Oddball, Wacko Format

One of the high-falutin' programmers upstairs wanted us to take two of his test animations and jam them together into one. They're both short quicktimes (the building standard) and they opened up and play just fine.

They're running at exactly 24.00 having come from the Feature Film Division. They're also Cineon format 1024x778.

So with visions of dread clouding my view of the monitors, I created a custom sequence 1024, 778, 24.00, Square. I dropped the animations into it and they needed rendering (I'm not shocked), but they didn't fit, either. They both have black lines top and bottom and there doesn't seem to be anything I can do about it.

I'm posting samples, but my ftp server is flopping around like a fish to borrow a Spongebob line.

If I export a simple QuickTime, sure enough it's exactly 1024, 778, 24.00--only with black bars top and bottom.

FCP 5.0.4
QT7.2.0 Pro
OS-X 10.4.10

[kozco.com]

A still export from the final show will be here (shortly):

[kozco.com]

Koz

I'm having my laptop TIME MACHINED right now, or I'd download and play with this. But, I have to wait another hour or two...then I'll see what I can figure out.

Unless other Genuises like Ben King or Jude or Nick or Wayne figure it out first.


www.shanerosseditor.com

Listen to THE EDIT BAY Podcast on iTunes
[itunes.apple.com]

Koz, you're sure you changed the Sequence Settings and not the Sequence Presets, right?

Another thing to check would be Motion - Distort, make sure FCP didn't apply distortion to your clip for you.


www.derekmok.com

you could really use FCP6, with it's "Conform sequence settings to clip" functionality.

or skip FCP, and simply copy and paste in QuickTime PLayer,
then save as self contained.


nick

<<<copy and paste in QuickTime PLayer>>>

That's precisely what I couldn't figure out how to do. I kept getting multiple new QuickTime Movies. I gotta try that again. I would have killed to figure out a way to do this without mucking about in custom versions of Final Cut.

<<<you're sure you changed the Sequence Settings and not the Sequence Presets, right? >>>

I'm not sure of anything. The hat does not say "Editor."

Sequence, Settings, General, FrameSize, Custom 1024 778
--Pixel Aspect, Square
--Field Dominance, None
--Editing Timebase, 24


[Time Passes]

This is what I find so darn fuzzy-warm about all this. I just rebuilt built the "show" from scratch using exactly those settings and it worked perfectly. I mean exactly correct. I have no clue why it didn't work the first time I did it.

I'm off to try the QuickTime Pro thing. I have done that before, so I'm not the raw recruit that I am in FCP.

So that's a wave-off. Final Cut seems to have done what it was supposed to do.

Maybe it was sacrificing that small furry animal.... Do you want that for the FAQ?

Koz

It's probably because you need to make a new sequence after you change the project settings. Only new sequences are correctly affected. So the second time you did it, you had the correct settings applied.

Editing in QT is a ,ot like editing in FCP.
i imagine having both files the same format makes things easy.

open one.
define the part you want to copy.
if it's ALL, Apple A to select all,
otherwise,
you can use JKL keys to play, etc
J = reverse.
K= pause
L= Fwd.
hitting L (or J) multiple times increases your speed.

use left/ right arrows for stepping thru 1 fr at a time

define in and out points with I and O
you wont see either till you have both.
probably wont work with only one, but i'm guessing.

(clear in/outs with Apple B)

copy = Apple C

go to the next QT file.
find the point you want to cut the copy into.
Apple V

it's an insert edit.
meaning if you paste into the middle of a QT file, the new piece will be inserted

if you simply want to ad to the end of the clip, all is well and good.
if you need to tidy up some loose ends,
define them with in/outs, hit Delete


rather than insert / build into an existing file,
another way would be to open a "New Player"
then copy and paste from BOTH your source files into the new one.


hope that helps,
nick

<<<after you change the project settings.>>>

Yeah, now that I'm playing the afternoon back in my head. I think at least one of those steps was out of order the first time.

<<<i imagine having both files the same format makes things easy. >>>

That's the only reason I was able to get anything at all out the door.

I did eventually get the QuickTime Pro thing to work as well. That would have been the best because it's quick and efficient. Even better if you know what you're doing [sigh].

Koz

I think we need to come and forcibly teach you FCP, Koz. You use it enough to warrant some kind of training so you don't get dumped into situations you're not sure about. I think you've earned a peri-semi-assitant-editor standing just from such constant exposure. Kind of like radiation poisoning.