HD

Chapter 53 Working With Still Images and Photographs 771
IX
If the final destination of your sequence will be standard definition (SD) video, then
any scanned images, digital photographs, and HD video images with higher
resolution work well. Stills from SD video aren’t recommended because you’d have to
increase the size of the still by scaling it up, which would degrade the image quality
considerably and create artifacts in the picture.
If you’re creating graphics for motion-control camera effects in an HD sequence, the
image dimensions will have be quite high. For example, doubling 1920 x 1080 results
in a graphic that is 3840 x 2160. Depending on the speed of your processor, the real-
time effects playback may be limited for these high-resolution effects.
 Flatten layers: If the still image you want to use is a layered Photoshop file, do not
import it as a layered Photoshop file because it will appear as a sequence on multiple
tracks. Instead, flatten and save the image in your graphics application before you
import it into Final Cut Express HD. Make sure you save the flattened image as a copy
in case you want to make changes to the original layered graphics file.
Note: Store any imported image stills on your scratch disk so that all your media files
(video, audio, and stills) are located in one place. This makes it much easier to locate
and move or copy all the project media at once.
Step 2: Edit the still image into your sequence
It appears as a clip in the Timeline.
Step 3: Open the image clip in the Motion tab of the Viewer
1 Double-click the clip in the Timeline to open it in the Viewer.
2 Click the Motion tab in the Viewer, then make sure the Basic Motion disclosure triangle
is open to reveal parameters such as Scale, Rotation, and Center.
3 In the Motion tab of the Viewer, enter 100 in the Scale field.
Step 4: Prepare the Viewer and Canvas settings
To see the image size and position as it will appear within the frame during playback,
you need to make a couple of adjustments. (Otherwise you may, for example, see the
frame background where you didn’t mean to show it.) You also need to turn on the
wireframe view to position the image visually.
1 In the Canvas, choose Image + Wireframe from the View pop-up menu.
2 Choose Fit All from the Zoom pop-up menu.
Note: If your final movie will be shown on a television monitor, it’s a good idea to turn
on the Title Safe boundaries as well so that you can see what will actually be visible on
the television monitor. (Choose Show Title Safe from the View pop-up menu.)