Nicole Haddock
Forum Replies Created
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> Fully rendered?
Ah yes, today’s broken record. I’d like a button for all postings to be added- “But did you render?” 😉
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What’s the FCP sequence setting and the Comp setting in AFX? Feels like a field issue or a frame rate issue. I work with RGB+ animation AFX files in FCP all the time without too many issues. FCP does occasionally interpret the alpha channel incorrectly, but that’s an easy fix.
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Did you render?
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We go in the exact opposite direction mainly because we tend to work off of external drives that get moved around (no SAN yet) and alot of different people get their hands on the project. We’ve found that the “less is more” axiom works best with folders. There was an older structure in place on par with Paul’s and we found that people were confused with the folder within folder structure and adopted this looser one. The basic outline is in the zip file, but the guiding principle is- make folders as you need them. We don’t start out from a set grouping of folders, which allows me or anyone else to see where the project stands at a glance (Hey, have graphics not been done yet? Did we compress a timecode copy for clients, etc).
The exports folder will contain sub folders by date. We tend to split work between editor and graphic designer for mograph work, so the files in the graphics folder tend to be renders (again, in folders by date) or stills. If a project becomes more complex on the editing end in the middle of a project, I will break some folders down further (Stills, AFX prjects, AFX renders, Motion Projects, Motion Renders, Logos, Mattes, etc). Supporting docs are scripts, outlines, etc. Audio usually has an STP folder for sends, projects, etc and I make sure to set the scratch folder in there as well. Also folder for stock music, sound effects, VO, scratch VO, whatever’s being put into the project.
The most important folder is the final deliverables folder- everything from final QT export to web compressions to DVD disc image and/or label goes in there. If it went to the client and it’s signed off, approved, done, it goes there. Otherwise I’ve found way too much confusion going back later on, EVEN if things are exported by date- is this the last one? Did we go back a version? etc etc etc.It seems a bit loosy goosy, but when everyone’s on board, it works really well and you don’t end up with all these empty useless folders.
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Ok, first thing’s first. Export/Quicktime and use the settings that FCP comes up with (Current audio video, no markers, etc) and KEEP THE MAKE MOVIE SELF CONTAINED BOX CHECKED! Alternatively… in the new sequence that matches your specs (see below for specifics) you can just grab your old sequence and put it in the new one, don’t choose match sequence to footage (or whatever that warning box is) but the QT route may be easiest since you’re new at this.
I have honestly never tried to plunk a reference movie in another sequence, so I have no idea if that’s what’s causing some of your problems. I suspect it’s not the problem however.
The second thing is that it’s unclear to me if the ORIGINAL 720×480 sequence was anamorphic 16×9, aka “widescreen” OR 4×3. The easiest way for you to find that out is if you have your original sequence open, hit command 0 to bring up the sequence settings. Next to the Pixel Aspect Ratio drop down box, there’s a box that says Anamorphic 16×9. Is this checked or not?
If it is, hurrah, once you export a self contained sequence, the rest is relatively easy. In a new sequence, bring up the sequence settings.
Frame size – 640×360 – and choose custom from the aspect ratio drop down box.
Pixel aspect ratio – square
Field dominance – none
The rest can remain as you set it (but you might want to flip the audio to 44.1 since you mentioned that earlier as one of the specs, I think).
Now, to see what’s going on, check out under the hood, in your sequence, double click on the quicktime file to open it up in the Viewer (and if you have sunk your old seq into a new seq, right click on the video clip and choose Open in Viewer). Click on the Motion tab. Under Basic Motion, you’ll see it’s scaling the clip to something like 88.89 percent and under Distort, it’s going to -18.something. FCP is squeezing your movie into this timeline. If it’s a video with a similar aspect ratio, aka a 16×9 aspect ratio movie going into another, albeit smaller, 16×9 sequence, FCP will usually do a reasonable job scaling the clip. If you are attempting to put a 4×3 sequence into a 16×9 sequence… well, you have some work to do and choices to make.So, if 4×3 is the original aspect ratio (and I have no idea why it would be, otherwise why do you have widescreen delivery specs… but that’s neither here nor there) once you export the self contained sequence, the rest is a pain in the ass. You must both a) scale your movie up and b) choose what to crop off your movie. Fun, eh? Set the sequence to the above settings, and drop your clip (or sequence) into the timeline. So, let’s get back to the Motion tab (see above) and you’ll see scale is set to 75% and distort is set to 12.5% and that you have black “pillar” bars on either side of your movie. Lovely, n’est-ce pas? Chance the scale to 100% and your picture fills the screen, but cuts off the top and bottom. You can start fiddling with the distort handle bar, but it distorts your film, which may be defeating the point.
So hopefully your original sequence was an anamorphic/widescreen sequence and you don’t have to make choices. If it is 4×3, I suggest asking about the delivery specs and making sure they can’t take a 4×3 video (fairly standard for web delivery).
There’s this little doodah that might be helpful (only works on 10.5) https://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/27401 It’s a nice little aspect ratio calculator. It’s got alot of aspect ratio’s to choose from and I use it fairly often to hammer out unusual web sizes, graphics, etc.
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Export your qt again, but check make movie self contained. You made what’s called a reference movie…but that doesn’t really explain the weirness you’re seeing. If it’s still weird after doing another export, let us know
your sequence settings
what program you’re using to view the file on
and if it’s the same computer you’ve been editing on -
The quickest way will involve exporting reference movies of your footage, buying an Elgato Turbo, and compressing them to h.264.
But if that’s not possible, I second Dave’s suggestion of a wand, heh 😉
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Hi Colleen,
David just answered your first question- always start at the res and frame rate you shot in, because you can always go down, but you can’t go back up without huge quality loss. I get footage shot in HD all the time, but I nearly always deliver in SD, to DVD or for the web. I always edit at the native HD frame rate, do graphics at said size, export a self contained, then compress whatever outputs are required. This works most of the time.
To keep things simple, I would keep on trucking with graphics at that 640 size. I’m not sure what you mean by title, but just do all the graphics at the same size.
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We just purchased the one I’m using right now about 2 weeks ago, and the other one maybe 2 months ago?
I would say it’s a little noisier than the Mac Pro, but like I said, this is pretty close to my ear. It’s noisier than the firewire G-tech G-Raid drives I have, but quieter than some of the Cal-digit and other firewires. If the drive is going to be in a cupboard with a door, I really don’t think you’ll notice it.
But I guess it all subjective- when I shut my system down for the night, I’m always amazed at how much quieter everything sounds, even though I hardly notice it during the day 🙂
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The answers to your questions are:
#1- The quality of your graphics will go down because they will have to be blown up to match your current seq settings, so don’t do it.
#2- Graphics always have to be rendered. Enjoy 😉
#3- I’m a big fan of exporting a self contained at your editing specs, or close to it, and compressing after the fact.That being said, personally, I would
1- Export a self contained of your sequence using export/quicktime (not conversion)
2- Make a new sequence that’s at 640×360, but leave everything else the same.
3- Pop in graphics, render, export another self contained.
4- Then use Compressor to tweak the audio to those specs, de-interlace the video, make it an h.264, etc.The rendering time involved if you make a sequence to match your output settings could be a long wait, depending on your computer. And it’s always been my experience that you always need to make different outputs of the final product, and if you have a quicktime that’s close to your original edit settings, you start with the best quality video that’s possible, rather than working from a compressed version.
Just my .02, YMMV.