CS4 aspect ratios

I've read the AE CS4 Help, I've watched Chris Meyer's video on lynda.com, and I have questions about the new aspect ratios issue.
Like many, I like to design in a square pixel environment. Let's say I want to create an image with a perfect circle in Photoshop, bring that into AE, then output it. Before, I would have created a 720x540 square pixel image in Photoshop, made my circle, imported that into AE, put it into a 720x540 square pixel comp, done whatever I was going to do in AE, then dragged that comp into an NTSC DV comp (720x480, non-square pixels), hit Command-Option-F to size my nested comp to the new one, and then output the new comp. Would this NOT result in a perfectly round circle on TV?
Should I instead have followed the above process, but substituted "534" for "540" in Photoshop and AE? Would THAT ultimately have resulted in a perfectly round circle on TV?
Thanks --
Galen

You're over thinking. It makes no difference what the PAR settings are in your comp as long as the footage is interpreted correctly. If you stick with square pixels in Photoshop and AE interprets the footage as square pixels then no matter what kind of comp you insert the image in, the circle will not be distorted. You can check this by rotating the circle. If it does not wobble then it's round.
What this means is that you can drag any square pixel image or comp into a DV (720X480) normal or widescreen comp and it will be round. Where you are going wrong is using the fit command. This is a dangerous option because it scales X and Y differently distorting the image. Unless you intentionally want to distort an image the X and Y scale values must be identical.
If you want to make your 720 X 540 square pixel image or comp fill a 720 X 480 frame then you'll have to use the fit horizontally shortcut. That is Cmnd/Ctrl + Alt/Option + h so that the X and Y values are identical.
If you're doing this with video then you must have separated fields or you must shift the image down 1 pixel to avoid field reversal.
Again, AE, CS3 and CS4 will perfectly blend, mix, and combine footage and comps with any pixel aspect ratio without distortion as long as you properly interpret the footage. AE will assume that footage created at standard non square pixel frame sizes like 720 X 480 is rectangular pixels. If you did not specifically create or render your images to this size with non-square pixels then AE is going to be wrong and you'll have to change the PAR to square pixels.
If you're having problems the first thing to check is the X and Y scale values. They must be equal.

Similar Messages

Aspect Ratio Issues in CS4 -- no real 16:9 / 4:3? Need Help.

Hi,
i´m a little bit confused.
When we work in PAL Land -> 1024x576 is 16:9 Pixel Ratio 1:1 and 768x576 is 4:3 Pixel Ratio 1:1. In CS3 we have 720x576 with 16:9 Pixel Ratio 1:1,422 so 1,422x720=1024 so correct 16:9 and with 4:3 Pixel Ratio 1:1,067 so 1,067x720=768 so correct 4:3.
Now there is CS4:
Pixelratio changed for 16:9 it is 1,4587 and for 4:3 it is 1,0940. OK Maybe now we go with 702x576. BUT: The Resolution for DVD PAL Export is still fixed 720x576. NO 702x576 is possible!. So what the Hell is going on here? If i Export any Video in 16:9 PAL DVD i get 720x576 with 1,4587 so the result is a Video which is to wide with black borders (left&right side).
Any Ideas appreciate .
-nick

a) PAL in digital format, for example on Digital Beta, is aspect ratio 4:3, and 720x576. The sync lines from in the captured Digibeta have to be cropped.
b) PAL digital format aspect ratio 16.9 (widesrceen), for example when capturing from DigiBeta cassette, is also 720x576 but anamorph.
c) PAL 4:3 transcoded to square pixel format for computer use, for example as VP6 flash, or H.264 format is 768x576, aspect ration 4:3.
e) 720x576 Pixel-AR 12:11 normal, 16:11 anamorph, transcoded to square pixel, e.g. VP6 flash, H.264 etc. is 1024x576 real (not anamorph)
d) 704x576 Pixel-AR 12:11 normal, 16:11 anamorph is the analogue TV-Signal without overscan. If you receive a video like that you have to re-render it to 720x576 anamorph, or using a workstation which can interprete this footage. As far as I know, Premiere has no problem interpreting this footage, however, for example EncoreDVD will refuse to interprete it, but also other authoring application accept 704 video and the DVD plays the corrcet aspect ratio, but when demultiplexed it is still 704.

