Maintaining graphics quality bit depth in FCP

Hi All,

I'm creating some motion graphics (titles, etc.) for a 1280 x 720p ProRes HQ timeline in FCP 6. The title/logo is in a serif font and the background uses a subtle gradient. In talking with motion graphics pros, they said to use a minimum 16 bit to keep banding down, judicious use of blurs, etc.

This project will ultimately get down-converted for SD DVD. I've been researching various sources but can't seem to piece together a good "overall" workflow to retain the highest quality for these graphics into and out of Final Cut, and probably more important - compressed to Mpeg2 to DVD afterward.

In C4D and AE I believe I can export Targa files (or TIFF's) that are 16 or 32 bit. I have yet to import targas into FCP. We used to do it on Avid's, but I think I tried it once back on FCP 5 and couldn't get it to work. Assuming I can get this into FCP 6, what happens to the bit depth? I believe FCP's timeline is 8 bit, and ProRes HQ is 10 bit correct? What happens if I switch to high precision rendering? Can I retain the higher bit depth for the motion graphics?

How does this work going out of FCP? I'm still learning about how it all works, but we're going to have a DLT made for DVD replication. I'm not sure how best to down-convert to SD (and how this effects the bit depth issue above), but was planning to go to a post-house as my first attempt out of Compressor/DVDSP looked pretty awful. I'm sure I'm also going to have to figure out scaling issues for the down-conversion to make sure the titles look ok.

Thanks for any help/advice,
~Chris

I'm filling in what I've been researching in case it's of help to others, or for anyone to correct/add to if I'm misinformed:

From the manual, it seems FCP is limited to 16bit when importing graphics - is there any way around this to use 32 bit? It seems you can create targa sequences in other apps and use QT Pro to create a QT movie without any loss in image quality. If this is from 32 bit source files, not sure what happens when imported into FCP yet.

~C

I'd b more worried about using serif fonts-- unless the legs and feet are robust (look at Palatino as example) you'll probably have as much trouble with shimmering fonts as your background banding.

Also, I haven't had a problem with gradient backgrounds from Photoshop even as 8-bit. Dithering may help, and if it's a subtle gradient you probably won't have to worry. Just experiment and view the results on a real monitor.

- Loren
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Thanks Loren - yes, I think between 16 bit, blurs and noise the gradients will be fine. The font is Trajan Pro. I was inspired by the titles for HBO's Six Feet Under.

I'm still researching this in stages, and re-reading Chris & Trish Meyer's books. I still have yet to find much about DVD compression and what this does, but as I recall DVDSP would only let me import 8 bit source files. Need to see if there's a workaround.

I'll keep searching and posting as I learn more as I can't be the only one trying to figure this out, but hopefully others will chime in.

Cheers,
~Chris