Hold Me! Squeeze Me! STRETCH ME!?!

Greetings!
I recently downloaded two free plug-ins from Too Much Too Soon http://www.mattias.nu/plugins/ called Anamorphic Squeeze and Smart Anamorphic which presumably convert 4:3 into 16:9. When I apply either of them this is what seems to happen.
My question is: when either of these filters are applied it stretches the clip in my viewer vertically. At what point in the editting/exporting process will this turn into 16:9 and look normal? Is it only after I export it to a QT movie? If so, are there particular recommended settings for the export process that will make this work out for the best?
Thanks for any advice in this matter.
Cheers,
John

Be careful about just changing your sequence to anamorphic. FCP will only show/ apply the anamorphic setting to clips imported into the sequence after the change to anamorphic has been made. So you may need to reiimport your clips into the sequence one you change the settings. Make sure, if you are using anamorphic clips, that these are also set to anamorphic. To do this scroll to the right in the bin window (where all the clips are, I forget the official name) and find the column that says 'anamorphic'. If there is a check next to the clip in the column, FCP recognizes the clip as anamorphic. If you need to change a clip to anamorphic simply click in the anamorphic column of the clip to change it. When exporting either choose 'use current settings' or to be safe 'DV NTSC 48k Anamorphic'. One last note: after exporting if you view it in Quicktime it may not look like it is the 16:9 aspect ratio. This is often quicktime's fault, not yours. I usually will view my export in VLC and change the playback options to 16:9 (its in one of the drop down menus). Hope this helps.

Similar Messages

Anamorphic to QuickTime .mov is stretched to 4:3

When I output to a QuickTime movie, my FCE sequence goes from 16:9 to 4:3, with the attendant vertical stretch.
I have mini-DV SD footage shot in anamorphic mode, mixed with 16:9 HD MPEG-4 720p footage shot with my digital still camera. I used Compressor to convert the HD shots to DV-NTSC Anamorphic, so no rendering needed. I am using FCE 3.5. My sequences have the anamorphic option ticked, Compressor: DV/DVCPRO - NTSC, Pixel Aspect: NTSC - CCIR 601, Frame size: 720:480.
But why does Quicktime want to stretch the 16:9 footage to full frame 4:3? I tried a lot of different output routes, the closest being to use QuickTime Conversion to make a DV Stream 4:3, which gave me a 4:3 Quicktime movie with black bars, but at least the aspect ratio was right. Most other options either gave me a vertical stretch to 4:3, no black bars, or kind of a 16:7, which was squatty, making the people fat.
As I said, the source material AND the sequences are checked for anamorphic, and look fine in FCE 3.5. But most of the Quicktime options stretch it vertically to 4:3 on output.
HELP!
rcarbaugh

Thank you for your responses this morning.
I realized this morning that I did not indicate for what purpose I am exporting in the first place. Sorry. The ultimate aim for this is web streaming on my website. Some of it may go to YouTube, but the primary content is a little over an hour, so that limits what YouTube can provide.
I do have QuickTime Pro, although I clearly do not know how to use it to solve my mystery.
Since the majority of the footage is from my old-school mini-DV NTSC camcorder, with only about 10% from the digital still camera in HD 720p (1280x720) movie mode, my understanding was that the best route was to shoot the mini-DV in 16:9 WideScreen mode, then use Compressor to convert the 16:9 HD footage to DV-NTSC mode. That allowed me to edit in FCE 3.5 in a 16:9 environment without any rendering of footage.
So, I understand that "All DV NTSC is 720x480 whether it's 4:3 or widescreen." Which means that in my case, I will end up with a 4:3 output with black bars top and bottom. Unavoidable, I suppose. I'm okay with that, I guess, although it would be great to have it 16:9 on the web without bars... say 720x405 or something like that. But that is a different issue. Right now, I just want to output it to the web with the proper aspect ratio.
"The widescreen image is done by anamorphically squeezing the image horizontally." Well, squeezing or stretching is exactly what I DON'T want. The footage imports into FCE as 16:9 with gray bars top and bottom and the people look normal. But it exports to QuickTime as 4:3 stretched with no black bars, and people look tall and skinny. Playing back from QuickTime Pro plays back tall and skinny with no black bars in a 4:3 window.
Is that enough info? The sequence is set with the anamorphic flag checked, and so is all of the footage. But the output movie looks like the anamorphic flag was unchecked and I don't know where to check it.
If I output it using QuickTime Conversion or Compressor to 720p with cropping, but make it a custom size of 720x405 would it take the NTSC DV footage and keep it 720 wide but give me a 16:9 output? Or would it try to distort everything to 1280x720, then squeeze it down?
It is too late now for this project, but should I have simply shot the DV footage 4:3 and used cropping on the 720p HD footage to make it 4:3/720x480?
Any help will be greatly appreciated.
rcarbaugh

Aspect Ratio issues getting 16:9 to look right, what is the best workflow?

