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Jagged Edges/Aliasing Render Issues Downconverting from HD to SD in FCPX

Hi Guys - I've finally made the jump from FCP7 to FCPX and have had a pleasant experience so far until now. I do a lot of HD to SD down-conversions after my editing is complete. As you can see from the screenshots below, I'm seeing aliasing issues on my rendered footage.

FCP7 (perfect) : http://i.imgur.com/mJo9F7d.jpg

FCPX (aliasing) : http://i.imgur.com/kbO8Pqa.jpg

On FCP7 I would simply go to the Sequence settings and change the Field Dominance setting to NONE and continue with exporting the HD timeline to Compressor and using the 90 min DVD setting and my rendered footage would look great!

I cannot seem to find a way to do this in FCPX. I know you can set the clips' Field Dominance "Override" setting to None Set, Upper Field, Lower Field and Progressive. I've tried all 4 options and none seem to fix the issue. Even when I open Compressor and view the exported timeline from FCPX, it states that it is Upper Level eventhough I've changed the clips to the other 3 settings.

Any ideas how to fix this? Am I missing something? Is there something similiar to FCP7's way?

Thanks.

Final Cut Pro X

Posted on Mar 4, 2013 11:37 PM

46 replies

mosdefff Author

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Mar 5, 2013 1:05 PM in response to Tom Wolsky

They were two separate projects - one was 1080i and the other was 720p - to show you it didn't matter if I used interlaced or progressive media in my project before rendering/transcoding.

When I say "rendered" file, I mean exporting out from FCPX>File>Share>Choosing my Compressor setting. I've also tried rendering out as a Master file and dropping it into Compressor and transcoding. Both resulted in the same interlaced footage.

Tom Wolsky

Level 10

152,809 points

Mar 5, 2013 1:14 PM in response to mosdefff

I just can't reproduce what you're getting. An HDV 1080i project set to 1080p and output using Compressor DVD settings producing an m2v fileslooks like this to me

and shows no interlacing in a scene with a lot of motion.

mosdefff Author

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Mar 5, 2013 1:23 PM in response to Tom Wolsky

Yup that is exactly what I'm doing. I don't get it. 😟

I've uploaded a small clip here - try using that and File>Share>Compressor MPEG-2 setting and let me know what you get.

http://www.sendspace.com/file/39ay1e

Tom Wolsky

Level 10

152,809 points

Mar 5, 2013 2:48 PM in response to mosdefff

Take your project and copy the whole thing.

Make a new project that's 720p and set the frame rate to 29.97. Do not use base the project on first clip.

Paste your project into the new project and get send it to Compressor however you want.

fox_m

Level 6

13,282 points

Mar 5, 2013 3:15 PM in response to mosdefff

Field Dominance Override is in the Info > Settings pane.

mosdefff Author

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Mar 5, 2013 3:24 PM in response to fox_m

Tom - did what you said and still having interlacing.

Fox - that is only for the clip(s), not the entire project.

Tom Wolsky

Level 10

152,809 points

Mar 5, 2013 3:46 PM in response to mosdefff

I used the clip you uploaded, and it worked correctly using the procedure I described. Don't know what else to say.

mosdefff Author

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Mar 5, 2013 3:57 PM in response to Tom Wolsky

Can you show me the Project settings?

And just to reiterate - you took the 720p clip and put it into a FCPX project with 720p dimensions and 29.97p framerate, went to File>Share>Compresser setting DVD (MPEG-2 for DVD) and you saw no interlacing?

Tom Wolsky

Level 10

152,809 points

Mar 5, 2013 4:12 PM in response to mosdefff

and it looked like that

mosdefff Author

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Mar 5, 2013 4:22 PM in response to Tom Wolsky

OK I'm seeing no interlacing now with that clip. I'll attempt to do this with my other project that is in 1080i.

Is there a reason why am I not seeing the interlacing now? What difference does "Set based on first video clip" do?

In FCP7, I would work by dropping all my clips in the canvas window and choosing the yellow box and my sequence would use the settings of the clips and there would be no issue.

Tom Wolsky

Level 10

152,809 points

Mar 5, 2013 4:26 PM in response to mosdefff

What difference does "Set based on first video clip" do?

Exactly like 7. It conforms the project to match the media. In this instance you want the project to 29.97p.

fox_m

Level 6

13,282 points

Mar 5, 2013 4:27 PM in response to mosdefff

Yeah - I know that...

FCPX takes care of all the details as long as you don't try to lie to it. Your conversion to SD should always be to progressive. If you're having interlace issues, then you're trying to tell FCPX something that isn't true and that could very well concern your clips and not your project.

mosdefff Author

Level 1

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Mar 5, 2013 5:29 PM in response to fox_m

Can I change the Project settings to this custom setting manually or only by creating a NEW project?

mosdefff Author

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Mar 5, 2013 6:09 PM in response to mosdefff

Well I created a new project 1080p 29.97p and copy and pasted my timeline into the new project.

I exported out the same way you said and the interlace is back.

Any thoughts?

I'm also having to have FCPX render the clips in the background again - I guess this is because I'm telling FCPX that its 1080p footage when in fact it is 1080i?

mosdefff Author

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Mar 5, 2013 8:41 PM in response to mosdefff

OK so after several times playing around with this I've finally see what DOES and DOESN'T work:

1. Project needs to be in progressive state (720p/1080p) even if footage is 1080i.

2. Renders will NOT show interlacing if rendered/transoded directly from the main timeline.

3. Renders WILL show interlacing if you render/transcode from a compound clip.

The compound clips were the problem. I used them to break up my whole project into "sequences" as done in FCP7.

Update:

After a little more dabling, I've noticed it was MY compound clips that were originally done in the 1080i project, BEFORE Tom's suggestion, that were interlaced after rendering/transcoding.

I opened a NEW project with the 1080p settings, dropped the same clips in there (1080i), grouped them together into a compound clip, opened the compound clip and rendered/transcoded it out from there and footage looks fine (no interlacing).

Thanks again Tom and Fox for the help! Kudos! 😎

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Jagged Edges/Aliasing Render Issues Downconverting from HD to SD in FCPX