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Hello,

I'm looking at composing a short photo montage at the end of a short family film I'm making and was looking for some advice about how to put this together as I get the impression MC isn't that great when it comes to stills.

The Project is PAL SD 16:9 but the stills are from an iPhone so I assume these are 4:3, many were taken in portrait so they end up “pillar boxed” which can't really be helped but the main issue is that the aspect ratio is stretched to 16:9.

I'm not sure if I will use “Avid Pan and Zoom” so my question is there a way to import the photos to keep the correct aspect ratio or is it best to resize them in Photoshop prior to importing into Media Composer?

Dean

Dean Murray:

is there a way to import the photos to keep the correct aspect ratio

Temporarily change the project to 4x3, then import the photo's using "Resize image to fit format raster". Then flip the project back to 16x9. If you now load these photo's in the source monitor or splice them into the sequence, they will be pillarboxed.

Job,

I've been trying to figure out the plus and minuses of different approaches to resizing source material. Do you feel that changing the project's aspect ratio is better than changing source clip format via using the Reformat and Image Aspect Ratio bin columns?

Thanks much.

Dean,

If I'm importing pictures to MC for a slide show, I always resize and crop in Photoshop.  I thing the quality is better that way then letting MC do the job.

Denny

BobbyMurcerFan:

Do you feel that changing the project's aspect ratio is better than changing source clip format via using the Reformat and Image Aspect Ratio bin columns

Probably not, no, I bet the result is the same. It's just the method I've used in the past, so that the aspect ratio metadata of the clip would be right in MC.

I also think Denny is right. If you want the scaling quality to be better, either use Avid Pan & Zoom, Boris Pan & Zoom, or Photoshop.

Here is an old tutorial I did on the resizing part of it.

Hope it gives you some ideas.

Regards,
Douglas

 

http://community.avid.com/forums/p/79041/440228.aspx#440228

I have the same problem - imported still pictures are distorted to fit a 16:9 timeline.  I want the images to be brought in to fit height OR width -whichever is greater in the original (as one could do in Liquid).  At the moment I'm using the Blend filter to resize the image, having worked out what the correct h x w ratio should be for an image, but that is tedious.  I shall try the suggestions in this thread ...

Douglas As you know, I cannot play back videos you link to here - is this video in one of yopur packages, and if so, can you point me to it please (I think I have most of them now)?  If not, I shall have to find another way to view your videos on this this site ... all my machines (3PCs* + one laptop) fail to play the videos from the links.  Thanks!

* One is very old, one is old, and one is sort of newish... but up to MC6 spec.

Mike Shaw:

imported still pictures are distorted to fit a 16:9 timeline

Have you followed my suggestions? Importing stills when set to 4x3, then flipping to 16x9? Should keep the aspect ratio. Also, the Aspect Ratio column in the bin also gives you control over how Avid should reformat the image.

Mike Shaw:

Douglas As you know, I cannot play back videos you link to here - is this video in one of yopur packages, and if so, can you point me to it please (I think I have most of them now)?

Mike it is 2_38

(Packet 200_02 and track 38)

Regards,
Douglas

Job - Still to try that when next at my edit machine - will also look again at the bin info:  I didn't think one could 'control' how imnages look from there - I thought it was just 'info'! 

Douglas - thanks, yes, I do have that package, so will check it out pronto, if not sooner...

I am just wrapping up a project that involved hundreds of photos in a variety of aspect ratios--not just 4:3 and 16:9.  Using Adobe Lightroom, I was able to crop them all to 16:9 and change their resolution to 1920x1080, in batch, while I went off to supper.  There were a few photos whose cropping I didn't like, so I redid them individually in Photoshop.  Lightroom apparently can do some color manipulations in batch, too.  Not sure whether it does letterboxing and pillaring, because I like to fill every frame.

Apologies for the incredible slow reply.

I've tried the Project to 4:3, import photos and flip back to 16:9 and the photos are distorted to fit 16:9.

I've found a that using a 3D Warp effect with a 75 x 100 y setting pulls in the aspect ratio and allows for some minimal zoom as generally the photos are not of good enough quality for an Avid Pan & Zoom effect.

I have one more question, I've imported all the photos in of 6 seconds, with the idea being 4 seconds with a second fade between so I've allowed a second either side to allow the handles to have a bit of flexibility, but is there a way to apply the IN and OUT points on all the photos from the Bin?

Dean

Dean Murray:

I have one more question, I've imported all the photos in of 6 seconds, with the idea being 4 seconds with a second fade between so I've allowed a second either side to allow the handles to have a bit of flexibility, but is there a way to apply the IN and OUT points on all the photos from the Bin?

Yes there is.  Here is how to do it on a PC.  Mac is similar.

1. Put your bin into Script View.

2. Select all photos, using ctrl-A.  (Or you can just ctrl-click to select the photos you want.)

3. Press the Home key on your keyboard to go to the first frame of the photos.

4. Assuming you have the 2 key (above Q and W, but NOT the one on the numeric keypad) assigned to "advance 10 frames" and the 4 key (above E and R) assigned to "advance 1 frame," you can use a combination of 2s and 4s to advance your position by one second.  Either "222" for 30fps, or "224444" for 24fps.  Do not use the numeric-keypad 2 and 4, because they do not have the correct assignments for this.

5. If your I key is assigned to "Mark-in" then press it to mark in all of your photos.

6. Type twelve 2s if 30fps, or nine 2s and six 4s if 24fps, to advance 4 seconds.

7. If your letter O key is assigned to "Mark-out" then press it to mark out all of your photos.

Ken

Ken Lent:

Dean Murray:

I have one more question, I've imported all the photos in of 6 seconds, with the idea being 4 seconds with a second fade between so I've allowed a second either side to allow the handles to have a bit of flexibility, but is there a way to apply the IN and OUT points on all the photos from the Bin?

Yes there is.  Here is how to do it on a PC.  Mac is similar.

1. Put your bin into Script View.

2. Select all photos, using ctrl-A.  (Or you can just ctrl-click to select the photos you want.)

3. Press the Home key on your keyboard to go to the first frame of the photos.

4. Assuming you have the 2 key (above Q and W, but NOT the one on the numeric keypad) assigned to "advance 10 frames" and the 4 key (above E and R) assigned to "advance 1 frame," you can use a combination of 2s and 4s to advance your position by one second.  Either "222" for 30fps, or "224444" for 24fps.  Do not use the numeric-keypad 2 and 4, because they do not have the correct assignments for this.

5. If your I key is assigned to "Mark-in" then press it to mark in all of your photos.

6. Type twelve 2s if 30fps, or nine 2s and six 4s if 24fps, to advance 4 seconds.

7. If your letter O key is assigned to "Mark-out" then press it to mark out all of your photos.

Ken

A somewhat faster workflow would be to press " T " so set MI and MO at the start and end of all clips ( I always start with G first to clean up possible old marks ) then use " Q " to go to the start , press " 2 " to step 10 frames forward at the time , press " I " to set the new MI , then press " W " to go to the end of all clips and press " 1 " to go back 10 frames at the time from that positioin, then press " O " to set a new MO .

I leave the maths to you ...