Need help with Pixel aspect ratio problem/issue

[Jerry Hofmann]

Black frame would be easier done by cropping the first clip to suit you, then copy it (cmd+c) and select all other clips in the sequence and right click on one to select “paste attributes”. Select the cropping attribute. Voila, you’re done.

Jerry

Apple Certified Trainer, Producer, Writer, Director Editor, Gun for Hire and other things. I ski.

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[Dan Freshman]

Thanks for the response Jerry.

I don’t think that would work in entirety because a fair amount of my images are a much larger resolution that 720X480. Unless I am missing something obvious.

thanks again,
dan

[Jerry Hofmann]

Give it a try and see?

Another thing that might work as well or better is to add a border, then do the same attributes but change it to filters.

If you have PS 3, you could also create your border there by selecting the frame size to be the same format as your video. PS 3 has video size presets for this.

Jerry

Apple Certified Trainer, Producer, Writer, Director Editor, Gun for Hire and other things. I ski.

8-Core 3.0 Intel Mac Pro, Dual 2 gig G5, AJA Kona SD, AJA Kona 2, Huge Systems Array UL3D, AJA Io HD, 17″ MBP, Matrox MXO2 with MAX Cinema Displays

[Nicole Haddock]

Hey Dan,

If the border you’re creating in Photoshop and then using in FCP is on the very edge of the frame, then no, this will not show up in a video monitor. In the Canvas window in FCP, if you turn on Show Title Safe, the outer box is Action safe (about 90% of the screen) and the inner box is Title safe (about 80% of the screen) and all graphics should theoretically reside within that Title Safe Zone.

The easiest way to probably solve your problem is to use one of the Video presets Jerry mentioned in Photoshop for your sequence. Make the black edge on a layer, and on the layer beneath it choose an outer frame color (white, whatever) that would be in the Action safe area and beyond. Make sure to have a transparent center where you want your photos to peek through. Open up the Actions pallete and Load the Video Actions, and make an Alpha channel. Save this file off as a layered tiff, bring it into FCP, and place as a top layer over your photos. (For added fun, you could do a vignette on a third layer, where your photos will appear, and the alpha will translate that pretty well.)

The more PITA solution is to still do the black edge only in photoshop, alpha channel action, save off as TIFF, top layer, etc, then individually crop all your photos. Not a party. Been there, done that, and would prefer never to do it again 😀

[Rafael Amador]

[dan freshman] “So my question is what size should I create the frame in? I have done one at 720X480 in photoshop and another one at 720X540”
That should be OK, but if you go 720×480, you must check the file as NTSC Pixels, if you go 720×540 FC must read them as Square.
Rafael

http://www.nagavideo.com

[Nick Price]

Hi Dan,
creating a photoshop matte can be a pain, but all the info is there in the file, so you can force FCP to do what you want usually. Put the matte on the timeline above your clips, highlight it then press return. this loads it into the viewer. Keep the matte highlighted though – this will make a green line appear round the matte in the canvas window.

Open the motion tab in the viewer, and go to distort. Change the aspect ratio until the matte is the correct shape, change the motion/scale settings if it is too small.

Or you can use the final cut built in matte, which is probably much easier. Create a matte from the Viewer drop down menu, and then using a mask shape filter you can cut out the middle of it. Much easier….

Best wishes
nick