Aspect ratio changes in PPro CS4

Adobe Premiere Pro CS4
When I export a project to a final video, the aspect ratio changes at different points in the video for no apparent reason. These videos are typically under 10 minutes in length. I use the same camera without changing any settings for every project and capture to PPro CS4 using the same settings for every project and using the same hardware. And yet, I end up with different aspect ratios across a single video. I have no idea why. Some of my output clips have never had any titles, special effects, imported clips, or anything else that I think might cause a change in aspect ratio.
Can someone shed some light on this for me?
Thanks,
Dan

Thanks, Stan.
I just posted a draft video on Youtube for a client last night. Not sure if viewing a clip of what I see will help you but I suspect it will.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_hzhCeCGR0
If you go to about 4:34 in the clip you'll see it change over to a different aspect ratio.
This sequence was exported directly from PPro CS4 to FLV. The FLV file was uploaded to Youtube.
I'm editing this morning and just came across this same issue again.
I'm amazed that none of my clients have mentioned it yet. Of course, I'm not making Hollywood movies - these are just short videos people send out to college coaches.
Thanks,
Dan

Aspect ratio of selection tools locked in CS4

Suddenly, all tools that produce a marquee during dragging are locked to a 1-1 aspect ratio, as though the shift key were depressed. For example, with the rectangular selection tool, a square marquee is displayed during dragging. However, when I let the mouse button up, the selected rectangle is not square, but has corners at the start and end points of the drag. If I depress the shift key before releasing the mouse button, I get the square selection corresponding to the displayed marquee.
This behaviour affects all selection tools that display a rectangle-bounded marquee (rectangle, ellipse, crop), as well as drawing tools. Similarly, transformation tools such as scale and transform also act as though the shift key were depressed during dragging, but, when the mouse button is released, produce a result which one would expect if the shift key had not been depressed (unless it is depressed as the mouse is button is released).
Any help to resolve this would be most appreciated!

I've been having the same problem. I had it occasionally with Photoshop CS3 and I've recently upgraded to CS5 and it just occurred again. I would love to figure out why this happens.

CS4 changing aspect ratio, resizing video

Hello,
I've been working on a project at school for some time and am just now getting to the editing factor. My issue is about half way through editing it seems that its changed the aspect ratio from wide screen to a more standard ratio. I have it set to scale to the frame size. Just to clear a few things up they were all captured the same, all the original quicktime files are the same it's just once I import them into premiere that I start having issues. I really appreciate it, thanks

After uploading it to youtube the size gets so small you can hardly see it. My main goal with this thread is to get the video to actually scale to the frame.

PS CS4 Extended: Default texture aspect ratio on standard shapes

Hi,
I want to design a cover for the default soft drink can 3D model. I create a 3D layer from a 2D standard layer. However I cannot find out the aspect ratio for the standard texture applied to the can's surface in order to be able to produce a cover without any distortions. Where can I find this information OR the default textures?
Thanks. I am desperate finding an answer... :(

The distortion information should come from whomever is in charge of printing the cans.

How to fix an error in sequnece setting (aspect ratio)?

Hi,
I have been working for a while on a project in CS4. I have created a sequence in it with an aspect ratio (AR) of 4:3 - worked for hours on it - but I should had the sequence created instead in 16:9. I realised it a bit too late...
So how do I fix it?
Apparently amending the sequence setting for AR cannot be done - please let me know if there is any way of doing this.
Someone suggested editing the PRPROJ file of the project - but when I opened it I was unable to detect under the sequence name (I found a few entries with it) where I can easily change the sequence to 16:9.
So then I found people suggesting I copy/paste all the assets from the sequence into a new one that is correctly configured with 16:9. When I did this - CTRL+A and Copy, then paste into a new sequence in the same project - it copied all the clips and I think also all the transitions. But the key element that it did not copy over were all the changes I have done to the sound - I have been editing via the sound mixer (in Write mode) the sound, and then also made changes to the master track volume levels. These were not copied over.
I really don't want to have to do the mixing all over again. If someone can explain how I can fix the problem in any way I would be most thankful.
While I am here asking - another 2 small questions that have been bugging me:
How I can copy and paste volume keyframes from either the master track or a clip and apply it on another clip/section of the clip that would be very helpful. This would for example be useful if I am able to find a certain volume level that I would like to apply to the desired section without the need to sit and "record" (using the Write function) those settings on the desired area. If there is any means to apply the properties on audio track this way - that would be really useful and time saving.
A best practice hint: when you try and create a sound level for a project - what PC volume level setting do you set in your PC that you use as a benchmark by which we then work out the sound level that would be created in the project? Obviously if I push my PC volume al the way up I would probably mix my sound in the project too low. And if I set the PC volume too low - than I would probably be setting the overall sound level too high and get distortion. As the movies I created would be burnt onto a DVD - what is the volume level on the PC (if there is any means of establishing a standard volume) that I need to match first before I go and figure out what level of sound the finished DVD would have? Of course I can work on say a 50% and then apply gains and volume increases based on that 50% of the max sound my PC plays out. But that sounds pretty much like a random setting and not optimised for other devices.
My system:
Windows 7, 32-bit
CS4, v. 4.2.1
This looks like a fairly basic question but I am unable to find a good answer to it...
Many thanks to the person who shows me how this can be done without me going crazy over the need to start all over again...
Eroka00

