Grant Janes

Q: How do I resize a Final Cut Placeholder?

I'm really stuck here. I've enlarged the dimensions of my .moef file to 2K rez, but I cannot seem to enlarge the embedded placeholder. How do I do this without scaling it?

 

As a bonus, can someone tell me how to even create a Final Cut Paceholder?

 

Thank you!

Mac Pro (Late 2013), OS X El Capitan (10.11.4)

Posted on Mar 27, 2016 1:00 PM

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Q: How do I resize a Final Cut Placeholder?

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  • by fox_m,

    fox_m fox_m Mar 28, 2016 1:16 AM in response to Grant Janes
    Level 5 (5,547 points)
    Video
    Mar 28, 2016 1:16 AM in response to Grant Janes

    Don't worry the that Effect Source looks smaller. It is what it says it is: merely a Placeholder. The media in your FCPX storyline will be the same size it should be regardless.

     

    You cannot create a Placeholder in Motion. You have to pull a fast one if you want to add a Placeholder to a regular Motion project by editing the XML file in a text editor.  You would start by creating a standard Motion project and adding a standard Drop Zone to it, then save it.

     

    Here is more info about the specifics: Re: Is there any way to convert Dropzone to Final Cut Placeholder?

  • by Grant Janes,

    Grant Janes Grant Janes Mar 28, 2016 11:38 AM in response to fox_m
    Level 1 (9 points)
    Video
    Mar 28, 2016 11:38 AM in response to fox_m

    Thanks for the response. You are correct in that it isn't generally a problem if the "effect source" is smaller. However, I have an effect that color-corrects every pixel in my image in FCPX. Because the effect was being enlarged in FCPX (from 640x480 to 2048x1152), the edges of the effect were creating a "soft" halo around the entire frame of my film in FCPX.

     

    So I actually had to go in and make very specific modifications to the effect in Motion. The effect in question is ColorFinale (it's a plug-in for FCP X).

     

    Here is what I did:

     

    • In Motion I increased the dimensions of the “ColorFinale.moef” file to my exact movie size: 2048x1152.
    • In Photoshop I created a new Drop Zone TIFF (Final Cut Placeholder) with the exact pixel dimensions of my movie (again, 2048x1152) and linked to this new graphic in Motion.
    • Finally, I opened up the “ColorFinale.moef" in a text editor and changed the XML by modifying the Drop Zone (Final Cut Placeholder) dimensions to 2048x1152.

     

    So you are generally correct. However, in this highly specific incident I actually needed precise pixel precision not afforded by simply up-scaling the effect.

  • by fox_m,Helpful

    fox_m fox_m Mar 30, 2016 12:39 PM in response to Grant Janes
    Level 5 (5,547 points)
    Video
    Mar 30, 2016 12:39 PM in response to Grant Janes

    Thanks for the follow-up.  I hope you backed up ColorFinale first before modifying the XML.   If you start your Motion project at the custom size you require, the drop zones will "fit" like media in FCPX. That said, DZs have given me fits for a long time and their functionality has changed over the years. They are getting better but I still wouldn't call them perfect. I too have had to create several effects with custom drop zones because of some of these behaviors that DZs (and placeholders) have exhibited.  However, in general, placeholders are supposed to just represent *whatever* the media is in the Storyline in FCPX. And, apparently, they don't always do that consistently (I thought most of the old "bugs" had been worked out.)

     

    The other thing you have to watch out for in Motion is "groups" — if they've been flattened (3D) or if they are Fixed Resolution (2D). Both of these can create specific boundaries for filters and other effects (those that rasterize — some of them will have Width/Height properties or "Crop" checkboxes.)

     

    BTW, Drop Zone images (custom made) do not have to be TIFF. I prefer to use PNG, but JPG would do just fine and will "lighten" the weight of the published project with the smaller memory footprint of the more highly compressed image (automatically saved in the Media folder for the effect), and they can by *anything* (like a default image of something... a business brand/logo, a theme... anything—have some fun with it!)

     

    It *would be* convenient if an Effect (Title or Transition) placeholder could be created within Motion from a custom image. Provide Motion Feedback and request it. Maybe if enough people ask for it, they'll provide the option.

  • by Grant Janes,

    Grant Janes Grant Janes Mar 30, 2016 12:40 PM in response to fox_m
    Level 1 (9 points)
    Video
    Mar 30, 2016 12:40 PM in response to fox_m

    All good information to have for future projects. Thank you for the feedback!