Exporting 16x9 24pa from FCP at DVinfo.net

Jason Hilton · May 8th, 2005, 01:19 PM

I just got a Cannon XL-2 and have been busily shooting and importing test footage. I shot the footage in 16:9 24p with 2:3:3:2 pulldown and am editing in a 24 fps timeline. Everything is working great, until I try to export samples. For the life of me I can't get the correct aspect ratio on export. I would like to export some frame samples as well as some footage. No matter what I try, I still end up with a 4:3 squeezed picture. Do any of you know how to export the Anamorphic footage from FCP?

Thanks a lot for the help!

-Jason

John Snoddy · May 9th, 2005, 06:54 AM

You might need to use Anamorphicizer. It sets a flag in QT to indicate the correct aspect ratio. After exporting to QT, I drop my file on this & then bring it into iDVD. If I don't, I get a 4:3 squeezed image.

http://homepage.mac.com/sith33/FileSharing34.html

Frank Vu · May 9th, 2005, 03:49 PM

I'm having the same problem.

I don't understand why QT won't display it correctly. EVEN when you export as a quicktime movie and select the option for "DV NTSC 48kHz Anamorphic".

It would be absurd to spend so much on FCP and then have to use a separate utility JUST for exporting anamorphic footage.

Boyd Ostroff · May 9th, 2005, 04:46 PM

The problem is that Quicktime doesn't support variable pixel aspect ratios on square pixel devices like computer monitors (or at least QT 6 doesn't, maybe they changed this in QT 7?).

If you want your 16:9 footage to look right on a computer screen using either Quicktime or still JPEGs then you need to manual scale it accordingly. So choose any size that works out to the 16:9 proportion. For full resolution scale the image to 854x480 for example.

If you're exporting a Quicktime movie I think you'll find this option under "custom frame size" or something like that. If you're working with stills, export a JPEG and then resize it in Photoshop.

But when you're working with anamorphic video nothing is wrong when it looks tall and skinny on a computer monitor. That's just the way anamorphic works, it's intended to be displayed on a widescreen monitor which will stretch it back to the proper proportions. So you should only resize if you specifically need to show it on a computer monitor.

Also note that you'll have the same problem with non-anamorphic 720x480 images, although it may not be so noticeable. If you want them to have the correct proportions you need to resize to 640x480, or any other size with a 4:3 aspect ratio.

Shane Ross · May 9th, 2005, 08:36 PM

Down and dirty method.

To export your footage to tape unsqueezed...ie black bars on the top and bottom...export your cut as a reference movie (not self contained), reimport it, drop it onto a new sequence (4:3 sequence) then under the motion tab go to the DISTORT option and type "-35."

Then render...

Now it will output to a 4x3 screen letterboxed.

Boyd Ostroff · May 9th, 2005, 08:44 PM

If that's what you want to do then why not create a 4:3 sequence and just drop the anamorphic sequence into it. It will be letterboxed automagically. But I thought the question was how to make it appear in a 16:9 proportioned window under Quicktime...

May 8th, 2005, 01:19 PM	#1
Jason Hilton Regular Crew Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: United States Posts: 26	Exporting 16x9 24pa from FCP I just got a Cannon XL-2 and have been busily shooting and importing test footage. I shot the footage in 16:9 24p with 2:3:3:2 pulldown and am editing in a 24 fps timeline. Everything is working great, until I try to export samples. For the life of me I can't get the correct aspect ratio on export. I would like to export some frame samples as well as some footage. No matter what I try, I still end up with a 4:3 squeezed picture. Do any of you know how to export the Anamorphic footage from FCP? Thanks a lot for the help! -Jason __________________ http://www.tumblemonster.com

May 9th, 2005, 03:49 PM	#3
Frank Vu Regular Crew Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Chicago, Ill. Posts: 26	I'm having the same problem. I don't understand why QT won't display it correctly. EVEN when you export as a quicktime movie and select the option for "DV NTSC 48kHz Anamorphic". It would be absurd to spend so much on FCP and then have to use a separate utility JUST for exporting anamorphic footage. __________________ www.smockless.com

May 9th, 2005, 06:54 AM	#2
John Snoddy Regular Crew Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Camp Hill, PA Posts: 41	You might need to use Anamorphicizer. It sets a flag in QT to indicate the correct aspect ratio. After exporting to QT, I drop my file on this & then bring it into iDVD. If I don't, I get a 4:3 squeezed image. http://homepage.mac.com/sith33/FileSharing34.html

May 9th, 2005, 04:46 PM	#4
Boyd Ostroff Wrangler Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Mays Landing, NJ Posts: 11,802	The problem is that Quicktime doesn't support variable pixel aspect ratios on square pixel devices like computer monitors (or at least QT 6 doesn't, maybe they changed this in QT 7?). If you want your 16:9 footage to look right on a computer screen using either Quicktime or still JPEGs then you need to manual scale it accordingly. So choose any size that works out to the 16:9 proportion. For full resolution scale the image to 854x480 for example. If you're exporting a Quicktime movie I think you'll find this option under "custom frame size" or something like that. If you're working with stills, export a JPEG and then resize it in Photoshop. But when you're working with anamorphic video nothing is wrong when it looks tall and skinny on a computer monitor. That's just the way anamorphic works, it's intended to be displayed on a widescreen monitor which will stretch it back to the proper proportions. So you should only resize if you specifically need to show it on a computer monitor. Also note that you'll have the same problem with non-anamorphic 720x480 images, although it may not be so noticeable. If you want them to have the correct proportions you need to resize to 640x480, or any other size with a 4:3 aspect ratio.

May 9th, 2005, 08:36 PM	#5
Shane Ross Major Player Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: Los Angeles, USA Posts: 539	Down and dirty method. To export your footage to tape unsqueezed...ie black bars on the top and bottom...export your cut as a reference movie (not self contained), reimport it, drop it onto a new sequence (4:3 sequence) then under the motion tab go to the DISTORT option and type "-35." Then render... Now it will output to a 4x3 screen letterboxed.

May 9th, 2005, 08:44 PM	#6
Boyd Ostroff Wrangler Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Mays Landing, NJ Posts: 11,802	If that's what you want to do then why not create a 4:3 sequence and just drop the anamorphic sequence into it. It will be letterboxed automagically. But I thought the question was how to make it appear in a 16:9 proportioned window under Quicktime...