re: How do I keep gold logo color consistent & clean?

[David Roth weiss]

Ira,

What codec are you editing? Or, to put it another way, what are your timeline settings?

This info is very important, because you are describing the impact of compression and interpolation, which is best described as the “guesstimation” of nearby pixel information. Compression tosses out information in the essence of creating smaller files, and interpolation is used to create new colors across a few pixels in an attempt to approximate the colors that were formerly made of many pixels.

Some codecs, such as DV, are not good at interpolation, because they work in the limited 4:1:1 color space. Other codecs are better because they operate in 4:2:2 color space.

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

POST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY ™

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

[Chris Poisson]

Another tip is to look at your RGB settings in Illustrator or Photoshop, and look at you file in FCP under RGB rendering, because YUV will look different.

Have as good a day as you can.

[Ira Liss]

Dear David,

When I export to QuickTime, I’m following some guidelines of a particular website that these videos may be uploaded to, and it recommends a codec of H.264.

As far as the codec setting for my FCP timeline, I’ve looked in FCP preferences, and may be looking in the wrong place, as I did not find what that setting is.

(And I realize I’m revealing my ignorance and inexperience. I appreciate your patience with me.)

Is there a default codec setting that FCP is usually set to?

Can you kindly tell me where to find the Codec setting and what it ought to be set to in order to get better color accuracy?

I appreciate your help very much.
– Ira

[Ira Liss]

Dear Chris,

Thank you for your prompt reply.
May I ask you for some clarification?

Are you saying that my FCP settings may be set to render
the timeline in YUV which might create some distortion when
it translates my RGB gold logo file?

Is there a way I can change the preferences or
settings so that FCP renders my client’s gold logo
more accurately and cleanly?

If I understand this correctly, it would seem unnecessary
to render in YUV considering that these videos will not
likely ever appear on television (broadcast or otherwise)
but are instead intended for the web.

I appreciate your help and patience.

Sincerely,
– Ira

[David Roth weiss]

[Ira Liss] “Can you kindly tell me where to find the Codec setting and what it ought to be set to in order to get better color accuracy? “

Ira,

Go to Sequence>>Settings and write down what you see there and send it back. You will understand this shortly, just stick with me…

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

POST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY ™

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

[Chris Poisson]

Not distortion, just a different color rendering. My advice on logo color in these things is to ignore the numbers and balance the color by eye, understanding that you need a good monitor to do it and that your client has a good monitor to approve it.

Have as good a day as you can.

[Tom Wolsky]

Try going to item properties for the graphic and changing the alpha type to black.

All the best,

Tom

Class on Demand DVDs “Complete Training for FCP6,” “Basic Training for FCS2” and “Final Cut Express Made Easy”
Author: “Final Cut Pro 5 Editing Essentials” and “Final Cut Express 4 Editing Workshop”

[Ira Liss]

Sequence Settings

“General:”
frame size 720 x 480 aspect ratio ntsc dv (3:2)
pixel asapect ratio: NTSC-CCIR 601/DV (720 x 480)
Anamorphic 16:9 is checked
Field Dominance: Lover (even)
editing timebase: 29.97

QuickTime video settings
Compressor: DV>DVCPRO – NTSC
Quality: 100%

Audio Settings
Rate: 48 kJz
Depth: 16-bit
Config: Channel Grouped

Video Processing
Render in 8-bit YUV
Process Maximum white as: White
Motion Filtering Quality: Normal

Render Control
Render and Playback
Filters: checked
Frame Blending for speed: checked

Render
Frame Rate: 100%
Resolution: 100%
Codec: Same as Sequence Codec

Master Templates and Motion Projects
Quality: Normal

These are most of the tabs under “Sequence Settings.”
“Timeline Options” seemed to cover interface issues
and labeling. I will include it if you find that to be helpful.

I appreciate your help and diligence
in asking for such specifics.

Sincerely,
– Ira

[David Roth weiss]

[Ira Liss] “QuickTime video settings
Compressor: DV>DVCPRO – NTSC “

Okay, as I suspected…

You need to change the compressor in the drop down list in to a codec that renders in 4:2:2 color space. So, go to Sequence>>Settings and change the compressor to either DV50 or ProRes, then re-render the timeline. This will compress your graphic with a better codec, hence, before you export to .h264 your graphic will not be hammered by ill effects of compression with the DV codec.

Does this make sense?

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

POST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY ™

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

[David Roth weiss]

[Tom Wolsky] “Try going to item properties for the graphic and changing the alpha type to black. “

Try Tom’s idea too Ira. Tom might have something as well…

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

POST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY ™

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