Creating a 16:9 matte

I just got my footage back from telecine. Originally I shot 4:3 and then during the transfer had the footage letterboxed to 16:9. However, this particular shoot has been an ongoing project and some of the footage I kept as standard 4:3. Now, that I've had a chance to look at everything edited together I realized that I want it all to be letterboxed and rather than send it back to telecine to be letterboxed I was wondering if there was a way to create a letterbox matte in FCP. I already tried to use the widescreen matte in FCP and it doesn't match exactly. The top and bottom portion of the matte has a little more room then the telecine's version. IS THERE A WAY TO CREATE A CUSTOM LETTERBOX MATTE SO THAT IT MATCHES THE FOOTAGE WE HAD TRANFERRED TO OUR HARDRIVE?
Thanks a bunch
Erv

you can use a SLUG on two video tracks not used. In the VIEWER window click the A and select SLUG.
Lay a slug over your footage (if you are using V1 and V2 put the SLUGs on V3 and V4) and 2click on it to open in viewer. The goto the motion tab and crop to desired size (for the top LB bar try 82 BOTTOM crop then fine tune from there) Put a 2nd SLUG on the next highest unused video track and repeat steps for the lower LB bar.
Good luck
JP

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How to create a 16:9 matte

I need to create a 16:9 ( letterbox ) matte so i can drop it on my clips after altering it. The Widescreen matte filter won't work, since it's clip base therefore if i distort or rotate the clip itself, the widescreen black bars also distorts/rotates with it.

Look in the Effects/Video Generators/Others. Where you will find a Letterbox. Open it in the viewer, use the controls to set size & possition, (16:9 is 1.66). Drop it on a new top video track. Bingo
John

Creating a Defocus pull matte for Compound Blur Effect

I was trying to make a defocus pull matte by starting with a black solid (comp size) and using the 4 Color Gradient effect on it, with the color points set to white and black so that I could place where I wanted the blurring to occure. I used the Compound Blur Effect on the Layer that I wanted to blur and chose my "defocus matte" as the Blur layer.
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The 4 Color is not the best tool. All compound effects rely only on luma values ad ignore chroma information. And remember the blur layer is sampled before all effects are applied, unless, as Andrew notes, you carefully precompose.
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Trying to create a fairly simple effect ... Help!

Okay, so let me see if I can 'splain this clearly and concisely:
I'm shooting a short scene for a little 24-hour competition. This is being shot inside a warehouse-style building. No windows. It's set in old mexico. I'd like to be able to cut away a section of the background wall (for the wide shots) and create the impression that we can see outside. Not looking to hang green screens or anything. Just want to create a quick, dirty matte and leave a hole in the image so I can layer it over another clip of footage of a mexican village from an old movie or something. The camera will be locked down for these shots.
Make sense? Thoughts?
Thanks!
travis
Message was edited by: trickmonkey

Put your village clip over your warehouse wall clip, then use the rectangle mask tool to cut out a rectangle of it.
Or, put your warehouse clip over your village clip and use the rectangle mask tool on the wall, then invert the mask. That way it's easier to resize/repo your village footage...
Patrick

Can't get Image Matte Key to work in PP CS6 Mac

Hi,
After tearing my hair and muttering adult phrases for a couple of hours while following the below instructions from the PP CS6 pdf manual, I still can't get anything but a black screen when trying to apply the Image Matte Key to a simple set-up. The project is in HD 1080p50 format and the basic editing has been largely problem free.
Add the clip (used as a background) to a video track in a Timeline panel.
Add the clip you want to superimpose to any track higher than the track containing the background clip. This is the clip revealed by the track matte. Be sure the superimposed clip overlaps the background clip in a Timeline panel.
In the Effects panel, click the triangle to expand the Video Effects bin and then click the triangle to expand the Keying bin.
Drag the Image Matte Key to the superimposed clip in a Timeline panel.
In a Timeline panel, select the superimposed clip.
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Click the Setup button , browse to the image being used as the matte, and then click Open to select the image.
(Optional) If you’re animating the Image Matte Key over time, make sure that the current-time indicator is in the position you want. Click the Toggle Animation icons for the settings you adjust.
Click the Composite Using menu and choose one of the following:
Matte Alpha Composites the clips using the alpha channel values of the image matte you selected in step 7. Matte Luma Composites the clips using the luminance values of the image matte you selected in step 7.
What I do is:
• I have a clip on Video 1. I want to use a hand painted luma matte made in PS CS6 for changing levels ('exposure') in an irregular area of the clip.
• So, I duplicate the clip on Video 2 and add an 'RGB Curves' fx for the level adjustment.
• Then, I add the Image Matte Key to the Video 2 clip and set up the Photoshop b/w image (RGB 8 bit, 1920x1080) from my external eSATA disk containing the Project and media (step 7 above).
• I select 'Matte Luma' (step 9) – and expect the relevant part (painted white on the matte .psd pic) of the duplicated, level adjusted clip to be superimposed on the Video 1 clip.
• But I only get BLACK!
I tried using Track Matte Key, with the matte pic on Video 3 – no problem, worked just as expected.
So, what's the voodoo with Image Matte Key?
Kind regards,
Joachim

Ann, Steven, Bill,
Thank you very much for your encouragement and duplication work! Truly appreciated.
This morning, with some fresh energy, I attacked the problem afresh and finally found the culprit(s).
It turned out that the major problem was the Photoshop file I originally prepared as a test matte. I created the original psd through the PP File menu to automatically get the correct dimensions. For some reason, it may have got corrupted. When it didn't work and just resulted in a black image, I used it as a template, changed it and resaved it. Apparently the problem was inherited to the resaved psd:s, even though they worked fine when imported into the project and used as mattes with Track Matte.
Go figure…
Anyway, today I created a brand new matte file in PS CS6 and, lo and behold, Image Matte Key now worked as expected!
Almost…
Going back to PS, I edited my simple matte (just two black rectangles on white) and applied a rather heavy blur. I then saved (not Save as…), deleted Image Matte Key from my fx stack in PP, reinstantiated Image Matte Key and set it up with the now resaved psd.
No blur!
I then went back to PS, resaved my blurred matte file with a new file name and repeated the above exercise – first deleting and then reapplying Image Matte Key, setting it up with the new, blurred matte psd.
Now I got a blurred keying effect.
So, it seems that Image Matte Key won't 'see' a changed file – apparently it 'remembers' the first version of the file and refuses to accept the saved changes.
I think that I've seen a post here somewhere about the same or similar problem with PP CS5 or 5.5.
Anyway, I've learned a lot and again, thanks to you guys who chipped in!
Kind regards,
Joachim

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A collection is a custom set of books and other items that you create from items on the Reader or the library of the Reader™ for PC or Mac® software. It is a unique and convenient way to organize your items. You can organize and personalize your content by creating collections by subject matter, date, genre or anything that best suits your purpose.
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Check to see if this works:
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Strange 'Ghost Lines' on Widescreen Matte in FCP 5

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Valid Update Request Values:     SAVE, APPLY CHANGES, UPDATE, UPDATE ROW, CHANGE, APPLY, APPLY%CHANGES%, GET_NEXT%, GET_PREV%
Valid Insert Request Values:     INSERT, CREATE, CREATE_AGAIN, CREATEAGAIN
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Of course, you could also add conditions to the process that request is contained in: SAVE,CREATE ; and it wouldnt matter if I did do what I suggested above, the condition of the process would not be met, so it would run the delete operation anyway.
Ta,
Trent
Edited by: trent on Dec 10, 2010 4:31 PM

Creating/importing text that doesn't pixelate

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Creating a 16:9 matte

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