Help! Easy Set Up Destroyed My Project..... at DVinfo.net

Morgan Crossley · May 2nd, 2008, 12:33 AM

Ok so i have a bit of a problem. i started an HD project in FCE, with my easy setup at 1920x1080, 60i. i left the project for a month or two and worked on another project inbetween. however, i changed the easy setup settings for the second project to 720x480, 30i.

when i opened up the first HD project today and kept editing, i realized i hadn't changed back easy setup to full HD 60i. so i changed it back to full and kept editing. when i went to export the final video at full quality, low and behold.... the file exported as 720x480... and it looks awful. no full HD at all obviously.

am i screwed? or can i fix this....

any help would be very much appreciated.

thanks

- Morgan

James Brill · May 2nd, 2008, 12:37 AM

Although your project got changed did the sequence you outputted follow that change? Often I have noticed that FCP is terrible at changing settings, there are 4 or 5 different places where you have the ability to change things like deck control, format, and so on.

Morgan Crossley · May 2nd, 2008, 12:46 AM

i'm not entirely sure what you're asking :-(

when i re-opened the HD project that was originally set to 1920x1080, the easy setup settings were currently at 720x480, which is when i noticed the image quality had changed in the clips i was editing. then when i exported the timeline it was in 720x480 instead of HD

i've also tried going into sequence settings and setting the sequence preset to 180i60, and that creates a video outputed to the right resolution, but the image is a squished rectangle in the middle of the huge 1920x1080 quicktime player window.

James Brill · May 2nd, 2008, 12:51 AM

When you are at the sequence that you want to export press "apple and 0" this is the hot key to open up that sequence's settings window. It will say all the settings that you most likely will want to change. You can select the sequence in the browser or if it is already in the timeline, make sure it is the one selected and press the hot key.

Morgan Crossley · May 2nd, 2008, 12:59 AM

when i go into the sequence settings the only thing i can see that would help me is the load sequence preset button. i tried this and selected 1080i60, which creates a squished rectangle video image of the wrong resolution in a playing window at the correct resolution of 1920x1080.

looks like this:
http://i29.tinypic.com/30u37y8.png

James Brill · May 2nd, 2008, 01:18 AM

I'm guessing that your timeline also needs to be rendered too. This should be because FCP rendered your footage to 720 instead of 1080 so that it would do the previous bad output. I would recommend re-rendering and double checking with the master clips to make sure there wasn't a loss in quality.

Morgan Crossley · May 2nd, 2008, 01:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by James Brill

I'm guessing that your timeline also needs to be rendered too. This should be because FCP rendered your footage to 720 instead of 1080 so that it would do the previous bad output. I would recommend re-rendering and double checking with the master clips to make sure there wasn't a loss in quality.

I did re-render the timeline and was left with the squished video image you see in the picture i posted in my previous reply.

what am i doing wrong?

James Brill · May 2nd, 2008, 04:00 PM

If you go to user preferences under the Final cut pro drop down menu there should be an option to check or uncheck that says scale media to sequence. If that is unchecked it won't scale it of course. What happens when you re cut in media into the sequence with correct settings?

Morgan Crossley · May 2nd, 2008, 11:17 PM

thankfully i fixed the problem today. i right clicked on the sequence, and removed all the video attributes, then i changed the sequence preset, and it was back to normal. didn't even have to re-render.

thanks for your help :-)

James Brill · May 2nd, 2008, 11:23 PM

Ya I know your pain. There are too many ways to change settings and unfortunately only a few actually work.

May 2nd, 2008, 12:33 AM	#1
Morgan Crossley Regular Crew Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Rhode Island Posts: 113	Help! Easy Set Up Destroyed My Project..... Ok so i have a bit of a problem. i started an HD project in FCE, with my easy setup at 1920x1080, 60i. i left the project for a month or two and worked on another project inbetween. however, i changed the easy setup settings for the second project to 720x480, 30i. when i opened up the first HD project today and kept editing, i realized i hadn't changed back easy setup to full HD 60i. so i changed it back to full and kept editing. when i went to export the final video at full quality, low and behold.... the file exported as 720x480... and it looks awful. no full HD at all obviously. am i screwed? or can i fix this.... any help would be very much appreciated. thanks - Morgan

May 2nd, 2008, 12:37 AM	#2
James Brill Major Player Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Goleta, CA Posts: 299	Although your project got changed did the sequence you outputted follow that change? Often I have noticed that FCP is terrible at changing settings, there are 4 or 5 different places where you have the ability to change things like deck control, format, and so on.

May 2nd, 2008, 12:46 AM	#3
Morgan Crossley Regular Crew Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Rhode Island Posts: 113	i'm not entirely sure what you're asking :-( when i re-opened the HD project that was originally set to 1920x1080, the easy setup settings were currently at 720x480, which is when i noticed the image quality had changed in the clips i was editing. then when i exported the timeline it was in 720x480 instead of HD i've also tried going into sequence settings and setting the sequence preset to 180i60, and that creates a video outputed to the right resolution, but the image is a squished rectangle in the middle of the huge 1920x1080 quicktime player window.

May 2nd, 2008, 12:51 AM	#4
James Brill Major Player Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Goleta, CA Posts: 299	When you are at the sequence that you want to export press "apple and 0" this is the hot key to open up that sequence's settings window. It will say all the settings that you most likely will want to change. You can select the sequence in the browser or if it is already in the timeline, make sure it is the one selected and press the hot key.

May 2nd, 2008, 12:59 AM	#5
Morgan Crossley Regular Crew Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Rhode Island Posts: 113	when i go into the sequence settings the only thing i can see that would help me is the load sequence preset button. i tried this and selected 1080i60, which creates a squished rectangle video image of the wrong resolution in a playing window at the correct resolution of 1920x1080. looks like this: http://i29.tinypic.com/30u37y8.png

May 2nd, 2008, 01:18 AM	#6
James Brill Major Player Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Goleta, CA Posts: 299	I'm guessing that your timeline also needs to be rendered too. This should be because FCP rendered your footage to 720 instead of 1080 so that it would do the previous bad output. I would recommend re-rendering and double checking with the master clips to make sure there wasn't a loss in quality.

May 2nd, 2008, 04:00 PM	#8
James Brill Major Player Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Goleta, CA Posts: 299	If you go to user preferences under the Final cut pro drop down menu there should be an option to check or uncheck that says scale media to sequence. If that is unchecked it won't scale it of course. What happens when you re cut in media into the sequence with correct settings?

May 2nd, 2008, 11:17 PM	#9
Morgan Crossley Regular Crew Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Rhode Island Posts: 113	thankfully i fixed the problem today. i right clicked on the sequence, and removed all the video attributes, then i changed the sequence preset, and it was back to normal. didn't even have to re-render. thanks for your help :-)

May 2nd, 2008, 11:23 PM	#10
James Brill Major Player Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Goleta, CA Posts: 299	Ya I know your pain. There are too many ways to change settings and unfortunately only a few actually work.