Widescreen: When adjusting offset, image loses sharpness.

Hello All,

thanks to everyone looking at this message. I shot a miniDV documentary in 4:3 format on a canon xl-1 (ntsc) with the intention of later laying a 16:9 mask over the image in FCP. I have managed to do this with the video filter->matte->widescreen. It works well until I move the image up or down using "Offset", at which point the image becomes less sharp.

I checked in the FAQs and another person got help from many including Jude Cotter and Derek Mok who kindly helped him. (http://www.lafcpug.org/phorum/read.php?11,153025,159980#msg-159980)

I tried to do this but I am sorry there are some things I did not understand. (As I am not sure whether it is okay to email Derek directly I posted this here - I hope this is alright.)


Qs.
1. Does one apply the mask shape filter onto slug???
2. Can I then adjust the vertical position of the clips using in the viewer "Motion" ->Basic Motion
->Center (putting in a new center coordinate???)

I quote from Derek:
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Create a black Color Matte using Generator. Apply a Mask Shape filter (Effects - Video Filters - Matte - Mask Shape) to it, then use the following settings:

Rectangular
Horizontal 100
Vertical [Variable] (If I remember right, 80 will give you a 1.66:1 matte, 75.2 will give you 1.78:1, 72 will give you 1.85:1)
Invert CHECKED

Now rename the Color Matte to "1.85 Widescreen Matte" and drag it into your Browser. Put that on a video track above your clips and it will matte your whole sequence to around the equivalent of a 1.85 Widescreen Matte letterbox. To temporarily remove it to save rendering time, just select it and press CONTROL-B. It's a lot easier than putting on 100 Widescreen Matte filters, and much more convenient than nesting.
---------------------------------------


Thanks to anyone in advance who can help me with this solution or who has yet another technique to solve the problem.

Kind regards,
Robert

robert
robertohp2001@yahoo.com

PS. Sorry forgot the technical stuff:

FCP HD 4.5
Mac OS X 10.4.9
powerbook G4

> Does one apply the mask shape filter onto slug???

You can, but I prefer using a black Color Matte because if I remember correctly, Slugs have a limit as to how far you can stretch their duration but Color Mattes don't. That said, with a widescreen mask like this you wouldn't want just one big long piece covering your whole film; you'd want to apply in bite-sized one-to-two-minute chunks. So it's more a matter of preference or anything.

> Can I then adjust the vertical position of the clips using in the viewer "Motion" ->Basic Motion
> ->Center (putting in a new center coordinate???)

Absolutely. As long as the edges of the clips are still covered by the mask.

And here's where Nick Meyers will jump in and say that doing the mask in Photoshop will render faster. He may be right (I've never tested this), though Photoshop files are marginally more complicated to deal with.


www.derekmok.com

Hi Derek,

thank you once again for helping me out!

I followed the procedure and I hate to say it, but the image looks mushy and out of focus again. It seems to come from changing the center position of the image ( motion->basic motion->center).
Is this supposed to happen as a result?????

Thank you!
Robert

robert
robertohp2001@yahoo.com

Are you watching on the Canvas? You can't judge image quality there, especially with effects.

Render the thing and then look at it on an external monitor.


www.derekmok.com

BLURRY IMAGE:

2 things:
1) render!
2) view on an external monitor!

but here's point three:
3)
when you move an image in the basic motion window or using the wireframe,
fine tune your work by making the values in Basic Motion WHOLE - EVEN numbers.
these will give you a cleaner image.

i imagine this might be the same in the Widescreen filter, but i wont guarantee it.
FCP does things is weird silly ways sometimes,
and having a different scale of motion in a filter as opposed to the motion tab is exactly the sort of thing i'm talking about.

besides it;s so much more intuitive to just grab the image and slid it under a WS mask layer.

MASKS
"Slugs have a limit as to how far you can stretch their duration but Color Mattes don't"

That's old behaviour - Slugs can be as long as you want now.
just type a value into the duration window.
or how about this:
with no in/outs in your timeline
hold OPTION and DRAG THE DURATION VALUE FROM THE CANVAS DURATION FIELD
drag it into the Slug's duration field.
bingo slug is same duration as your timeline.

FWIW, the "Add Matte Shape" approach is going to give you less RT (and presumably longer render times) than 2 cropped slugs approach.
if you like having it neat, and in a one clip you can move around easily,
use the "Create your own WS mask in FCP" technique also listed in the FAQ:

hey.. it doesn't work for me any more!

this used to work for me:
Lay up 2 slugs and crop to create a letterbox
make the underlying clip invisible. (control B)
make a freeze frame (Shift N)

this used to (5.0 - 5.11) give me a mask with a hole in it in the viewer.
i check that by setting the viewer to display a Checkerboard bg, not black.
it;s not working for me anymore (5.14)

but THIS WORKS:

Lay up 2 slugs and crop to create a letterbox
NEST the slugs (Select and Option C)
drag nest to viewer
make freeze frame (Shift N)
give it any duration you want by typing a value in the duration field.
drag it to your browser

im guessing, but i think this will give you the most RT, and the fastest renders


cheers,
nick

Just for laughs, Robert, can you select one of the clips that is going blurry in the timeline, and go to Sequence > Render and put a tick next to 'full'. Then go to Sequence > Render > Both and let the 'fully rendered' video re render. This often helps if you are seeing bumps in transitions, and I wondered if it would also help with your problem.


Also - Nick - great trick with option dragging the timecode! Never heard that one before.

ah, yes, Render Full.... isn't "full" quality! at least with DV it isn't
(what was that i was saying about FCP being weird sometimes...)

option drag:
there's always some new trick to be discovered


cheers,
nick

>>there's always some new trick to be discovered<<

I know! Did you realise that in the latest version if you hold apple-option-t-a as you play a clip that it will actually analyse the audio and insert subtitles? OK. Thats a lie, but it would be cool.

Hello Everyone!

Thank you all so very much for your help - I really appreciate it!! Sorry for the delay in my response. I am travelling and will not be able to test this wonderful advice until next week when I can set up with a monitor.

Cheers,
Robert

robert
robertohp2001@yahoo.com