Hi Ann,
Your tip saved me a lot of time indeed....!
So I created a new sequence, made sure it was 16:9, copy pasted all of the assets, but then had to do the following:
1. Copy/Paste Attributes for all the video clips (these do not transfer);
2. As you suggested used the whole of the old sequence as a nested sequence in the new one, eliminating the video altogether.
I still had a nagging issue that the project would not render or export well - but that turned out to be an issue with rendeiring large files (the video was an uncut clip of almost 10GB, andother of 6GB). Splicing these into 10 minute segments and rendering them separately did the trick.
It's ben amlong Xmas weekend and endless hours spendt on this project. Yaikes!
Thanks for the workaround idea!

Matching aspect ratio on external monitor

Hi - I am using illustrator cs4 on windows running on a macbook. when I use an external monitor, the aspect ratio is different and the printout is stretched. Is there a way I can take care of this problem?
Thanks!
Jonathan

Go to your System Preferences and check out the setting you have for your Monitor see if you have a stretched profile selected it will say stretched.
It might be trying to match your NoteBook profile. Chnage it to a normal setting if it has a stretched or wide screen profile.

Incorrect aspect ratio of display to monitor ?

I was wondering if this has happened to anyone else; I completed a website
and the client said that she had heard from a friend that her site looked distorted and no others did. She will not give any information as to the person, the machine, browser - anything. I tested the site on IE, Firefox, Safari and Chrome. I tested it on a variety of resolutions, on PCs and Macs. I went to Best Buy and proceeded to test the site on 20 different computers. The only way I could get a distorted view was changing the resoluton to an aspect ratio that was out of line with the monitors aspect ratio. ALL websites looked distorted then, but I am being told that this person reports that only mine is. As there is no way I can verify this finding, I am wondering if this has happened to anyone else. The client won't pay until this is resolved.
The site in question is www.alexandraduran.com. It is pretty straight forward although it has some quirks due to client request (against advice).
Thanks for any answers, guesses or suppositions.

Thanks for both your comments. I agree on the height - particularly
in the menus - it causes it not to work at all on an iphone for example. P
art of the problem on this site were some restrictions becuase the client wanted to maintain the site herself and a good
bit of the design editing lent itself to code "I hae me doots" about. The menu fix is a quick one on the style sheet but I am concerned that both of you found errors. The code validated in Dreamweaver CS4,the platform I wrote it in. So ... I couldn't find the errors. I also didn't see any "errors on page" messages while running it live. Where should I be looking ?
Thanks for your efforts.
Regards,
Kurt

Aspect ratio of displayed pictures wrong?

My PC display has an aspect ratio of 5:4 (1280 x 1024). LR uses the full display area but doesn't ensure that the pictures are displayed at their correct aspect ratio. A 3:2 picture actually displays as ~4:3. This is true for all displays of a picture including the slideshow.
Maybe there is a setting somewhere to fix this, but I wouldn't expect so because dealing with the aspect ratio of a screen within a program is really elementary.
(maybe it's just my PC or my ruler that measures differently vertically than it does horizontally)

If you've got Photoshop CS - CS4, you can change the pixel aspect ratio of your photos to .9 DV.
Otherwise, you can right-click on one of the pictures on the timeline and select Open Properties. Then open the Motion settings and uncheck Constrain Proportions for Scale and set the scale for the horizontal to 90%. That should make that picture perfect.
Then right-click on that picture on your timeline and select Copy, then lasso or shift-click to select all the other photos on your timeline, right-click and select Paste Attributes.
Great book I wrote, by the way. Full of gems like this! ;)

Cropping aspect ratio changes randomly

Each time I crop a new image, the aspect ratio seems to change randomly. Sometimes it will pop up as "Do Not Constrain." Sometimes it will appear as 4x5. Or 2x3. Etc. You get the idea. I have no idea why it's changing. It's very disruptive to the workflow. Any thoughts on what might be causing this?
I encounter the issue on both my MacBook Pro and my iMac.

