Pixel dimensions for stills in FPCX?

It depends on what format you're working in, how large, the original image is, how large you need it to be. The screen resolution does not need to exceed 72dpi. You can scan higher to generate a larger image if you need one. Unless you need to pan or scale the image you don't need to make it larger than the project format. If you do make the image two or three times the project size. Be careful about making them too big, unless you have a ton of RAM, especially if you're using a lot of images. Always clean up and resize as needed in Photoshop. I use PNG. JPEG is poor and recompresses. TIFF is too large.

For a 1080p project you can make the images 1920 x 1080 unless you plan to pan and zoom (aka Ken Burns) the images. Then doubling the size should be adequate. If you don't need to pan and zoom I would definately keep them 1920 x 1080.

I typically use JPEG and they work great. But I'm sure there's someone out there who will swear you need to use TIFF. You know who you are.

If I were you and you had to choose, I'd choose to follow what the other Tom says over me.

Pixel dimensions (ppi) are irrelevant in video. What counts is the number of pixels.

If you make the images the same size as the project settings (1920 x 1080 for instance) that's fine but you are leaving no room for zooming or panning within the picture, if that,s what you intend to do.

I prefer to use Tiff files but if disk space is limited you may prefer jpeg. Use photoshop if you have transparent backgrounds etc.

Andy

To me, pixel dimensions is the number of pixels across the entire image. Pixel density (or resolution) would be PPI.

I use this to back my claim. Or I'll let Adobe Photoshop help me:

Quite right Thomas - my mistake, but the fact remains that ppi, dpi etc is irrelevant in video.

Andy

Video doesn't have variable pixel density. Only print does. Video pixel sizes and aspects ratios are fixed bythe specification of the formt.

Going back to the original question, it was asked at what ppi to set a scanner at. In that respect it is appropriate to talk about dpi/ppi since most scanner SW has dpi settings to determine how much detail to scan at. In this example, if we assume my original answer of needing double the pixel dimensions (1920x1080)X2 = 3840x2160.

If you set the scanner to 600dpi, you would need (3840x2160)/600 = 6.4in x 3.6in original image to get the desired results. For smaller or larger original images you'd need to adjust the dpi to get the same result.

Thomas Emmerich wrote:

For smaller or larger original images you'd need to adjust the dpi to get the same result.

No.

That's the point. If you scan at (say) 1280 x 720 - whether it's 72 dpi or 7200 dpi, it makes no difference in video - dpi or ppi is irrelevant in video.

Don't take my word for it, try it. Scan at two different dpi settings but with the same pixel dimensions and then bring them into FCP X - the images will be exactly the same in the timeline.

Andy

Andy, I'm not disagreeing with you at all and I fully understand how it works. I'm just not articulating myself properly. I'm only talking about setting the scanner software for best results. When you scan, you set the dpi and the size of the scanned document being scanned. The size of the scanned document on the scanner is a physical size (inches). The combination of the scanned size (inches), the dpi setting and the scale factor controls the resulting pixel dimensions. The scale factor should always be 100% for best quality.

When you scan a document you can't control the physical size of the document. It is what it is. So you need to select the physical size of the document on the scanner bed (in inches). Then to get the correct pixel dimensions, you need to select the correct dpi for the scanner to use. See my example in Epson Scan software.

If you choose a different dpi in the scanner SW, then the resulting image will need to be scaled after the scan is complete to get the correct "target" pixel dimensions. If you scale after scanning, you are either creating or destroying pixels. Better to set the correct dpi before scanning.

Note that the scale factor in my example below is 100%. That means the correct pixel dimensions will be captured natively from the scan and not modified after the fact.

I agree once you have the image scanned, the dpi becomes irrelevent. But it does matter to the scanner software.

Thomas, I think you mis-understand the process of scanning - or at least, your posts suggest it.

If you set the scan an image at 6 inches (are you REALLY still using inches?) square and set the dpi to 72. When printed, that document will be six inches square and the file size will be quite small because there are only 72 dots for every inch of image size.

If you leave the scanner set at six inches square but increase the dots per inch to 300, the resulting file will be bigger - but the resulting printed image will be exactly the same size as the 72 dpi image but the resolution will be far greater because there are now 300 x 6 dots for every inch of image size

The number of dots per inch varies the quality of the image over a given size. It does not vary the size of the image - but, of course, the 300 dpi image could be stretched to a larger size with little apparent loss of quality (compared to the 72 dpi image).

Just to stress again though (for anyone reading this who doesn't already know and might be misled by this) dpi and pixels per inch or centimeter, are irrelevant in video - it's the pixel dimensions that matter (1080 x 720 etc).

Andy

Hi Blessin,

Just import your still images, into Final Cut Pro X, and do what ever you want to do to them.

What Tom & Andynick are saying is correct.

I use stills all the time, with my videos.

Their is one thing, to think about, how long do you want the still image viewable. 1 sec, 2 sec.

Two sec is my max. cause people will get bored if it is up there for over 3 sec's. Also, are you using

a voice over or audio track. Then you might have it for 4 sec's. If you go that long animate it.

I have sat through film festivals were the person had stil'sl up, for over 10 sec and the audience was lost.

Russ

Andy,

Lets narrow the discussion to scanning. Forget about video or printing.

A new example: You have a 10x10 inch document. You need to scan it and you desire the final image file to be 1000x1000 pixels. You must set the scanner to scan at 100 dpi because 10 x 100 = 1000. It's that simple. If you set the scanner to anything else, the resulting image must be scaled in software to get it to 1000x1000 pixels.

If you have the same document and you set the scanner to 50 dpi, your resulting scanned image will be 10 x 50 = 500x500 pixels. Don't you agree with this?

The scanner has a dpi setting that matters for every scan made. You cannot ignore it.

Tom

Thomas Emmerich wrote:

If you have the same document and you set the scanner to 50 dpi, your resulting scanned image will be 10 x 50 = 500x500 pixels. Don't you agree with this?

No, Thomas - you're missing the point. 50 pixels PER INCH - so it's 10 inches by 10 inches.

The fewer the pixels, the larger they are, and the less detail will be in the image but the dimensions will be the same.

Andy

I'm not understanding why you say No and then repeat the same thing I stated. My example was with a 10 inch by 10 inch document scanned at 50 dpi. The resulting file will be 500 pixels wide. I can't figure out what you are disagreeing with.

Andy & Thomas

Hope this works!

http://www.larryjordan.biz/technique-prepping-still-images-for-final-cut-pro/

Found this article were Larry Jordan talks about Prepping still images for Final Cut Pro.

I never change the dpi ppi or aspect . I just use the still as is, period. It works, but I'm different.

Russ