re: Voodoo with Photoshop documents?

I was just replacing some credits on an old film of mine with Photoshop PSDs and I encountered something bizarre in the FCP timeline.

I made an endscroll comprising four PSDs laid into the timeline with identical durations and Motion settings. The PSDs were made by first creating one template (the first one), then using Save As in Photoshop to make four different copies and then retyping the text.

The strange thing is, two of the cards (#3 and #4), after being imported into FCP, sudden grew much bigger than the others. I cross-checked every setting I could think of and all of them should have been identical:

- Image Size identical (1440 x 1920px, 72dpi)
- Canvas Size identical (20 inches x 26 inches)
- Font sizes identical (ITC American Typewriter Bold style, 50 points, 42 leading, 80% height, 100% width)
- Motion at 75% Scale, 20 seconds duration, Center settings keyframed at beginning and end y=700 to y=-700, Distort - Aspect Ratio at 50.

So what could have made cards #3 and #4 so much larger than the others? Yes, I can use Scale to conform the size of #3 and #4 to the others, but it bugs me that I can't find the cause of this anomaly.


www.derekmok.com

I don't know why you would break up a credit roll into pieces... but then again, I wouldn't animate it in FCP either. I am one of those silly romantic Designers that thinks that the Titles & End Credits are part of the project and should be Designed & not just typed. I hate straight credit rolls with a passion.

That said, I used to create an entire roll in one single Illustrator layer & animate it in After Effects with 2 Position keyframes.

- Joey

When life gives you dilemmas...make dilemmanade.

This is also where Boris Graffiti excels.

------------------------
Dean

"When I see you floating down the gutter I'll give you a bottle of wine."
Captain Beefheart, Trout Mask Replica.

> I am one of those silly romantic Designers that thinks that the Titles & End Credits are part
> of the project and should be Designed & not just typed.

Heh heh, I think we have a bit of a culture difference here. I love opening and end credits -- I do think they are part of the piece, like fonts used in chapter headings of novels. But I disagree that you can't go simple with certain films. For example, I think the spartan opening credits to Traffic, the deadpan opening credits to Slums of Beverly Hills, the hyper-arty James Bond openings and the bloody, grungy opening credits to The Texas Chainsaw Massacre are all examples of good credit design.

But it's also true that I'm not really a graphics artist. The budget on this film was spent years ago (this is my thesis) and so I'm doing it myself right now to save money.

Sooner or later I'll have the time and money to take an After Effects course and get the hands-on experience with it. Can't do it half-assed or might as well not do it at all.


www.derekmok.com

D,

I am not saying what you did was less important than Designing, my friend... but if it was because you don't have any money, that's not good enough for me. You have to at least put it out there ESPECIALLY if it's your thesis. Put an ad on Mandy.com or somewhere for a Designer to do your Titles Sequences for you for a copy & credit (and maybe a deferred payment). I answer an ad every month or so for a Pro Bono Thesis film but they always want the Artist (me) to be right there in their town on site (not realistic these days - telecommuting is KING). If I had the time, I would do yours just for my Demo (I have no Film Title Design pieces on there as of now - but this is the busy season for me).

- Joey

When life gives you dilemmas...make dilemmanade.