Lower third lo-rez to hi-rez workflow

[Stephen Smith]

This is my thought. If the SD version is just temporary I would build the Lower Thirds in HD. Then import the HD version into FCP and resize it to fit. Then you’ll be good to go when you need the HD version. Hope this helps and best of luck.

Stephen Smith
Utah Video Productions

Check out my Motion Training DVD

Check out my Motion Tutorials

[Andy Neil]

Minimum of fuss:

Build the L3s as an HD Motion Template that can be accessed in FCP. Add all your CGs and render for screener. Presumably you are working in an anamorphic DV sequence (if you’re ending up in 16×9 HD), so the L3s will automatically size down. Then when you do the online, the same L3s can be copied and pasted into the HD sequence.

No retyping, no re-exporting from Motion. The perfect way to handle a “million” L3s (really, you should think about losing a few) 🙂

Andy

https://www.timesavertutorials.com

[Martin Nelson]

[Andy Neil] “really, you should think about losing a few) :-)”

You have no idea, Andy. The client (which is to say the producer’s client) wants a third to show up every time someone appears on screen, even if the last time was only seconds ago. And there are an endless number of characters, some of which require three lines of text despite being on screen for only a few seconds.

This is one of those unfortunate shows being built for the funder rather than the audience.

[Andy Neil] “Build the L3s as an HD Motion Template that can be accessed in FCP. Add all your CGs and render”

Do you suggest I just do one name in Motion and then edit the text in FCP?

Martin

2 x 2.26 Ghz Quad-Core Intel Xeon
12 GB RAM
OS 10.5.8
ATI Radeon HD 4870
FCP 7.0.2
Quicktime 7.6.6
Avid Media Composer 4.0.2.20

[Andy Neil]

Well, if you have some supers that are 2 line, and others that are 1 or 3 line, then you’ll need to make a template for each type usually, but essentially that is what I’m suggesting.

Motion and FCP are fairly well integrated. If you go to your Effects tab, you should see a folder called Master Templates. These are actually Motion projects that can be accessed in FCP that are designed for repetitive gfx like lower thirds.

You can create your own L3s in Motion and then Save As Template, allowing for the gfx to show up in FCP. The text layers will be editable in FCP, so you can just lay as many L3 instances as you need and just change the text for each super.

I’m pretty sure that there is a Motion Template tutorial somewhere here on the Cow that can get you started if you’ve never done anything like that.

Andy

https://www.timesavertutorials.com

[Martin Nelson]

Thanks Andy. Ah man, the amount of time I’ve wasted in FCP on thirds.

Martin

2 x 2.26 Ghz Quad-Core Intel Xeon
12 GB RAM
OS 10.5.8
ATI Radeon HD 4870
FCP 7.0.2
Quicktime 7.6.6
Avid Media Composer 4.0.2.20

[Stephen Smith]

Here is a tutorial on Creating Customized Apple Motion Templates.

Stephen Smith
Utah Video Productions

Check out my Motion Training DVD

Check out my Motion Tutorials

[Martin Nelson]

[Andy Neil] “Build the L3s as an HD Motion Template that can be accessed in FCP. Add all your CGs and render for screener. Presumably you are working in an anamorphic DV sequence (if you’re ending up in 16×9 HD), so the L3s will automatically size down”

Yep, that all makes a huge amount of sense, Andy. And I’ve now built a happy little L3 template with your advice and the help of Stephen Smith’s tutorial. But here’s what throws me: as far as I can tell, none of the HD Pixel Aspect Ratios in Motion deliver 16×9 (16/9=1.778, but 960/720=1.333, 1440/1080=1.333 and 1280/1080=1.185). And, in addition to Pixel Aspect Ratio, there’s also settings for width and height. Doesn’t Pixel Aspect Ratio establish size? When I bring any of these in to my anamorphic DV sequence, they don’t fill the screen properly.

My brain hurts,

Martin

2 x 2.26 Ghz Quad-Core Intel Xeon
12 GB RAM
OS 10.5.8
ATI Radeon HD 4870
FCP 7.0.2
Quicktime 7.6.6
Avid Media Composer 4.0.2.20

[Martin Nelson]

Ah man, Stephen, that was great. Showed me just what I needed, thanks.

So here’s the bonus question. Using this perfect little template I’ve made with your guidance, I cut 8 million (or so it seems) thirds into my show. Then, three weeks from now, my producer decides she really likes blue instead of red and Futura instead of Helvetica. Can I open the Motion project from which the template came, change red to blue and Helvetica to Futura and save it as a template with the exact same name as the previous one —replacing the old template— and go back into fcp and relink? Will that work?

That would be cool,

Martin

2 x 2.26 Ghz Quad-Core Intel Xeon
12 GB RAM
OS 10.5.8
ATI Radeon HD 4870
FCP 7.0.2
Quicktime 7.6.6
Avid Media Composer 4.0.2.20

[Stephen Smith]

I like bonus questions and Futura is one of my favorite fonts. Anyways, Yes you can change the Motion Templates Font and color to a matte or whatever, if you save the new Motion Template as the same name as the old one so it replaces the old template. Hope this helps and best of luck.

Stephen Smith
Utah Video Productions

Check out my Motion Training DVD

Check out my Motion Tutorials

[Andy Neil]

“Doesn’t Pixel Aspect Ratio establish size?”

No. Pixel Aspect Ratio determines whether the pixels are meant to be square or rectangle in shape. Standard Def TVs are rectangle pixels, HDTVs and computer screens are square pixels. It’s the varying pixel aspect ratios that account for strange resolutions like 960×720.

When you create your Template, you should be working in a full raster HD Preset. 1920×1080, square pixels, at whatever framerate you need (29.97, 23.98, etc.) If you build your Motion project with those settings, you should be fine in FCP.

Andy

https://www.timesavertutorials.com