Scale and Matte

Apple Final Cut Pro Legacy

Scale and Matte

Posted by George Snow on July 9, 2011 at 5:55 am

When I shoot using my crappy camcorder or when I used an XL-1 to make my first movie. There were two constants.

1. When I looked in the MOTION section of the VIEWER the clips always started at 100% in SCALE.

2. If I used motion keyframes on a clip and then added a widescreen matte the matte would be on top, so the movement would not change the size of the picture. It would just seem like the camera zoomed in.

The above were used with Final Cut 4.5 and I had no problems.

I’ve just updated because we’re using advanced equipment.

Here’s the basic technical info I think might be needed to help figure out the problems.

I have Final Cut 6.0.1 with a G5 PowerPc
Camera being used; Canon 5DMKII HD video
The video codecs is Apple ProRes 422 (LT), Timecode, Interger (Little Endian)
Vid Rate is 23.98
Frame Size 1920 x 1080

When I drag a clip to the timeline it says:

For Best performance your sequence and External Video should be set to the format of the clips your editing. Change sequence setting to match the clip settings? I click YES.

It plays great.

I noticed when I go into MOTION in the VIEWER the scale is at 66.67 or 37.5 %.
The picture in the BROWSER is perfect. When I export it plays perfect on my computer.

While this might not be a problem, if I export a movie and show it on a huge screen, will the scale pose a potential problem? Is there a reason with this new equipment that the scale changes so drastically?

My second problem is using keyframe motion. We’re shooting widescreen. So, when I add keyframe motion is destroys the size. I add a widescreen matte over the motion. It doesn’t work. The size still changes as the motion takes place. I can’t figure out this problem.

However, if I cut a clip in two and increase the scale size of one piece, then place a widescreen matte over the enlarged scale it works perfectly.

Any help with these two items would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks: George

David Roth weiss replied 14 years, 10 months ago 3 Members · 5 Replies
5 Replies

George Snow
July 9, 2011 at 6:15 am

I figured out the widescreen part. Still curious about the SCALE.
David Roth weiss
July 9, 2011 at 6:23 am

6.0.1 was fraught with bugs George. You may have encountered one of many. You really need to update from that version if you want to actually cut a real honest to goodness project.

David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor/Colorist
David Weiss Productions, Inc.
Los Angeles
https://www.drwfilms.com

Don’t miss my new tutorial: Prepare for a seamless transition to FCP X and OS X Lion
https://library.creativecow.net/weiss_roth_david/FCP-10-MAC-Lion/1

POST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY ™

Creative COW contributing editor and a forum host of the Business & Marketing and Apple Final Cut Pro forums.
Steve Eisen
July 9, 2011 at 2:51 pm

I would like to know how you got Pro Res LT using FCP 6. It certainly is not possible natively. That codec was introduced in FCP 7.

Steve Eisen
Eisen Video Productions
Vice President
Chicago Final Cut Pro Users Group
George Snow
July 9, 2011 at 4:42 pm

Pro Res comes from the .mov that I import from the file. Maybe that’s why it’s changing the scale.
David Roth weiss
July 9, 2011 at 5:15 pm

Both Steve and I have given you good advice.

David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor/Colorist
David Weiss Productions, Inc.
Los Angeles
https://www.drwfilms.com

Don’t miss my new tutorial: Prepare for a seamless transition to FCP X and OS X Lion
https://library.creativecow.net/weiss_roth_david/FCP-10-MAC-Lion/1

POST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY ™

Creative COW contributing editor and a forum host of the Business & Marketing and Apple Final Cut Pro forums.

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