Hi. I need to make a video for display on a vertical, portrait screen. Can I do this in FCPX? Thanks guys.
MacBook, OS X Yosemite (10.10.3)
Yes.
The issue may not be that simple, though. You've got to know how you're going to play it back. Many conventional codecs will not do vertical orientation and many digital signage systems have proprietary players.
(In the olden days, of course, we turned everything on its side.)
Hi David. I'm not sure I totally understand. These are the specs:
• Aspect ratio – 9:16
• Risolution – 1080x1920 - portrait
• Codec: H.264
• Container: MP4
• Bitrate 3-5mbps
• Framerate/FPS: up to 30fps.
Do you know how I can change the settings?
Thanks a lot!
I assume the specs you list are for the original clips. If so simply create a new project and in the project dialog select custom for the video properties. Select custom for format. You can then set the aspect ration to 1080 by 1920. if any of your clips are 16:9 you can use set spacial conform in the inspector to set to fill and it will fill the portrait window in the viewer, but will crop the clip. If your clips are all 9:16 then leave the conform to fit.
Producing vertical imagery is not simple.
as Jim says, FCPX can create a custom project to just about any dimensions. That's not the problem you are going to have. Your original footage must either be shot sideways or you should be using at least 2K origination that is carefully composed to allow for the vertical orientation and cropping. Or you shoot sideways. Some codecs cannot be tweaked, they are standardized and locked and cannot produce a vertical output. You must work sideways.
If your footage is conventional, you are going to scale it up to fit your new, noon-conventional horizontal resolution of 1920 instead of 1080. The scaling might not be noticeable but video is rarely shot with vertical cropping in mind so the composition is usually classless.
You need to find the playback engine for this system and get the precise specifications. Some signage systems use conventional 1080 in a center-cut and scale it up. If you're producing 1920 vertical for this system you will have a disaster. Some systems have selectable 90 degree orientation. for standard H.264 playback. Some systems have a proprietary playback application that has tight specs for the movies you will provide.
I'm assuming this is not your signage system so you've got to allow plenty of time to test it out.
Thank you David and Jim--this really helps. Took a bit of playing around, but I think I've got it. Although I may be back here in 5 minutes asking more questions.
Thanks!
Portrait video
