[Ann Edwards]

Hi David, thanks for your reply.

What I don’t understand is that these are pro-res files already exported with noise filters from FCP, yet blowing up when converted to H264 in compressor.

I looked and the original pro-res files had a data rate of 18.2 Mb and the transcoded files had gone up to 31 mb!

I am encoding again restricting the data rate to that of the original pro-res data rate.

Hopefully they look alright and be small enough.

thanks
d

[Ann Edwards]

thanks for your feedback david b. (and Noah)

Yes, I could skip compressor and encode in dvdSP pro. I thought mp2 was the format required to author a dvd. I have 2 separate DV tracks and 3 motion menus that connect to each other, tracks and chapter markers. I could link everything prior to encoding and do that on build right?

I am re-rendering everything within FCP at best quality. It’s going to take all night, but I did notice a signifigant difference in quality, so it must be done.

Another mystery is that I noticed that all my roundtripped DV files have become motion projects with an aspect ratio of .89 and a preset of “custom” as opposed to NTSC DV with an aspect ratio of .9. I am wondering if it is meant to be like this and if not… how did it happen.

thanks

[Ann Edwards]

Do you mean to export straight from the FCP timeline using compressor? I usually export as a quicktime movie (unselfcontained) and then import that file into compressor to compress to mp2. I have found this a more reliable method.

Everybody says that If the render control motion templates and projects pull down is set to normal, but the box underneath that is checked – “always render best quality when rendering movies”, then the file will be rendered at best quality if recorded to tape or output to disc.
But surely if you’ve rendered inside FCP at the normal quality, when you export a quicktime movie of that file, isn’t it going to be using those same render files already created at normal quality. It’s not re-rendering as far as I can tell when I export.

confused

d

[Ann Edwards]

thanks
I am using a multitude of masks on top of each other to try and achieve the effect I am looking for.

It’s just that there have just been a number of times where it would have been so convenient to use the crop functions, if only one could feather the edges. (like in FCP)

I thought, that maybe I was missing something really obvious about how to to do it.

Stephen – you say it is limited, does this mean that there is some method? I’m Curious.

deborah

[Ann Edwards]

Hi, I’m not an expert, but have you played around with the blend modes of the layers… like alpha stencil etc…

[Ann Edwards]

thanks for your response

I have found a great solution – first lower the frame on the y axis until it is in the right place, and then, because the background is static throughout each shot, I import the the video still into photoshop and create the extra background that I need above his head using the clone stamp and other tools, then import back into FCP and place it beneath my lowered footage. It works ike a charm!

d

[Ann Edwards]

Thanks, I didn’t think of that

The final output will be DVD, but could end up being played on a TV or computer. Could I put more than one version on the dvd? One for TV viewers and one for those viewing on the computer? Also, what about the new widescreen/flat TVs, don’t they display more like a computer?

I could also scale the video down, thus creating an all around black border that wouldn’t show on conventional TV, but would on any other display… again… it would need to be 2 versions?? (the video is about one hour long)

thanks again for your help.

deborah

[Ann Edwards]

Thanks

Actually I have been grappling with it and figuring out how to do it, the simple animation was just the first layer of what I wanted to do… I am totally in love with Motion right now!
d