Frustrating Photoshop to FCP Titling Problem at DVinfo.net

Matthew Craggs · November 5th, 2009, 08:09 AM

Greetings,

I have always used other software for titling, but I have some PSD titles that are to be included in a project and I am obviously doing something wrong.

I have attached a screen capture of the problem. When played back, I got these horrible, jagged lines. They are less obvious when the sequence is paused, but when played back they are a horrible eye sore.

The PAR and frame size of both the image and the sequence match. I have tried rasterizing and not rasterizing the font. I have tried every Anti aliasing option (none/strong/smooth/crisp/sharp) in both rasterized and non-rasterized forms. I have tried different fonts in different sizes, inbold, italic, and pretty much every other font option Photoshop offers in both rasterized and non-rasterized forms.

There must be something I am doing wrong. I humbly ask all of you fine folks at DVInfo, what obvious thing am I overlooking?

Thanks in advance.

Robert Lane · November 5th, 2009, 08:26 AM

If things look great when static but go to a low-res mode during playback, that's almost always because the timeline - or that element - hasn't been rendered yet. Fully render your timeline and try again.

Also, you might try using the built-in Boris 3D text tool; unless there's something very special you have to create by hand in PS you don't need to import text from PS. Boris has a full suite of titling tools that can mirror 90% of what you can do in PS text.

Jonathan Bufkin · November 5th, 2009, 08:50 AM

If you have After Effects, try dropping the photoshop file in and rendering out a few second "lossless" animation. Then import that in to FCP.

Matthew Craggs · November 5th, 2009, 09:10 AM

Thank you both for the suggestions. Everything has been fully rendered and the problem remains. Unfortunately I will probably have to use the After Effects workaround. I wanted to keep everything simple because these PSDs were provided to me and I know importing them is doable because I have done it in the past.

Thanks again.

Shaun Roemich · November 5th, 2009, 09:45 AM

Your curves are also being cut off. See the bottom of the "e" and "s".

FCP has changed the way it handles PDS's somewhere along the line from version 1.0.2 (which worked PERFECTLY!) so I don't title in PS anymore. Now I use LiveType exclusively. FCP ALWAYS close crops non-full screen items now and I don't know why.

Brian Boyko · November 5th, 2009, 11:52 AM

Why not just render out as a 24-bit PNG?

Brian David Melnyk · November 9th, 2009, 12:06 AM

in the canvas viewer, view a still at 100%. does it look horribly jagged with screen lines?
if so, go into 'sequence settings' and try changing field dominance to 'none' if it is not. does that make a significant difference?
i was having a similar problem and this seemed to clear it up (in a HDV sequence with prores renders...) not sure if this is a sound method, but it improved quality immensely and turned a 40 hour transcode in compressor (of a 3 minute sequence!!!!) to a 2 hour transcode (there were a lot of photoshop layers with motion...). still trying to grasp the 'how's' and why's' of doing this, but it seems HDV's 'lower' dominance makes photoshop look bad bad bad, and it has something to do with progressive vs, interlaced... anybody have a more articulate explanation?

Boyd Ostroff · November 12th, 2009, 03:42 PM

Funny, I was in the middle of editing a big project the other day when I first saw this and I was also struggling to get Photoshop titles to look acceptable. Since that project is finally done, I wanted to post my own experiences. I rarely do anything with more than a few simplistic opening credits, but this project called for a lot more, including a "watermark" superimposed over the video.

I would say that your screenshots are similar to what I also see (although it's a little hard for me to understand the context with those small screenshots). I spent a number of hours trying to make my photoshop titles look good and finally gave up. I was working in standard definition DV, and came to the conclusion there just were not enough pixels available to make my relatively small text look decent.

I ended up using a couple of FCP's title/text effects and the results were much, much better. From now on I am not even going to waste my time doing Photoshop titles.

Mitchell Lewis · November 12th, 2009, 05:47 PM

Are you editing an interlaced project? If so, when you bring in graphic files, FCP will default them to interlaced.

When you import the Photoshop files, make sure that the Fields column is set to NONE (progressive) for the Photoshop files. You need to make this change in the Browser and then drag them into the Timeline. If you try change files in the Browser that already reside in the Timeline it will have no effect.

Does that make sense?

In addition, if the graphic looks squished, try changing from CCIR to Square pixels and then dragging into the timeline.

