Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

thuna72

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Nov 19, 2008
16
0
Switzerland
hi

i'm new to juggling and exporting formats in FCP X (10.0.2.) files and have the following question:

i am putting together an animation film that was shot in two different formats:

- still images in 1920 x 1280
- movie files in 1920 x 1080 25 fps

since the still images make up the vast majority of the material, i would like to use a format that clips as little as possible from the stills, while it's ok if the film files get cut (or blown up and then cut respectively).

i need two final products:
- a dvd with the best possible quality to view on the computer
- a youtube-compatible, compressed film file

my questions:
- what format would be best to use for the final products? is 1920 x 1280 a 4:3 ratio, and if yes what movie format would be best to use quality-wise?
- how do i actually fusion the two formats?
- can i do all of this in FCP or do i need compressor?

(currently FCP automatically downscales the stills to fit the height of the movie files because for quality reasons i chose the Full HD format whenever i imported material to a new project. i can live with the downscaling of the stills per se, but what is not ok is
- that the stills have a broader black frame on the side than the movie files, which are widescreen
- that the downscaling of the stills makes the image "zoom out", meaning i cannot create a smooth transition from a movie frame to a still image without a major jump/zoom-out.

thanks for your help!
 

mBox

macrumors 68020
Jun 26, 2002
2,357
84
Since your movie clips are the hardest to scale, shouldnt you conform your stills to them? Basically scale up the still images to fit the screen for 1920x018 at 16:9.
If dealing with FCPX and images are a pain then you might need to get Motion or After Effects involved.
 

handsome pete

macrumors 68000
Aug 15, 2008
1,725
259
hi
is 1920 x 1280 a 4:3 ratio, and if yes what movie format would be best to use quality-wise?

No, it's not. Just do the math to find out what ratio it is. What do you mean by format?

- how do i actually fusion the two formats?

I'm not sure what you mean by this. You can edit both movie files and still images on the same timeline.

- can i do all of this in FCP or do i need compressor?

You can do all of this in FCP. Compressor is for compressing/file conversion. However if you want to do any animation with the stills you might be better suited doing that in a motion graphics program.


I agree with mBox. You're probably better off working in one of the standard video resolutions and adjusting your stills to fit that frame (instead of the other way around).
 

thuna72

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Nov 19, 2008
16
0
Switzerland
hi both

thanks for your answers! it's actually ok so far to work with images in FCPX, so i'll probably just go with a standard video format. which one would you suggest seeing the original sizes of my images? i'd guess 720p HD / 1280x720 / 25p?

thuna
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.