AE into FCP and jagged edges

I am having a hard time getting acceptable results with graphics footage originating in AE and brought into FCP. Are jagged edges inherently a part of working with DV or is there a workflow that will give me clean graphics?

First off, I work primarily with dV footage (720x480) so assume a target of the sequence being DV. In AE I have tried 3 differnt variables...

Comp size
Layer size
Output module

And each one using either DV (720x480), D1 (720x486) and D1 square pix.

Frankly, with everything set to DV and into a DV seq is one of the worst combos and non acceptable to me. The best results are everything set to D1 square pix into the DV seq but it is distorted and runs off screen. (At least the edges are not jagged)

I've had pixels and aspect ratios explained until it's coming out of my ears. What i need is a way to get acceptable results without stair stepping edges. What combination works for you? Or is this simply a problem with DV and/or FCP? Could it be my video hardware? (G5) or monitor?

thanks in advance,
Tom

are you exporting lossles or lossless with alpha?

and are you judging this by looking at the canvas? thats always gonna look ass!

No exporting as DV. Since my project and all video footage is DV. If I export with no compression it must be rendered on the timeline which is a pain and still looks as bad as DV.

After eliminating everything else, I just discovered the problem. I am looking at a Sony 14" monitor connected to the ATI Radeon 9600 XT. The output for NTSC was set to 800X600 so I corrected it to 720x480. Fixed it.

td

Don't monitor NTSC out of a Video Display Card. You monitor it out of the deck (if DV) or video capture card.

Kevin Monahan
Social Support Lead, DV Products
Adobe
Adobe After Effects
Adobe Premiere Pro
Adobe After Effects and Premiere Pro Community Blog
Follow Me on Twitter!