Is there any way to export 2.35 Anamorphic source to a 16x9 letterboxed frame WITH timecode or text overlays?

Question

Is there any way to export 2.35 Anamorphic source to a 16x9 letterboxed frame WITH timecode or text overlays?

I have been trying to export temp cuts of an anamorphic project (2.35:1) in a letterboxed 16:9 frame with timecode and text overlays and other Additional Video Effects. Converting the 2.35 to 16x9 has been a breeze with the Preserve Aspect Ratio option in Cropping & Padding 🙂. The problem is that the black bars that that puts in the 16:9 frame appear OVER any of the Additional Video Effects, thus covering them up.

E.g. if I select a Text Overlay and place it in the Center, I can see it just fine. But if I want it Upper Left, Title Safe, it is covered by the black space of the Letterboxing. So the Additional Video Effects are getting added, they are just getting covered by the letterboxing. You can even see the very edge of the text in the Title Safe position, peeking out from behind the letterboxing, which is, of course, frustrating 😠.

Thus far it's been a two-step process: letterbox the anamorphic source, then add TC and other video effects in a second job.

So - is there any way to do this in ONE step? It would really help my anamorphic workflow.

(apologies for the lengthy question.)

[I'm using FCPX 10.1.3 & Compressor 4.1.3, in OSX 10.9.5 on Retina MBP, Late 2013, w/ NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M 2048 MB]

MacBook Pro with Retina display, OS X Mavericks (10.9.5), NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M 2048 MB

Posted on Apr 11, 2015 3:39 PM

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Answer 1

Russ H

Level 7

22,432 points

Apr 12, 2015 7:53 PM in response to Omegamanstyle

Have you considered doing this is FCP X? There is more flexibility in FCP X to position text and other effects. generators.

Russ

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Answer 2

Apr 20, 2015 1:06 PM in response to Russ H

Thanks for the reply Russ.

Yes, I've considered adding titles and/or generators in the FCPX storyline, but this creates a need to render the entire timeline. As I'm juggling library locations and hard drive spaces I just didn't want to add a new render that will occupy a lot of space. It's also a bit of visual clultter for me, so my goal is to find the best workflow for adding this stuff on or after export.

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