Hey there...

I'm working on a 16:9 project in FCP and I've run into a problem. Half of the footage was true 16:9 and imported as such. The other half was 4:3 with bars, and I thought I adjusted when digitizing to compensate. Basically I want the 4:3 to be 16:9 without the bars within the project. But when I open one of the 4:3 files in the viewer, I get 4:3 with bars. NOT GOOD. Anyone know what I'm trying to say here? I need to get all the video into a 16:9 ratio. I really don't want to distort the 4:3 and resize it to match. Any help would be great! Thanks and take care.

Kelly

Not quite sure what you're saying.... here's what I think I'd do, although there are other ways also.

1. Drop the letterboxed clips into a 16:9 sequence. FCP will automatically pillarbox them with black bars to the left and right (in addition to the existing black bars above and below.

2. double click on the clip in the timeline so it opens in the viewer. Using the dropdown menu in the viewer above the image, turn on image+wireframe.

3. Grab on the the blocks in the corner of the image, click, hold down the mouse button and drag outwards until the image fills the 16:9 frame.

4. Render and you're done.

Does this accomplish what you want?

Boyd's solution is the only option. Another method to accomplish the same thing is to double click the clip to open it in the viewer and select the motion tab of the viewer. Set the scale to 133%.

Yea I figured resizing was my only option, I just wanted to avoid the loss in quality. Thank you for your help.