Forums | MacLife

Zaimejs · 2005-08-11 2:10 pm

I just finished putting together a collection of still and video footage using final cut pro 3. Each time I watch it, I notice little glitches. Here are some things I need help with.

1. Over exposure: The still photos look fine in iPhoto, but then when I put them in FCP and put them on the television, they are overexposed. Why?

2. Flickering... I just noticed today that many (I didn't notice if it was all) of the still photos in my movie kind of flicker... not fast, but more of a pulse. Do I need to deinterlace or change some setting to make that not happen? And do I have to go back and do it to every image in the movie?

I'm never happy with my titles either. I just have standard white with black outline titles. But they always look a bit cheesy. Does anyone have a font recommendation and perhaps a shadow setting that works well?

Thanks,

emotionDV · 2005-08-11 3:31 pm

1. Stuff you see on your computer monitor will NOT look the same on a TV, you should be using the Scopes in FCP to adjust the levels to something safe for TV (Can't help you there, I have somebody that does Color Corrections and levels for me).

2. Your best bet is to De-interlace your photos in Photoshop before bringing them into FCP.

3. Upgrade to FCP 4 with LiveType, you will start to love titles! You could also create stuff in Photoshop and bring it in, or from a 3D application. Otherwise, you are kind of stuck with the built in titling in FCP (Which I will agree, sucks!)

Zaimejs · 2005-08-12 3:21 pm

So FCP 4 titling is better? That is one feature I'd be willing to pay for.

The dumb thing is that I have a television next to my computer that I use to preview my videos, but since this was just for me and not for a job, I thought I'd be okay just going with it... but it bothers me now.

Deinterlace every photo before putting it into video?

Thanks for the advice... I will try that.

emotionDV · 2005-08-12 4:12 pm

Actually FCP 4 has the same titling that FCP does, BUT it comes with LiveType, which is far superior for titles. Of course, viewing them on your computer will still look like crap until you watch them on a TV screen.

Yes, deinterlace before bringing in, but you can also try the deinterlace filter and apply to the images as they are already in the timeline.

avkills · 2005-08-12 6:44 pm

Any photo or graphic you bring into FCP will have to have its levels adjusted so that the entire contrast and black levels of the pictures are used within the entire spectrum of YUV video which operates from about 16 to 235. RGB operates between 0 and 255. In photoshop there is a Levels adjustment that will allow you to re-map the 0-255 RGB levels to 16-235 for use with video.

Using clips digitized from FCP in apps like After Effects is even more fun since Apple applies gamma curves which you need to adjust out going clips and incoming motion graphics from AE for. Motion and LiveType probably compensate for this for you seeing how they are integrated into the FCP production pipeline.

If the levels adjustment above does not fix your problem, email me and I'll send you some gamma curve adjustments you can also make to try and fix the issue.

Pictures flickering are probably due to super sharp lines in the picture. Just add a very tiny amount of blur or unsharpen and that will probably fix it. Moving pictures really really slow will cause the same problem.

-mark

Zaimejs · 2005-08-12 9:14 pm

Wow... good advice. Didn't know that about the gamma. I will try those things. It seemed that the sharper images... those with higher contrasting values were the ones that flickered more...

Thanks!

sevoneone · 2005-08-21 2:21 am

sometimes a 0.25 to 0.5 Gaussian Blur applied in Final Cut can help a persistent flickering still image.

Forums | MacLife

#1 2005-08-11 2:10 pm

Flicker Free Photos?

#2 2005-08-11 3:31 pm

Re: Flicker Free Photos?

#3 2005-08-12 3:21 pm

Re: Flicker Free Photos?

#4 2005-08-12 4:12 pm

Re: Flicker Free Photos?

#5 2005-08-12 6:44 pm

Re: Flicker Free Photos?

#6 2005-08-12 9:14 pm

Re: Flicker Free Photos?

#7 2005-08-21 2:21 am

Re: Flicker Free Photos?

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