1080i footage into AE and then into FCP
 

Hi,

This is my first post on this forum. Hopefully, someone can help me out with my 'newbie' questions. I recently shot a music video on the Panasonic HVX202E (PAL) camera which I'm editing now, in Final Cut Pro HD. Most of the footage was captured at 1920 x 1080i (PAL) and much of it takes place in front of a green screen which I want to key out and add effects/animations to in After Effects.

When I open a clip in AE, it detects these settings:
1440 x 1080i (1.33) Separating (Upper)
25 fps, Millions of Colors
DVCPRO HD 1080i50, 48 KHz / 16 bit / Mono

So, first up, I've been advised that 1920 x 1080i isn't really what it says it is, with this camera - something about 1440 x 1080i with 'fatter pixels'. I sort of understand that but I'm a bit in the dark as what to do about it.

Anyway, I put the footage in a Composition and, without the Pixel Aspect Correction ticked the footage looks vertically squished. I can live with that - if I keep the same settings it's going to unsquish when I put it back into Final Cut right? I think.

Now, say, I want to bring in some animation. In my square pixel animation program (Poser) I'm unsure what settings to make my animation. As far as I know, I don't have any presets (like Photoshop) so what size do I make it? To fit in accurately with my 1920 (1440) x 1080i PAL footage in AE?

This is what's really screwing up my brain (good excuse). Do I make it bigger and then squish it in AE to the source footage size, so when it unsquishes in FCP it should match up... or is that wrong?

If it's right... how do I do that again? And what size should I make the square pixel animation/artwork, in the first place?

Lastly, is there a way to see the source footage as unsquished but still composite square pixel animation/artwork with total accuracy?

Maybe I'm just thinking about this stuff too much (or just not enough) but is there someone that would give me a simple step by step workflow: for bringing in this PAL 1080i footage into AE, compositing square pixel artwork with it, and exporting it back to FCP, and having it all match up?

That would be SOOOO helpful. Thanks to anyone that can help.

Cheers for now,

ALEX

I would think (and others will be able to confirm) that you should convert your HDV footage into something else (Photo JPEG, Uncompressed, etc.) before bringing into After Effects. I normally use 8-bit Uncompressed with HDV Chroma Key footage before bringing into Shake, however I'm not sure this is the "best" method to do it. Worth a shot anyway though!

Cheers
 

Thanks Chris.

Will try it out.

ALEX

He doesn't use hdv.

Just start a new composition as 1920 x 1080 25 fps.....

You should have shot the footage as progressive....

No need for interlacing.....

Just stretch your video to fit the 1920 x 1080 comp....

This makes it much easier to deal with.

Export as 1920 x 1080 PhotoJpeg at 95% and you can drop
that into your edit timeline....
Will require rendering but this has been the best workflow
I have found...Many compositors do not have systems
with the native DVCPRO HD codec.....

Hope this helps.