[Jeff Hinkle]

I think you’re seeing your JPEG but only a tiny portion of it. Your image size is over 4,000 X 2,000. If you notice, the size percentage in your viewer is only 4%. If you adjust the scale of your JPEG, you should see the mailbox appear.

That said, working with an image that large, unless you need to scale in really close, is extra overhead you don’t need. You’ll get better performance with an image closer to your final output size.

—
It is easier to destroy than to create.
More fun, too.

[Jeff Hinkle]

Looks pretty straightforward. You could match the look pretty easily with a textured photo background and some selective masking for blurs and fades. Then some adjustment layers for colors, highlights/shadows and you should be pretty close. It’ll take you some time but it’s doable. If you don’t feel up to the task, post in the “Jobs Offerered” section on the Cow.

—
It is easier to destroy than to create.
More fun, too.

[Jeff Hinkle]

The Add/Delete Anchor Point tools won’t help; that’s strictly for vector paths. The center point of a layer is moveable if you get the cursor directly over it. You should see the small icon at the lower right of the cursor when you’re over it. Try this: select the Move tool (V) and in the option bar at the top of your window, turn on “Show Transform Controls.” That should give you a bounding box and center point. Move the cursor over the center point and the cursor should change from a pointer with a large 4-point arrow to a pointer with a small 4-point arrow to let you know you’re on the center point. You should now be able to drag it around.

If you still can’t affect the center point, go to the tool options (far left of the option bar) and click on the drop-down arrow. Then select the small gear icon and choose “Reset Tool” from the menu. That will reset the Move tool to its standard settings. Might be enough to jog loose whatever the problem is. If that still doesn’t work, you may need to reset Photoshop’s preferences. On Windows, that’s holding down Ctl-Alt-Shift while starting Photoshop. Might be you have a corrupt preference.

That said, Photoshop will NOT remember center point placement once you complete a transformation. If you move the center point to, say, a person’s eye, then rotate and hit Return, if you come back to that layer to transform it again, the center point will be back at the center of the layer, not where you left it.

—
It is easier to destroy than to create.
More fun, too.

[Jeff Hinkle]

I believe Photoshop has a 500-frame limit on animated GIFs. You could try rendering at a lower frame rate to cut down the number of frames.

—
It is easier to destroy than to create.
More fun, too.

[Jeff Hinkle]

Bruce,

You’re still facing the same issues with your talent photo: the lighting, angle, quality and colors don’t match at all. Using the built-in web cam on your computer, I’m guessing? Try using a better camera and have someone take the photo of you. Try to match the angle and lighting of your set photo.

As for the monitor, you can probably cut that out to its own layer, slide it over, and use other parts of the image to paint in the hole it leaves, but it’ll take a bit of time to get it to look right.

Good luck!

—
It is easier to destroy than to create.
More fun, too.

[Jeff Hinkle]

You don’t really say HOW you want to merge the files. Are you trying to get the man to sit behind the desk? (The monitor will be blocking his face.) Is he supposed to be in front of the desk? Is he in the monitor?

I will say this: based on the two photos’ wildly varying colors, quality, lighting, angles, etc. making them look like they are actually one photo is highly unlikely. Rather than beat your head against a wall for hours trying, I’d suggest you at least re-shoot your talent with a higher-quality camera, lit to match the scene you’re trying to place him in. Save yourself a lot of headaches.

—
It is easier to destroy than to create.
More fun, too.

[Jeff Hinkle]

It might help if you post a screen shot of the image and how it looks in both Photoshop and FCP.

Are you using the video presets in Photoshop to make your canvas? Two of those sequence settings use non-square pixels so if you’re dropping in an image with the correct dimensions but square pixels, things are going to start looking screwy.

—
It is easier to destroy than to create.
More fun, too.

[Jeff Hinkle]

Choose one of the HSB radio buttons. That should put you back to the usual color range you’re used to.

—
It is easier to destroy than to create.
More fun, too.

[Jeff Hinkle]

FCP (like every NLE) doesn’t honor ICC or ColorSync color profiles. Although both it and Photoshop are RGB space, they’ll display differently because Photoshop uses a calibrated monitor profile to adjust colors on-screen and FCP won’t. You might be able to get a closer look if you assign the Apple RGB color profile to your image and then import that into FCP.

But with FCP, what’s more important than what you see on your screen is what you see in your scopes and on a calibrated broadcast monitor. And accept the fact that most people watching at home will never see the same color you do…

—
It is easier to destroy than to create.
More fun, too.

[Jeff Hinkle]

No worries. Glad we got it working for you.

—
It is easier to destroy than to create.
More fun, too.