[Max Fancher]

Thanks so much Ned, Mads, Nick, Mike and Mark!

This is exactly what I was hoping to hear and definitely gives me confidence going into my next (or possibly final) conversation with the would-be client.

Can’t thank you enough for taking the time to help me out.

Yours truly,

max

[Max Fancher]

Did you end up finding a solution? I’m in the same boat.

Thanks!

max

[Max Fancher]

Thanks again Larry! My original process was slightly different than you describe here so let me clarify… What I originally did was take the tiny vector-based graphic from the .eps and pasted into a .ai file that was 1280×720 and scaled it up to the exact size I wanted in my FCP sequence. This was still vector-based (i assume) so it should have scaled correctly. Then, I exported it out of illustrator as a .psd so it was still at the 1280×720 size… in FCP it was scaled at 100% and I didn’t adjust that at all.

My new process is to take the .eps and scale the graphic up there and then “place” it into the 2560×1440 .psd which is obviously 200% so when I drop it into FCP it scales it to 50%. Now, perhaps another issue is that the only reason I’m not just dropping a .ai into fcp is that i couldn’t get the transparent background even though it looks transparent in illustrator. I wonder if a .ai would look better than a .psd if I could figure that out?

thanks again!

m

[Max Fancher]

Thanks a lot Bret for spending the time on this!! Yah, i’m getting trippy results. Changing the sequence codec to animation makes it pristine. Changing back to XDCAM EX 720p24 looks horrible in the canvas but the exported .mov looks great.

I tried a different way of creating the .psd this time too and that may be helping. Before, I was creating a new .ai from the .eps and then exporting to .psd. This time I opened up a new .psd and made it 2560×1440 (200% – thanks larry!) and then “placed” the .eps into the .psd. Using this new .psd and sticking with the XDCam codec is the best it’s looked yet.

thanks for all your help everyone!!

[Max Fancher]

I just brought the logo and my animated background into AE CS5 and rendered out a ProRes 422 (HQ) .mov that I then brought into FCP and added to my ProRes422(HQ) timeline and that has by far given me the best results.

After I compress it down to the size I need it for the website it looks like crap but at least i’m getting somewhere.

[Max Fancher]

Thanks Olin! It is a web-only video… I’ll try and figure out the PS filter idea you had. thanks.

[Max Fancher]

Thanks again David. I have an even bigger challenge in that the actual video (web distribution) will sit in a 352pixel wide player. You can imagine after running my 720p master through squeeze how bad that logo starts to look then.

I tried another technique where in Photoshop I added cyan to the background of the image, flattened it, and then color keyed out the cyan in FCP and that helped a little too. I’m getting desperate. 😉

m

[Max Fancher]

Thanks David!

With a “2” for the amount of the filter, it’s too much for the logo but “1” was a little better. It takes away from some of the aliasing/jaggedness but it obviously leaves the logo less clear overall. If it’s just an impossible logo to make look good on video, that would be interesting. The client is launching this new look and want it perfect so I’m trying desperately to make it so.

hoping there might be some other way to get it right. I’m hoping that somehow I didn’t do something right when I moved from the .eps to the .psd.

thanks, m

[Max Fancher]

Thanks Matthew!

This is the original file:

https://maximizevideo.com/logo_original_eps.eps

I took that in Illustrator and exported it to a .psd to use in FCP. This is the file I’ve been using in my timeline:

https://maximizevideo.com/logo_psd_72dpi.psd

Thanks so much!

m

[Max Fancher]

Thanks chris… yes, full render… best settings… I’m not viewing on broadcast monitor but I am looking at the exported quicktime file.