I have no trouble with Photoshop text looking clear in FCP. Hope this helps! :)

November 5th, 2009, 08:09 AM	#1
Matthew Craggs Major Player Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Welland, Ontario Posts: 311	Frustrating Photoshop to FCP Titling Problem Greetings, I have always used other software for titling, but I have some PSD titles that are to be included in a project and I am obviously doing something wrong. I have attached a screen capture of the problem. When played back, I got these horrible, jagged lines. They are less obvious when the sequence is paused, but when played back they are a horrible eye sore. The PAR and frame size of both the image and the sequence match. I have tried rasterizing and not rasterizing the font. I have tried every Anti aliasing option (none/strong/smooth/crisp/sharp) in both rasterized and non-rasterized forms. I have tried different fonts in different sizes, inbold, italic, and pretty much every other font option Photoshop offers in both rasterized and non-rasterized forms. There must be something I am doing wrong. I humbly ask all of you fine folks at DVInfo, what obvious thing am I overlooking? Thanks in advance. Attached Thumbnails

November 5th, 2009, 08:50 AM	#3
Jonathan Bufkin Major Player Join Date: May 2006 Location: Nashville, TN Posts: 253	If you have After Effects, try dropping the photoshop file in and rendering out a few second "lossless" animation. Then import that in to FCP. __________________ Jon Bufkin focalpointcinematic.com

November 5th, 2009, 09:45 AM	#5
Shaun Roemich Inner Circle Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Vancouver, British Columbia (formerly Winnipeg, Manitoba) Canada Posts: 4,088	Your curves are also being cut off. See the bottom of the "e" and "s". FCP has changed the way it handles PDS's somewhere along the line from version 1.0.2 (which worked PERFECTLY!) so I don't title in PS anymore. Now I use LiveType exclusively. FCP ALWAYS close crops non-full screen items now and I don't know why. __________________ Shaun C. Roemich Road Dog Media - Vancouver, BC - Videographer - Webcaster www.roaddogmedia.ca Blog: http://roaddogmedia.wordpress.com/

November 5th, 2009, 11:52 AM	#6
Brian Boyko Major Player Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Austin, TX Posts: 773	Why not just render out as a 24-bit PNG? __________________ Equip: Panny GH1, Canon HG20, Juicedlink, AT897, Sennh. EW/GW100, Zoom H2, Vegas 8.1

November 12th, 2009, 05:47 PM	#9
Mitchell Lewis Trustee Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Kennewick, WA Posts: 1,124	Are you editing an interlaced project? If so, when you bring in graphic files, FCP will default them to interlaced. When you import the Photoshop files, make sure that the Fields column is set to NONE (progressive) for the Photoshop files. You need to make this change in the Browser and then drag them into the Timeline. If you try change files in the Browser that already reside in the Timeline it will have no effect. Does that make sense? In addition, if the graphic looks squished, try changing from CCIR to Square pixels and then dragging into the timeline. I have no trouble with Photoshop text looking clear in FCP. Hope this helps! :) __________________ Sony EX3, Canon 5D MkII, Chrosziel Matte Box, Sachtler tripod, Steadicam Flyer, Mac Pro, Apple/Adobe software - 20 years as a local videographer/editor

November 5th, 2009, 08:26 AM	#2
Robert Lane Go Go Godzilla Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Scottsdale, AZ USA Posts: 2,823 Images: 15	If things look great when static but go to a low-res mode during playback, that's almost always because the timeline - or that element - hasn't been rendered yet. Fully render your timeline and try again. Also, you might try using the built-in Boris 3D text tool; unless there's something very special you have to create by hand in PS you don't need to import text from PS. Boris has a full suite of titling tools that can mirror 90% of what you can do in PS text.

November 5th, 2009, 09:10 AM	#4
Matthew Craggs Major Player Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Welland, Ontario Posts: 311	Thank you both for the suggestions. Everything has been fully rendered and the problem remains. Unfortunately I will probably have to use the After Effects workaround. I wanted to keep everything simple because these PSDs were provided to me and I know importing them is doable because I have done it in the past. Thanks again.

November 9th, 2009, 12:06 AM	#7
Brian David Melnyk Major Player Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Winnipeg Canada Posts: 532	in the canvas viewer, view a still at 100%. does it look horribly jagged with screen lines? if so, go into 'sequence settings' and try changing field dominance to 'none' if it is not. does that make a significant difference? i was having a similar problem and this seemed to clear it up (in a HDV sequence with prores renders...) not sure if this is a sound method, but it improved quality immensely and turned a 40 hour transcode in compressor (of a 3 minute sequence!!!!) to a 2 hour transcode (there were a lot of photoshop layers with motion...). still trying to grasp the 'how's' and why's' of doing this, but it seems HDV's 'lower' dominance makes photoshop look bad bad bad, and it has something to do with progressive vs, interlaced... anybody have a more articulate explanation?

November 12th, 2009, 03:42 PM	#8
Boyd Ostroff Wrangler Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Mays Landing, NJ Posts: 11,802	Funny, I was in the middle of editing a big project the other day when I first saw this and I was also struggling to get Photoshop titles to look acceptable. Since that project is finally done, I wanted to post my own experiences. I rarely do anything with more than a few simplistic opening credits, but this project called for a lot more, including a "watermark" superimposed over the video. I would say that your screenshots are similar to what I also see (although it's a little hard for me to understand the context with those small screenshots). I spent a number of hours trying to make my photoshop titles look good and finally gave up. I was working in standard definition DV, and came to the conclusion there just were not enough pixels available to make my relatively small text look decent. I ended up using a couple of FCP's title/text effects and the results were much, much better. From now on I am not even going to waste my time doing Photoshop titles.