Thanks, Stan.
I just posted a draft video on Youtube for a client last night. Not sure if viewing a clip of what I see will help you but I suspect it will.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_hzhCeCGR0
If you go to about 4:34 in the clip you'll see it change over to a different aspect ratio.
This sequence was exported directly from PPro CS4 to FLV. The FLV file was uploaded to Youtube.
I'm editing this morning and just came across this same issue again.
I'm amazed that none of my clients have mentioned it yet. Of course, I'm not making Hollywood movies - these are just short videos people send out to college coaches.
Thanks,
Dan

The aspect ratio of this file is not support by DVD. Possible slideshow error?

hello everyone,
I will try to give as much information as possible. Dont scream at me if i forget anything. For starters, I just learned how to use Adobe Encore CS4. I taught my self between reading the help files and videos I found on the web. I am an amateur when it comes to DVD authoring (could have alot to do with my problem). Im an animator and I am making a DVD to show my demo reel, drawings, and i have a storyboard to final comparison video. I designed all of my menus in photoshop. I have one transition that was animated in after effects that was imported using dynamic link. My demo reel is a mov file at 640x360 widescreen, half the size of HD 720p. The comparison video is a premiere file from dynamic link (same size as the demo reel). There is some background music for the menus. Then I have 3 slideshows, and i believe this is where the error is coming from. Most of the artwork has the same dimensions but there are some that are larger or smaller. Some are jpg, but most are PSD files. The slide show is set to manual advance with music in the background. I have no transition effects on the slideshow. When building the DVD, i believe when it says "starting project" after all the importing was done,i get the error
The aspect ratio of this file is not support by DVD. PGC info: name= Figure Drawing (name of the slideshow and a menu button) ref=Fpgc, time=234.2340s
I just tried to build the DVD without the slideshow and I still get the error. Possibly a menu issue? I have no idea. Ive ran into errors before but I was able to get through the others. I just cant seem to find a solution to this error. Even after searching the forums for similar problems. Hopefully, the solution is simple. If more info is needed let me know. I really need this DVD to send out for jobs!! Thanks everyone.
Brandon

When doing SlideShows, whether in Encore (somewhat limited), or in PrPro, it is always better to re-size outside of these programs, prior to Import. I use Photoshop (PS) to do this, and use an Action to get everything in the proper Mode, Color Space, Size - everything. I always do a Save_As and use .PSD files. I also Save a working version, incase I have Flattened, etc., for Import into the NLE/authoring app.
JPEG's *should* work fine too, though there is the JPEG compression to deal with. Might not be an issue, but for max quality, I start with RAW images, process to .PSD's, and then work from copies of these, to get my still Assets ready for PrPro, or En.
I either size exactly to my Project Preset, or to exactly what I need, if say I will pan across a zoomed out image. In a major Project, I may have sub-folders with 4 different sizes of image - based precisely on what I will need to do with that/those image(s). If I will not need to do any animation on any images, then I use that Project Preset (including the correct PAR) and they work perfectly. This also eliminates any unnecessary overhead on the system.
Good luck,
Hunt

Actions for converting aspect ratios

Here is a little tip if you want to resize your camera images for a slide show.
I needed to convert and resize my 3008 x 2000 RAW images to PAL Standard for a slide show. I use PS CS3 and I was using IMAGE>Pixel Aspect Ratio to convert the file then IMAGE>Size to resize to 720 x 576. I decided to create an Action to autoamte the process and when I opened up ACTIONS lo & behold Adobe have already created an Action for all the NTSC and PAL formats.
All it takes is to open your image, select Actions and select the format you want, that is it. All I need to do now is create a Batch File to automate a over 200 image files.
If like me you use PSD files then they must be flattened first and the Action is not written for images in portrait mode, these have to be done through IMAGE>Pixel Aspect Ration and then IMAGE>Size with the width and height transposed and Constrain Proportions unticked.
Doug.

Doug,
I agree that Actions are the way to go in PS. Mine also change the Color Bit Depth Mode to 8-bit, as I am almost always working in 16-bit, when I process my Camera RAW files. Not sure about the included PS Actions, but in PS CS2, I have just written several that do all the pre-processing, and then do a Automate>Batch for entire folders of these images. I also will keep the files in PSD format, when I do the final Save_As.
This ARTICLE covers most of my operations, using your workflow.
Nice to know that PS installs with Actions that can do most of this. I never saw them in CS/CS2, but maybe just did not look, or perhaps Adobe has added them in CS3/CS4. Nice to know.
Thank you,
Hunt

Adobe Media Encoder MPEG2 pixel aspect ratio

I'm trying to output an MPEG2 for DG systems @ 720x512 but the pixel aspect ratio pulldown menu only gives picture aspect ratios (ie 4x3 or 16x9) and then gets the pixel aspect ratio automatically from that setting. So @ 720x512 the pixel aspect ratio is 4:3(.948), but I need a .9 ratio. When the source is 720x512 it adds black bars to the side, when the source is 720x480 it adds a little black to the top and bottom but stretches the image so it gets blurry. I can render out an AVI at 720x512 with a .9 pixel aspect ratio, so why not an mpeg2? Any work arounds? Is it the same in CS5?
I'm in CS4 on Vista64.

