyway – so I’d really like to know if there’s a viable workaround here. And though I’m sure the duplicators would do a crop for me – I don’t want to trust that this happens.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
John
Success is merely a failiure to imagine more…
G5 2.7Ghz, 4.5Gb ram, Blackmagic Decklink/multibridge, 5.6Tb Infortrend storage, FCP Studio 5.02, Makie MCU control, Yahama 5.1 surround, JVC DTV multi-format monitor, 2x23inch Apple monitors – and a partirdge on a pear tree.
-
5 Replies
-
You can export a reference from FCP. Select your sequence, go to export quicktime movie, and make sure the little box that says make movie self contained at the bottom of the resulting dialog screen is NOT checked. You can then bring that movie in AE.
Jeremy
———–
G5 Dual 2Ghz <> 4GB RAM <> FCP 5.02 <> Kona 2ATTO 42XS <> Huge Systems 1.25 TB 4105 Fibre
-
Ah, right – that’s what I was doing – I guess the time to ‘make the quicktime’ was actually render time for all the real-time effects that were in the sequence.
So is there no other real-time (ish) option for this then? Maybe I’ve just got to be strict and make sure to crop everything as i put it on the Timeline then.
Oh well…
John
Success is merely a failiure to imagine more…
G5 2.7Ghz, 4.5Gb ram, Blackmagic Decklink/multibridge, 5.6Tb Infortrend storage, FCP Studio 5.02, Makie MCU control, Yahama 5.1 surround, JVC DTV multi-format monitor, 2x23inch Apple monitors – and a partirdge on a pear tree.
-
Working, cropping, and rendering as you go definitely helps if you need to make a quick master, but waiting until the end to render really isn’t all that bad either.
Also, I take it you are doing this because it’s being shown raster to raster? If it’s not being shown raster to raster then there’s really no reason to crop. If you are making a dvd and it’s being shown on a computer (i.e. raster to raster) you can crop out a few lines in compressor to get rid of the tc noise at the top and/or bottom of the screen. Since you are encoding anyway, a crop won’t add much to the process.
———–
G5 Dual 2Ghz <> 4GB RAM <> FCP 5.02 <> Kona 2ATTO 42XS <> Huge Systems 1.25 TB 4105 Fibre
-
Yeah, for encodes that’s what i normally do, but it’s being duplicated to VHS (spit) and the ARC they use to letterbox with doesn’t have a crop function.
I find though that hardly any braodcasters perform a crop when ARCing either though, and find it prudent to mask over the top and bottom half lines – as you’re never too sure when they will or won’t. Personally, I can’t stand it when I watch a TV show/advert – whatever and see the half lines. I see it as sloppiness, but it has been pointed out that in some cases you’ll fail tech-review if you do it – but in those cases, 99% of those who’ll fail you will also crop the lines…
Thanks for the repeat replies.
John
Success is merely a failiure to imagine more…
G5 2.7Ghz, 4.5Gb ram, Blackmagic Decklink/multibridge, 5.6Tb Infortrend storage, FCP Studio 5.02, Makie MCU control, Yahama 5.1 surround, JVC DTV multi-format monitor, 2x23inch Apple monitors – and a partirdge on a pear tree.
-
As you have access to After Effects, what I have done in the past is use AE to make up a still image with alpha TIF file which is basically a black solid in various sizes – 1px, 2px, 3px – situated at the top of the frame. I don’t know for sure but I suspect importing that to FCP and placing a still on a higher V track might be less computationally intensive than cropping a slug or colour matte clip.
As you say, exporting a reference movie and bringing it back in might well save you some render time.
It’s absolutely been my experience that you can’t rely on anyone further down the chain to crop off the widescreen flag, so you’re going the right direction John.
Martin
Digital Heaven, London UK
________________________________________
NEW! VideoSpace – free diskspace calculator widget
Reply to this Discussion! Login or Sign Up