Still images in FCPX have black bars on each side

[Mark Morache]

Select your clip, and open up the video properties window. There you can easily adjust the scale and position.

You can also do this in the viewer by selecting the transform button in the lower left hand corner.

If you’re basically producing a slideshow, try the “Ken Burns” effect that’s built in.

Check out the manual:

https://help.apple.com/finalcutpro/mac/10.0.1/#verb8e5de9c

Unless your pictures have a 16×9 aspect ratio, they will either come in with the black bars or part of the picture will be cropped out. Using the transform tool you can select which part of the picture gets used.

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FCX. She tempts me, abuses me, beats me up, makes me feel worthless, then in the end she comes around, helps me get my work done, gives me hope and I can’t stop thinking about her.

Mark Morache
Avid/Xpri/FCP7/FCX
Evening Magazine,Seattle, WA
https://fcpx.wordpress.com

[Tom Wolsky]

Set the spatial conform for the stills to fill, rather than fit.

All the best,

Tom

Class on Demand DVDs “Complete Training for FCP7,” “Basic Training for FCS” and “Final Cut Express Made Easy”
Coming in 2012 “Complete Training for FCPX” from Class on Demand
“Final Cut Pro X for iMovie and Final Cut Express Users” from Focal Press

[Ben Scott]

one gotcha when setting to fill is that when also using the crop controls you can find its tricky to get it to work without losing a lot of the image

[Nicole Robicheau]

Thanks so much for all your help! I seem to have it working except that the quality of the photos doesn’t look good great. They all look blurry and out of focus during playback, unless I pause the playback, then the photo comes into focus again. Any idea why this is happening and what I can do to fix it?

[Tom Wolsky]

Are you playing the rendered file?

All the best,

Tom

Class on Demand DVDs “Complete Training for FCP7,” “Basic Training for FCS” and “Final Cut Express Made Easy”
Coming in 2012 “Complete Training for FCPX” from Class on Demand
“Final Cut Pro X for iMovie and Final Cut Express Users” from Focal Press

[Mark Morache]

Yes, it should be rendered and in the preferences, select the playback pulldown for best quality instead of better performance and it should look better. Either way, your export will look as good as the paused image you see. FCX lowers the resolution for increased performance.

———
FCX. She tempts me, abuses me, beats me up, makes me feel worthless, then in the end she comes around, helps me get my work done, gives me hope and I can’t stop thinking about her.

Mark Morache
Avid/Xpri/FCP7/FCX
Evening Magazine,Seattle, WA
https://fcpx.wordpress.com

[Nicole Robicheau]

Thanks so much! I tried exporting it and indeed the final version looks much better! I appreciate all your help.

[Terence Morris]

Old post I know – but the Ken Burns effect is behaving oddly on some of my images; The screen captures will explain. Even though the crops are within the image boundary there are borders visible during the pan. Oddly, the boarders remain fairly constant in size, as if the aspect frame is out of wack. I have a gradient in the background, which is why the borders aren’t black, but it’s the same without that. Anyone know what’s happening here? Thanks.

[David Eaks]

What is the spatial conform set at? Position and scale? I had a similar confusion not too long ago, its like the ken burns effect acts as if its within a compound clip. Affecting the clip “before” the inspector settings, IIRC.

[Terence Morris]

Hi David: Thanks, you helped me nail it! The spatial conform was FIT, so okay, but the position was out by several pixels X and Y. I have no idea how this happened (I do tons of this in projects) but it’s an easy fix at least. There were several interconnected pans that all were all out by the same amount. Anyway, thanks for the prompt!