Stabilizing Stills

[Thaxter Clavemarlton]

Are you viewing the moves on an external video monitor after rendering?

[Jim Lawrence]

I was viewing it on an external TV monitor in my office and it actually looked fine. However, when I look at it on the computer I can see the movement. This was brought to my attention by the client who want it “fixed.” They are looking at the commercial on a DVD at their office on a computer monitor.

“Follow your bliss!” — Joseph Campbell

[Thaxter Clavemarlton]

I’m not sure that it can be “fixed” or even needs to be.

Video “motion” can exhibit artifacts due to the SPEED and KIND of move you are making.
Changing the speed or direction of an effect can alter the visual artifacts.

If there is flicker WITHIN a freeze-frame still, that can be eliminated with a de-interlace or flicker filter.

OTOH, if the clients are viewing only a computer screen, that’s not usually the best way to judge video effects.

[David Bogie]

This may or may not be related. There is a known issue with FCP’s rendering that imposes really awful aliasing on the edges of video clips or objects that use the distortion effects such as distortion tool or the 3d simulations. These artifacts become almost imperceptible when seen on an interlaced display but they’re painfully obvious on progressive displays. I do not know if you can workaround this weakness inside FCP.

This may not be a viable solution for you: take the clips to Motion to build the transitions.

bogiesan

This is my standard sigfile so do not take it personally: “For crying out loud, read the freakin’ manual.”

[Uli Plank]

Video can either be perfect on progressive displays (like computer monitors) or on interlaced displays (like TV tubes). It will never look perfect on both. For very picky clients we make two versions on the DVD and tell them to use the correct one.

Regards,

Uli

Director of the Institute of Media Research (IMF) at Braunschweig University of Arts