Hope I posted in the correct spot, and hopeful someone has some experience.

I am rendering some images with 3DS Max for graphic overlays in my video (which is being edited in FCP)... My timeline in FCP is HDV (1440x1080) using Apple ProRes 422. I am rendering my images out of MAX at 1440x1080 with a pixel aspect of 1.333 (just as Targa's)... So, the rendered images look squished, which is expected...because compute monitors have square pixels. when I drop the images in the time line, they look like crap!

Here is a sample:
http://www.sacreativeservices.com/forum_stuff/lower_third_crap.png

When I design something in photoshop, I use the HDV1080P template (which has the same 1440x1080 1.33 settings) and it looks perfect in FCP.

Am I missing something here...?

What codec are you rendering with? Try rendering direct to ProRes422?

Also, have you thought of rendering full 1920x1080 and then using the Aspect tool to correct it to the correct ratio?

I don't know if either of these suggestions would help, but it's what I would try.

C

The renders are just images, so I cannot render to ProRes... I have tried using 1920, but it gives me the same result...

it just doesn't seem like its rendering out of MAX correctly.

(very confused)

Erm, in that case, what format are they? jpg? bmp? etc etc?

Erm, in that case, what format are they? jpg? bmp? etc etc?

Targa... its just one static overlay for a lower third.

Well darn. Sounds like you know what you're doing as far as that is concerned.

It's definitely an issue of resolution - have you tried doing a full render with FCP? I've had issues with stills where I had to force final cut to render to get it to look right. It wouldn't render because it didn't NEED to, but it darn sure looked better once I did!

Select the clip and the clip underneath, go to Render All/All (I think was the ticket!) It goes from RT preview to rendered, and looks way better.

Hope this helps.
C

Nope... when I view the image in Photoshop and change the PAR to 1.333, it looks as crappy as FCP... I think I am not rendering correctly, and I am tyring to narrow down what I am missing.

Render setting:

IAR = 1.773 (which is automatically generated by the 1440x1080 dimensions)
PAR = 1.333

I now think this is a FCP issue... I have posted in another thread, if a moderator sees this... feel free to remove

I'm still learning the intricacies of FCP, but I do work regularly with 3ds Max. Have you tried saving your render as anything other than a Targa? Whenever I render anything out of MAX for video, I always export as an RPF or RLA. I also have the anti-aliasing turned up for video images.

Also, have you tried importing your render into Photoshop and then resaving before bringing it into FCP?

Nope... when I view the image in Photoshop and change the PAR to 1.333, it looks as crappy as FCP...Scott,

This may have nothing to do with your problem, but whenever I load ANYTHING into Photoshop and display it with a PAR of 1.333, it doesn't look all that good. It's good for evaluating proportions, or course, but when it's time to evaluate the smoothness of edges, for example, or very thin features, I always switch back to square pixels.

Bottom line: if it looks good in Photoshop with square pixels, the rendered file is probably fine.

- Martin

Always had terrible trouble with Final Cut and alpha channels or transparencies. Never really had the time to figure it out. Often it's the kind of thing that looks fine on a monitor or something interlaced (as someone mentioned in the other thread) and trying to set everything to some non interlaced form doesn't always help. Last time I encountered it I think we chucked the whole idea and did everything in After Effects, which isn't always practical or even possible.
Sympathy is all I've got, sorry.