Image formats in final cut pro

Hi all, I am eager to learn from you...

What is everyone's recommendations for working with still images in final cut pro? I've found that sometimes PNGs are the easiest to use and can look very nice but I was told by a lecturer at NAB that I should never use them (without much explanation). TIFFs and JPGs obviously look great, but too often I have to wait a long time to render them if I add key frames or transitions. What do you recommend?

I use tiffs. For some reason I have the easiest time with tiffs if I'm using masks/mattes.

I have no reason for this; I just stumbled on what worked for me.

Actually, JPEGs are what you're not supposed to use in most cases. It compresses heavily, which is why it's so much favoured by the internet and for e-mailing. TIFFs are good, and so are TARGAs. I don't use PNGs myself, but I also don't remember having heard an argument against it. Koz has said that if you set the JPEGs at a very, very high setting then you can't tell the difference, but that said, if you make your JPEGs as fat as TIFF files, then why not use TIFFs in the first place?

Rendering tends to be a fact of life with still files in an FCP timeline. If you want to do less rendering, or if the stills are involved in very complicated effects, once you lock down on the cut, export the section into a movie file fitting your Sequence Settings.


www.derekmok.com

PNGs are fine to use. I use them all the time, and they are actually the default output format for a still from FCP. This may not help your rendering time problem though. It will probably be about the same.

I actually use the Photoshop format (PSD)at 16 bit depth. I find these work better then anything.

Under recommendation from an editing mentor and a very savvy graphic designer, I switched over to using PNGs whenever I can about a year ago. They've been working swell for me, and not having to change the default every time I export a still has saved me oodles of nit-picky mouse clicks.

debe

i am with jude on this. i almost always use png's because thats what fcp freeze frame will make every time you shift N. they also seem to look better when moving also.

""" What you do with what you have, is more important than what you could do, with what you don't have."

> > > Knowledge + Action = Wisdom - J. Corbett 1992 """"

> i almost always use png's because thats what fcp freeze frame will make every time you shift
> N.

I don't think that's true. SHIFT-N creates a freeze-frame within the project file; there's no new file or image format created. The freeze-frame will go offline if you delete, lose or move the original video media.

What's annoying for me when I use Export Using QuickTime Conversion is that it defaults to QuickTime Movie. Very irritating if you're exporting multiple stills but not as a batch list. Every time you go into the damn dialog box, you have to go into Still Image again. I hope they fixed this in FCP6. The format of the exported image is no issue; once you change the default still format, it stays there.


www.derekmok.com

your rite. i guess the export via qt convert is just a genetic code thing i do without thinking.

""" What you do with what you have, is more important than what you could do, with what you don't have."

> > > Knowledge + Action = Wisdom - J. Corbett 1992 """"

HI. I´m doing something bad because everytime I import a picture to FCP and I render it, it gets distorted (big pixels). I have tried with PNG, TIFF, JPG and PSD... with all kind of sizes. The same as the secuence and bigger. Please, any advise to work with pictures.
Thanks. Hector.

is the distortion taking place in the viewer or the canvas?

what is the size and resolution of the still?

are you using fcp 6 or fcp 5?

""" What you do with what you have, is more important than what you could do, with what you don't have."

> > > Knowledge + Action = Wisdom - J. Corbett 1992 """"

>>I hope they fixed this in FCP6. <<

The didn't. I wonder if this qualifies as an interface change? It drives me bonkers too.