Working in 4K - can I work in a proxy mode?

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Level 1

106 points

Working in 4K - can I work in a proxy mode?

This may seem like a dumb question ... but after bouncing back and forth in FCPX ... I'm wondering.

I have to make a bunch of masks for a 4K film. The last time I worked in 4K in Motion, it was fairly simple - just some animated moves on stills (which I did in 4K, then exported to an HD Quicktime to see if they worked or not). This time I'm wondering if there is any way I can build my masks and layers in HD, and then somehow bump everything to 4K to export out? My first thought is that one would have to rebuild everything to fit the new scale - but with the advancements in techno, who knows.

Ben

Posted on Jul 11, 2014 12:31 PM

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Answer 1

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fox_m

Level 6

12,208 points

Jul 11, 2014 6:44 PM in response to Ben Low

If your 4K media is the same aspect / resolution as HD (16:9) then the Motion project should scale in FCPX properly. That's probably not what you really mean.

Motion is designed for the creation of effects, etc. to be used in FCPX and projects built in say: 1280x720 will automatically be scaled to whatever the project size is in FCPX as long as the aspect is 16:9... (you have to make provisions for mixed HD/SD formats in Motion using "snapshots".)

I suppose, however, that you could build your Masks in Motion in HD and when converting to 4K, I recommend scaling the Group(s) containing the masks to the larger size. If your masks are Bezier, they'll have "infinite resolution" and should scale accurately.

Can I ask what kind of masks you are building? Garbage mattes or rotoscoping? Something else? I've built several different kinds of masks for FCPX, maybe I have something already made you could use.

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Answer 2

Ben Low Author

Level 1

106 points

Jul 12, 2014 9:35 AM in response to fox_m

Hi fox_m,

Just got into the cutting room. Will do my French ham & cheese sandwich (I'm in Montreal), then carefully read over your note. And respond a little later. I'm just starting up the project and have to study the notes I made while the director paced the room. I bet I'll have more questions, once I figure out what is needed. Will respond soon ...

Thank you kindly for that, very helpful,

Ben

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