Ai-Max

Q: HD project to SD - to regain resolution of enlarged clips and stills

I have an HD ( 1080p ) documentary project on FCPX timeline nearly completed. It was always slated to be distributed on DVD for specific reason, which in principal has been the resolution of original media we have to include in the documentary. I had done this before a few times in FCP7 ( classic !? ) through compressor and DVD Studio Pro with acceptable results for maintaining the resolution of the output in general and maintaining the resolution of the intercut original media that were not HD to begin with.

 

Now, to compound the hit on the resolution issue we had to crop ( enlarge ) a few of the HD and even SD media. I tried to open the the 1080p project in a new 480p project with the hope of having overhead room for all those cropped and enlarged media but " everything " is already reduced to SD  automatically ! I shared a copy to DVD through FCPX and the results are comparatively unacceptable as directly sharing the original HD version to DVD.

 

How can I, in FCPX, bring an HD project in SD and keep the existing HD resolution at my disposal to selectively fit the footage in SD timeline ?

The final goal is regaining some lost resolution due to excessive cropping and enlarging of lower resolution media.

Posted on Oct 16, 2015 3:53 PM

Close

Q: HD project to SD - to regain resolution of enlarged clips and stills

  • All replies
  • Helpful answers

  • by Tom Wolsky,Helpful

    Tom Wolsky Tom Wolsky Oct 16, 2015 4:31 PM in response to Ai-Max
    Level 10 (118,222 points)
    Apple TV
    Oct 16, 2015 4:31 PM in response to Ai-Max

    When you put clips into a project they are automatically set to use the Fit spatial conform. If you want to adjust specific clips to reframe them, set the spatial conform to none.

  • by David Bogie Chq-1,Helpful

    David Bogie Chq-1 David Bogie Chq-1 Oct 16, 2015 4:32 PM in response to Tom Wolsky
    Level 7 (25,777 points)
    Video
    Oct 16, 2015 4:32 PM in response to Tom Wolsky

    Tom and the other wonks will have better advice for you.

     

    I've done this in After Effects; I'm imagining it's a similar operation in FCPX, but untested.

     

    Share your project at project size, 1080. Import that movie back into FCPX. Place it into an SD project. Turn off that spatial conform thingy. You can scale up or down as you need to using keyframes or blade cuts between scale changes.

     

    lf I were you, though, I'd use Tom's advice.

  • by Ai-Max,

    Ai-Max Ai-Max Oct 16, 2015 4:44 PM in response to David Bogie Chq-1
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 16, 2015 4:44 PM in response to David Bogie Chq-1

    David,

    Your workflow sounds amazingly attractive. That said, wouldn't the softness caused by cropping /enlarging of crappy original media gets baked in that first " shared "  video !? I understand the concept of the perception of sharpness when we reduce the size a soft image though.

    I will give it a try for sure. The biggest advantage I see is the simplicity and not being forced to a forest of secondary storylines, compound clips, detached audio, layers of still images with KenBurns ....


    Thanks for the tip

  • by Ai-Max,

    Ai-Max Ai-Max Oct 16, 2015 4:58 PM in response to Tom Wolsky
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 16, 2015 4:58 PM in response to Tom Wolsky

    Tom,

    I have read your solid comments and solutions you are providing to the community in here. They are all awesome and I have learned a lot from you.

    What makes my head spin in your comment is " the fact that I can set the spatial conform clip by clip " or am I misunderstanding you !?

     

    I cannot contain myself with this new knowledge of FCPX. I cut a lot of Documentaries and educational work that are exclusively DVD distributed. The possibility of setting Spatial Conform clip by clip in the same timeline will save me hundreds of hours of unnecessary work. I have to get back to the office and check this now. But nobody allowed in after hours, even people willing to work extra for free ! LOL

  • by Tom Wolsky,Solvedanswer

    Tom Wolsky Tom Wolsky Oct 16, 2015 5:48 PM in response to Ai-Max
    Level 10 (118,222 points)
    Apple TV
    Oct 16, 2015 5:48 PM in response to Ai-Max

    YYou can also set multiple clips at the same time. So if you search in the timeline index for a name or tag you can select the clips and change the spatial conform of all of them at once.