FCPX Project settings (should I always match my content?)

[xizar]

When I go to set up a new project in FCPX it always asks me what size I want to be. Up until now, I've blithely set it to 1080p and 30fps, figuring that the software will make every thing right.

Yes, I'm lazy. No, I'm not doing anything "important". Yes, I'm horrifically casual. No, I don't want to stay that way. (well, lazy and unimportant is fine...)

Anyway,

I was going to start piecing together a new video for my guild's kill of some dude in gametown, when I stopped to ask myself, "would the quality of my video be better if I matched what I record wow footage at?"

I was going to google this, but I then realized that I don't know how to ask that question in such a way that google will answer. Most everything I see says "you can mix resolutions", but I haven't been able to find something that refers to the settings of the original project.

So... none of the stuff I'm using is bigger than 720 or 1080 or whatever, do I need to tell FCPX to make the new project 720 or 1080 or whatever? Or can I arbitrarily tell it to make the project ginormous, and expect FCPX to fix it in post for me?

If it matters, the end result of the stuff I'm (currently) doing is YouTube.

Part of why I don't tell it "automatically decided based on first video clip" is because I was screwing around with a rip from a movie and, when it did that, the sound was all choppy and the video was super blurry, even though it looked fine in QuickTime.

Oh, and No, I don't really understand what "fix it in post" means... I think I heard it in one of the tougher parts of town, so it must mean something that makes me sound tough.

Blech... Sorry I'm such a newbie at these kinds of things. Normally I just throw things in a pot and yell "Expelliarmous" and hope for the best.

Thanks for your time.

 

[linuxcooldude]

I would typically match what you record with to what you render your video in, which in your case would be 1080p.

Now, you can go down in resolution with not much problems. Say record video at 1080, then after editing go to render at 720p or 480p.

The opposite does not work well, lets say you record video at 480p then try and render at 1080p, your video will probably look lousy.

If your uploading to Youtube anyway, for myself, I usually do it at 720p as it saves on bandwidth, render time and upload speed compared to 1080p. Its more then good enough for internet video.

 

[cgbier]

I actually would use the original size for editing. Saves you a lot of time on background render. Only on export I decide what size I want my project.

I'm working mainly with HDV. That can be imported without any optimization/render. I just set the timeline to the right frame rate (mostly 30p for me).

 

[xizar]

I'll start paying more attention to these things, then, and match size to content.

Thanks a lot.