Hi all,
I am having trouble getting my 16:9 footage to look right when I export, especially when playing on DVD. I shot the footage with a Sony HDR-HC1 which apparently shoots in 16:9 anamorphic. Originally when I imported the footage it appeared it the FCP viewer and canvas in 4:3 letterboxed form, the image did not look squeezed or stretched but appeared with black stripes on top and bottom.
I have tried several experiments with exporting this footage to dvd with the following results:
Using Compressor with 4:3 setting in export:
DVD Studio Pro track settings to 16:9 looks extra squashed vertically
DVDSP track settings to 4:3 image looks in proper aspect ratio but displays with black stripes on all 4 sides.
Using Compressor with 16:9 settings in export gives the same results.
In conclusion, if it appears in 4:3 letterbox in FCP viewer and canvas there is no way to get it to export and display in DVD with proper 16:9 aspect ratio.
I have also done some experimenting with re-capturing some of the footage from the tape.
For one sequence I recaptured the footage and it displayed in 4:3 without the letterboxed effect (filling the whole screen) but appeared squeezed, I am guessing that this is because of the anamorphic nature in which my camera captures the footage. No pixels were missing. In the FCP viewer and canvas it looked squeezed and did not display in the correct aspect ratio, however when it was exported via Compressor in 4:3 and then in DVDSP Track Settings put to 16:9 Letterboxed, it is displayed perfectly (letterboxed vertically, the image filling the width of the screen without the extra stripes on the sides).
So I thought that I had my solution here, although that did involve re-digitizing and batch capturing all 18 tapes used in the project, so its not exactly a quick fix.
This is where it gets a bit confusing. In order to understand where I had originally gone wrong in my workflow I did some more experiments, this time with the settings on the camera (which I use for a deck in batch capturing). I found the function on the camera where you can set the "TV Type" to either 16:9 or 4:3. I switched the TV Type to 4:3 and when batching it went back to the original letterboxed look (in the batch preview screen that you see while capturing), however when put into the viewer and canvas it was too letterboxed and looked squashed vertically. So then I switched back to TV Type 16:9, now it looks 4:3 squeezed in the batch preview screen (no letterboxing, no missing pixels), however when it goes into the viewer and canvas it becomes letterboxed like the original footage that I had described earlier.
So now even though I have switched the camera back to its original settings it will not display in that 4:3 squeezed look in FCP viewer and canvas.
So after all that my main questions are, in 16:9 can I view it in the FCP viewer and canvas in its correct (anamorphically converted) aspect ratio and still export it without the black bars on all sides?
(The FCP canvas seems to only display in 4:3)
If not, what setting do I need to capture in FCP in the 4:3 squeezed look I have described earlier?
(This is the only setting that I have found that displays properly when anamorphically stretched via DVDSP)
I know that this is a long essay so thanks for making it this far. I have spent weeks experimenting trying to find the best solution so please help me if you know how! I will be very appreciative.
Thanks
Liam

Hi there,
I am not sure if it is necessarily a bug, but its a matter of understanding all of the settings needed. I had the same problems for a while but after a fair bit of trial and error have found some workable settings.
It probably has more to do with the export settings rather than what viewer options have selected (I don't think that viewer settings affect your export).
What program are you using to export?
I am using compressor to export with aspect ration set to automatic 16:9. Then use DVDSP with the track set to 16:9 letterbox, it seems to export to DVD with the correct aspect ratio that way.
I am having trouble with the image strobing, looks like some kind of interlacing problem, but at least I have got it in the right aspect ratio.
Its typical video, solve one problem and it just creates another.
I am yet to find the absolute best workflow.
In response to Andy above, the original letterboxed footage probably did have something to do with the downconverting settings on the camera, as when I import without downconverting it does not letterbox. In the HDR-HC1 there is an option in the menu called "TV Type" with options of 4:3 or 16:9. I was reviewing my footage on a 4:3 television so I most likely had it set to 4:3 which created the letterboxing in the viewer when I then imported the footage.
Importing the footage in HDV solves the issue of aspect ratio, but creates a new problem with the image strobing.
I hope this was some kind of help to you.
Liam

