Ratty Looking Text

Hi,
I created some titles in Livetype that looked great on the computer but once I burned the DVD the titles are ratty and it looks like the leading was compressed. I have "use lower field first" selected in both DVD Studio Pro and Livetype. I exported as a QT movie then made a MPEG2 in compressor and brought it into DVDSP (One of the forum's recommended processes for compression). Any ideas on how I can improve the quality of these titles?
Thanks

oh boy, there are a ton of things that can go wrong with text...

first some basic questions:
- what size font are you using?
- what color are you using? (pure 255,255,255 white is a guarantted path to crap type)

try this:
- skipping the compressor step and try the reference movie route, ive never seen compressor spit out good type...
- when you lay your type on the fcp timeline, bring the opacity down to say 80%, and add a flicker filter
- avoid livetype altogether, and do your titles in after effects - livetype is the "word art" of video

Thanks for your quick response, Wayne.

Yep. My type is white so I'll tone it down some and I'll try the reference movie route. The font size is 36. Unfortunately, I do not have After Effects -- so my best option at this point is Livetype. I can manipulate the opacity in Livetype, or is it be better to do that once in the timeline? 'm not really having a problem with the type flickering -- the edges are just really ragged -- so should I still try the flicker filter? And will the flicker filter work on a Livetype clip?

yeah, sorry about the after effects reference. im a big type typographic purist, so i have a inborn hatred of programs that try to "idiot proof" type efforts.

sounds like your type is the right size. it will come down to what font you use, if you use any fine serif faces or a face with a heavy thick to thin ratio youre gonna run into these problems.

ive only used livetype a few times (mainly because it doesnt afford me the freedom i get from illustrator+after effects), so im not super familiar with its inner workings.

i wouldnt jack with the opacity in livetype. if youre using 100% white, just bring the opacity down to like 70% in FCP, if youre using a muted gray, you can get away with 80%-90%. flicker filter usually wont hurt you so give it a shot - and see how it looks

another thing to try is adding a very slight blur to the type in FCP.

not being a livetype expert, im not certian how it addresses alpha information, so you might (in FCP) select your type on the time line, then under modify > alpha type, try all the options to see if one works better than the others.

also - what are your dvdspro settings?

Also make sure that the text is placed on absolute pixels so that its anchor point is
not at 234.5, 334.1 for example but rather at 234, 334
What Wayne said about the flicker filter is true, its saved me many times. Give it a go.

Johan Polhem
Motion Graphics
www.johanpolhem.com

Wayne, it's great you're a type freak. You don't like the Boris Calligraphy set? I get good results and control from Title 3D and even decent crawls from Title Crawl.

- Loren
Today's FCP 5 keytip:
Preview effects sections with Option-P or Option-Backslash!

The FCP 5 KeyGuide?: a professional placemat.
Now available at KeyGuide Central:
www.neotrondesign.com

to be honest, i havent looked at boris calligraphy since my media100 days (pre 1998). ive always really hated all things boris. their tools have always felt very "corel-ish" to me... i'll bust it out and have a look at it.

Always check that you are looking at your type on a tv monitor.

Derelk

Hmmm. Not sure how to do that. How can I tell the type is on absolute pixels?

Did you reposition the text using the Motion tab? If so, check to make sure the Center co-ordinates are on whole numbers, eg. 102, not 101.72. See Johan's post above.

Are you watching the DVD on a proper DVD player with TV set? If you watch your DVD on a computer, especially full-screen, the text will blur because it's a blowup to fill your computer monitor.


www.derekmok.com

You can also reposition a Canvas text layer very precisely usng arrow keys and just the result on your interlaced monitor. I've used these to quickly avoid scanline twitter.

Option- Arrows: move 1 pixel in arrow direction.
Command-Option - Arrows: move SUB-pixel in arrow direction

- Loren
Today's FCP 4 / 5 keytip:
Do a virtual Audio Mixdown to lighten playback load with Command-Option-R!

The FCP KeyGuide?: your power placemat.
Now available at KeyGuide Central.
www.neotrondesign.com