I'm trying to output an MPEG2 for DG systems @ 720x512 but the pixel aspect ratio pulldown menu only gives picture aspect ratios (ie 4x3 or 16x9) and then gets the pixel aspect ratio automatically from that setting. So @ 720x512 the pixel aspect ratio is 4:3(.948), but I need a .9 ratio. When the source is 720x512 it adds black bars to the side, when the source is 720x480 it adds a little black to the top and bottom but stretches the image so it gets blurry. I can render out an AVI at 720x512 with a .9 pixel aspect ratio, so why not an mpeg2? Any work arounds? Is it the same in CS5?
I'm in CS4 on Vista64.

CS5 Pixel Aspect Ratio Problems...

Hello All,
I am working on porting over an existing .mov file importer from Windows to Mac while also upgrading it from CS4 to CS5 (and also rolling in the creation of a hand-written 64-Bit QuickTime file handling library to boot, ouch).
In my current test bed I am having problems with certain 1920 x 1080 .mov files. Some 1920x1080 files that I have get imported properly, some files that I have get imported with the wrong aspect ratio. I have verified that both files should be displayed using square pixels and have also verified that when the selector is sent that calls SDKGetInfo8( ) that I am setting the following for **all** of the above-mentioned test files:
SDKFileInfo8->vidInfo.pixelAspectNum = 1
SDKFileInfo8->vidInfo.pixelAspectDen = 1
I have stepped line-by-line through SDKGetInfo8( ) and the stretched and non stretched clips seem to yield exact same traces through this function. However, the files that are being imported with the wrong aspect ratio, of course, preview in a stretched format. Also, in the informational area of the Source Bin, when the *stretched* clips are selected the information that is provided for these clips is:
NameOfTheStretchedClip.mov
Video, 1920 x 1080 (1.7778)
00:00:9:13, 23.976 fps
etc…
For the clips that aren't stretched, the (1.7778) is (1.0). I am not the biggest expert on the actual usage of Premiere, so I can only assume given the values displayed and the respective visual result of the clips when previewed that this value displayed in the UI is the pixel aspect ratio and not the frame ratio as the clip with (1.7778) is stretched and the clip with (1.0) is not, yet both are 1920x1080 clips. What to me is suspect is that 1920/1080.0 is 1.7778 and so somewhere for the clips that are being stretched the pixelAspect ratio values seem to be getting derived using the pixel dimensions and not the values vidInfo.pixelAspectNum and vidInfo.pixelAspectDen that are explicitly set to '1' as shown above.
Thus my question is, aside from setting in SDKGetInfo8() the following values:
SDKFileInfo8->vidInfo.pixelAspectNum = 1
SDKFileInfo8->vidInfo.pixelAspectDen = 1
Where else are the pixelAspect values supposed to get set?
Alternatively:
- During which other selector calls *CAN* pixel aspect ratio get set? As I mentioned, I am porting existing code, so perhaps these values are getting set elsewhere that I am presently unable to find.
- Is there some setting that might get set at the import of a file that says to derive the pixel aspect ratio from the pixel dimensions that might be getting triggered for the clips that are being imported as being stretched?
Thanks in advance for any help!
Josh

Hi Zac,
I am taking a look at this issue further with the aid of an additional engineer here that has more experience with QuickTime files.
First off, upon viewing the XMP metadata of the stretched file in the Metadata Viewer available inside Premiere, the Video Pixel Format is, in fact, listed in the XMP metadata as 1.78.
However, the time signature on the stretched .mov file, as listed in information of the QuickTime atoms, was 23976 / 1000. On a whim we used Dumpster to change the time signature to 24000 / 1001 to see what would happen. After altering the time signature in the Atoms of the file in this fashion, in Premiere the aspect ratio is now shown to be (1.0) in the source information in the Source Bin and the video is imported in the proper unstretched format (or - better stated - played back via our PlayMod in the proper unstretched format). However when viewing the metadata in the Metadata Browser in Premiere, the "Video Pixel Aspect Ratio" is still showing 1.78. This seems to confuse the issue further as now this time signature alteration in the Atoms of the QT file has fixed something and is now seemingly overriding the order of operations you mentioned as the XMP metadata still seems to list an improper format, yet everything else is seemingly behaving fine.
BTW - Clips with other time signatures don't seem to have this problem.
Any ideas?
Thanks,
Josh

CS4 aspect ratios

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