text & compression in prores

[Chris Borjis]

The Boris 3D titler in fcp is really great. If titles look bad, something
is wrong.

Live type should be good to….what codec did you render it as though?

dvd studio pro does a lousy job at compressing video….don’t use it.
use compressor instead. Make sure the resize filter is on and set
for highest quality.

[Cat Lobuono]

rendered live type in the program and then again in the prores timeline. Hmmm, something wrong there?
Also, make a qt and import to compressor?

[Kevin Monahan]

Usually a case of confusion regarding monitoring. How are you monitoring your work? I hope not through the Canvas alone as it can confuse you.

Are you monitoring through a proper HD monitor? If not, is your Canvas set at precisely 100%? You must do one of these two things if you are to see your rendered text properly.

The other case is that you may have not set your Sequence > Render menu with “FULL” checked off. Try these things and post back.

Kevin Monahan
http://www.fcpworld.com
Author – Motion Graphics and Effects in Final Cut Pro

[Cat Lobuono]

Am not monitoring on an external HD monitor, but am checking at 100% and also 200. Definitely looks bad on the dvd.

[Michael Gissing]

If you are judging the text on the SD DVD then I am not surprised. What is the text like on the uncompressed HD quicktime? Even with the canvas on 100%, an external interlaced monitor is a better way to judge everything but particularly text.

The other thing to check is in the motion tab on your text, are your titles on whole numbers or fractions? Getting text to sit pixel accurate in the first place is important.

Are you using text with 100% white? if so, try dropping the white value to 90% and see if you still get breakup.

Finally I am assuming you used an interlaced timeline unless you shot your HDV with the JVC format. What was your original HDV codec and what flavour of ProRes did you choose and what is your final sequence settings because along the way you might have switched from interlaced to progressive which can make credit rolls in particular an issue.

[Kevin Monahan]

It looks bad at 100%? Are you sure?
Make sure it looks good at 100%. If it does not, something else besides monitoring is amiss.

Do not even check at 200%. It’s going to be magnified.

Kevin Monahan
http://www.fcpworld.com
Author – Motion Graphics and Effects in Final Cut Pro

[Cat Lobuono]

Here are my sequence settings:
Frame size 720×480 NTSC DV 3:2 (I tried changing this and it looked weird)
Pixel Aspect Ratio 1440×1080

Sequence presets: 1440×1080 60i

What should vid processing be set at, 8 bit or 10?

Render codec is Prores
resolution @ 50%
frame rate @ 100 %

Mostly not white text
captured Prores HQ

[Cat Lobuono]

Mostly not white text. I think placement is ok.

Captured in proRes HQ, 1440×1080 60i

sequence settings are: Frame size 720×480 NTSC DV 3:2 (I tried changing this but it looked funny)
Pixel Aspect Ratio 1440×1080

what should vid processing be set at, 10 bit or 8?

Render codec is prores
resolution 50%
frame rate 100%

[Michael Gissing]

[Cat LoBuono] “Captured in proRes HQ, 1440×1080 60i

sequence settings are: Frame size 720×480 NTSC DV 3:2 (I tried changing this but it looked funny)”

You have the wrong sequence settings. The sequence should be 1440 x 1080 ProRes HQ not 720×480 NTSC DV. This is causing your HD signal to be transcoded in the render down to standard def DV codec. It is no wonder that your text looks ordinary.

[Cat Lobuono]

changed that setting and it looked great-until I rendered. In fact, that’s been the case all along. Looks fine until I render. I guess the answer is there somewhere, but I’m stumped. And there are jpeg graphic figures that are doing the same thing-look fine until I render.