Pixels, frame size, aspect ratio etc.

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Level 1

9 points

Pixels, frame size, aspect ratio etc.

Hi everyone,

I'm having a complete nightmare with making graphics in After Effects, for importing into an SD PAL 720x576 (Anamorphic) 16:9 FCP sequence.

Can someone please just treat me like a 5-year-old and tell me what settings I should be using? I'm totally confused about the whole deal with aspect ratio and pixel type. Why is PAL SD in 720x576 (a 4:3 ratio), but plays in a 16:9 aspect ratio? What's the deal with "anamorphic" pixels? I thought widescreen SD is just 1024x576.

Due to this, I've made an animation in AE with a 1024x576 comp size, but when imported into FCP, it's squashed from the top and bottom, with black bars? It just doesn't like it. It renders out fine, plays fine in 16:9 using Quicktime. But FCP just isn't displaying it like that.

Please help me!

Many thanks,

Josh.

Final Cut Pro 7, Mac OS X (10.7.4)

Posted on Aug 14, 2012 12:36 PM

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Answer 1

Nick Holmes

Level 7

30,018 points

Aug 14, 2012 1:04 PM in response to puremotion

> Why is PAL SD in 720x576 (a 4:3 ratio), but plays in a 16:9 aspect ratio? What's the deal with "anamorphic" pixels?

PAL SD 720x576 pixels are not square. It can be both 4:3 and 16:9. 4:3 pixels are taller than they are wide. 16:9 pixels are wider than they are tall. Anamorphic works by squeezing the 16:9 pixels on recording and unsqueezing them on playback. That way, it fits on recording media meant for 4:3.

>I thought widescreen SD is just 1024x576.

No. That's the dimensions of television's non square pixels mapped across a computer display's square pixels while retaining aspect ratio.

>Due to this, I've made an animation in AE with a 1024x576 comp size, but when imported into FCP, it's squashed from the top and bottom, with black bars? It just doesn't like it. It renders out fine, plays fine in 16:9 using Quicktime.

AE has a preset for Anamorphic PAL SD. Use that. Change QuickTime Player 7 (not X) to use the Clean Aperture setting. It will playback 720x576 16:9 correctly -- mapped across 1024 square pixels. Press command & J to get this window:

This will also set the Anamorphic flag for FCP.

>But FCP just isn't displaying it like that.

FCP is expecting 720x576 Anamorphic. You are giving it 1024x576. FCP then shrinks that to fit the 720x576 Sequence Setting.

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