Roundtrip to FCP7 question

Apple Motion

Roundtrip to FCP7 question

Posted by Matt Jones on February 23, 2012 at 10:59 pm

Hey guys,

Just a fairly standard question here. I do plenty of round tripping from Motion 4 to FCP 7. My Project Properties settings in Motion are 720×486, with Fields set to Lower (even). I’m editing standard NTSC footage for broadcast in FCP 7, with Apple Pro Res as my Sequence compressor (fields set to Lower)
I’m primarily going from creating Motion sequences to FCP, then compressing using Animation as my codec. I’ve run a series of tests with Fields set to NONE in Motion, and Fields set to LOWER. Quality output varies. Btw, my FCP sequence is set to 720X480.

So my question is are there any specific Project properties settings in Motion and FCP sequence settings I should have for the best quality output for broadcast using my Animation codec?

Stephen Smith replied 14 years, 2 months ago 2 Members · 4 Replies
4 Replies

Matt Jones
February 23, 2012 at 11:02 pm

Oh yeah, my system specs…

iMac 21.5 inch (Mid 2011) 4 gb RAM
Stephen Smith
February 27, 2012 at 3:40 pm

When I bring a clip into FCP I let FCP change my timeline to the clips settings. Then I round trip the clip into Motion. So it is set to the best settings. If I’m working in Motion directly with SD then I use the Broadcast setting. Sorry, I’m not on a computer with Motion so I can’t look up the exact setting but I recall it is called Broadcast 720 x 486 or something.

Stephen Smith
Utah Video Productions

Check out my Motion Training DVD

Check out my Vimeo page
Matt Jones
February 28, 2012 at 12:21 am

Thanks Stephen,

Your tutorials rock, btw.

My graphics created in Motion are using the Broadcast SD preset, (720×486) and without a doubt look the best (output) when imported into 720×480 timeline, w/ Apple ProRes as my compressor…maybe thats normal I don’t know.

What method do you guys use for roundtrip from Motion to FCP. I typically use the Apple recommended way, Drag the .motn project file into FCP Browser, then drag into FCP sequence. Make changes in Motion>render in FCP, done. Is that how most do it?
Stephen Smith
February 28, 2012 at 12:37 am

Thanks Matt,
Yes, I like to just render the Motion Project File in FCP, so that way if I make changes it just updates automatically. I export out a Movie file if the project is really big and will take forever to render. I set the FCP sequence settings to render Motion files at Best. Hope this helps and best of luck.

Stephen Smith
Utah Video Productions

Check out my Motion Training DVD

Check out my Vimeo page

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