[Kristan Sprague]

Originally I used Mpeg Streamclip to transcode all the footage into Apple ProRes (regular, not HQ).

I also have noticed that when I manually change the reel number in the browser, the “modified date” column does not change to the current date and time like it is supposed to if i am really changing the meta data in the quicktime. I also checked the clips themselves in the finder, and there modified dae has not been updated either.
Could this have to do with not using Log and Transfer when I originally brought the clips in? Or could it have something to do with me not using FCP to transcode them?

[Kristan Sprague]

So when I try to interpret the footage, the “more options” button is grayed out and I can not pick from any of the PARs I need.

So I left the PAR set to square pixels and set the comp setting to square pixels, setting everything else to the proper setting. when i rendered out a test to a DVCPro HD quicktime, it imported back into FCP with no problems and looked fine. No problems.

If anyone could enlighten me as to why this is working out right or why am i not allowed to set the proper PAR when working with this footage, I’d love to know. but every thing’s working fine now.

Thank for the reply!

[Kristan Sprague]

thank you again for the info.

just want to ensure i’m taking your advice correctly though:

there are two presets for D1 comps. one with square pixels that stretches the frame to 720×540. the other uses D1 rectangular pixels and the regular 720×486 size.

you’re saying i should use the regular D1 preset, with a 720×486 frame and D1 .9 Par, correct?

what if i use square pixel assets in the comp? say a scanned still picture? do i keep the comp at .9 PAR and 720×486? or if i;m going to mix square and rectangular pixels, what setting do i use for my comps? the .9 D1 PAR at 720×540? and if so, do i then need to render that content to a 720×486 comp with rectangular pixels?

it seems like the deeper i get into this, the more confusing it gets.

kristan

[Kristan Sprague]

thanks for your info, i was talking about the corner pin effect. i will try to be more clear from here on in my problems.

here is my workflow so far.

I place a video clip (NTSC, D1 720×486, .9 PAR) in a comp. It is a point of view shot, all you see is someone’s hands looking through a stack of colored, blank index cards. I then place a solid layer above that video clip, (same setting). Using the corner pin effect, I go through the comp frame by frame, “pinning” each corner of the solid to the corners of a moving index card. when i am done, i watch through it to ensure that the second layer, with the pin effect, follows the card it is pinned to as the talent moves it around.

I then remove the video layer, the guide layer if you will, so that all i have is a solid that moves around in the exact same path as the card it was covering. I then add a different video layer underneath that layer. again, this video layer is NTSC D1 720×486 with rectangular pixels. I set the solid layer to an adjustment layer so that the pin effect i rotoscoped now has the exact same pin effect applied to it. Up until here, i have been doing fine.

it’s when i then try and nest that composition into another comp that contains the background i want to composite the corner pinned image to. I reuse the same video layer that i used to guide my corner pin in a new comp with the exact same setting. so theoretically i should see my corner pinned footage over the background footage, both moving in lock step with each other. i do not see this. the nest comp with the corner pinned footage seems to move around in the same path, but it’s size is always off. they never match up exactly. if i copy and past the solid layer into another comp, and view it as a regular layer not an adjustment layer, it works fin. it is only when i precompose a comp that uses the solid as an adjustment layer that everything goes out of whack. the ‘adjusted” footage, not the solid, is always slightly smaller than the original solid it uses as a guide layer, even if i increase the scale on the it while leaving the solid the same size.

could this be because i am viewing rectangular pixels as square pixels? do the corners that i am pinning to the card only appear to be pinned exactly at the corners, but in reality are slightly off because of the different PARS and views?

“The benefit of interpreting the footage correctly and using ‘non-square’ comps with the PAR preview is that you’ll see what it will look like on a non-square display.”
I understand that rectangular pixels in a square pixel display will “appear” squeezed, but in reality they are not. so if i track a corner of a index card manually, frame by frame, placing a solid object at that exact point in each frame, am i really exactly at that point, or does it only “appear” that i am exactly at that point because the image is squeezed?

or more simply, to do what i want to do, should i be using 720×540 comps with sq pixels, 720×540 comps with D1 rectangular pixels, 720×486 comps with D1 pixels, or the NTSC D1 preset AE has where my frame size is 720×540, my pixels are square, but their PAR is .9 for D1?
do i need to set my PAR preview to rectangular pics when i corner pin a layer and as i edit my comps?
when i am ready to render out for FCP, do i simply render the comps with the settings i edited in, or do i need to move the contents of those comps to new comps set to 720×486? and if so, do i set the PAR in these comps to square or to rectangular?

kristan

[Kristan Sprague]

my solids are rectangular pixels. set the solids to the same specs as the footage, 720×486, D1, rectangular pixels.

kristan

[Kristan Sprague]

oh yeah, i am working on a powerbook pro (2 GHz intel core duo, 2GB 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM) in AE 6.5.1. I need to eventually render out my final comps to go back into the original project in FCP to be edited with the rest of the footage.

to give some background on the project, its a music video. the plan is the have it look like someone is looking through a box of old pictures, and the pictures are the moving images of the video. thats why i am corner pinning to index cards my talent was look through

kristan