4:3 and 16:9 several issues

This question could be realted to iDVD and QuickTime, but I'll post it here.
Someone f* up during post production, so we're taking in 4:3 material in a 16:9 project. To make up for the space at both sides, we're adding grapics.
The problem we can't figure out is why, when exporting to DV Anamorph, QuickTime shows a standard 4:3 picture thats to high.
Thinking QuickTime didn't handle this, we opend iDVD and made a 16:9 project. Our hope was the iDVD would squeeze and stretch the movie back to 16:9 - but it didn't. It shows a smal/high picture with black sidebars.
After manually adjusting it in QuickTime we finaly made it – but I don't like this. And I'm pretty shure this is not the right way to make a 16:9 correct movie.
But the strange thing is that when testing this on a 4:3 TV, the 16:9 DVD menue will not show us any black bars on top or button, it's full 16:9 fallen out of the picture. And even stranger, when playing the movie it is acctually studdenly correct - scaled down with black bars.
Did anyone follow, or have a explained my self terrible
PowerMac G5 2GHz DP Mac OS X (10.4.5) All software is latest versions, updated as of February 17th.

Quicktime does not recognize 16:9 flags and displays the image as full-height anamorphic. But DVD Studio Pro should handle it correctly. If you are working in iDVD, you need ANAMORPHICIZER. Google and thou shalt find. It's a droplet - you drop your anamorphic footage on it, then save the resulting QT as a reference movie, then import that ref movie into your widescreen iDVD project.
It works - just burned a widescreen project in iDVD myself today.

Problem ordering prints

Hello,
I tried to order prints from iphoto and my order was cancelled 3 times. I sent an email to Apple & received the following response:
Thank you for contacting iPhoto Customer Support.
Unfortunately we were not able to complete your order because some of your photos did not meet the recommended sizes. Since we cannot modify content after an order is submitted, your order has been cancelled, and you have not been charged.
Apple recommends using iPhoto or another image-editing application to adjust your images to the proper aspect ratio before submitting them. These are the recommended minimum image sizes:
4 x 6 print = 640 x 480 pixels
5 x 7 print = 1024 x 768 pixels
8 x 10 print = 1024 x 1536 pixels
16 x 20 print = 1600 x 1200 pixels
20 x 30 print = 1600 x 1200 pixels
Wallet prints = 320 x 240 pixels
Images that are not constrained to the aspect ratio of the print size you are ordering are automatically cropped during processing.
I have a Canon powershot sd500. Do I really need to crop all my photos before ordering prints?
Chris

Do I really need to crop all my photos before ordering prints?
In a word, yes. The prints must be in the same ratio as the print ordered so that you will get on the print what you see on the monitor. You can't squeeze pixels that are in a one ratio into a different ratio and maintain distortion free images. You'd have to squeeze or stretch some pixels to fit the new size. That wouldn't look good. It's just the nature of the beast.

Problem understanding Aspect Ratio

Please help, I thought I knew what I was doing, but I am afraid I am becoming more confused on this topic of Aspect Ratio. Ok, here's the scenario: I have a mixture of 4x3 and 16x9 footage in the timeline and the end product is going to be DVD. So as far as the Sequence settings I have 720 x 480 NTSC DV (3:2) but then I am puzzled as to what to do with the pixel aspect ratio. Do I check Anamorphic 16x9 since some of the footage was shot in 16x9. But then what about the 4x3 footage. If I check "Square" , then the images are squashed from the top and bottom, and if I select CCIR 601/DV then the image is pushed in from the sides! I am very confused. Do I have to edit looking at a squished image and then it will look right once it is out on TV? What about a standard tv set and a widescreen, won't one of them squeeze or stretch my image? Please help!
Sincerely,
Paul

Is there a quicker way to change all the clips at once that are 16x9 so they will look correct in a 4x3 sequence?
Change one, then Copy it. Then select all the rest you want to change and so Ctrl + Click and select Paste Attributes and select just the ones you need to copy.
Some links about mixing formats:
Mulitple Aspect Ratios
Understanding 16:9 in Final Cut Pro
http://www.kenstone.net/fcphomepage/fakingit.html
Hope that helps !
Alberto

Bought daughter new 8gb ipod touch but it only takes 900 of her 1400 songs. Has anyone else had this problem?

Bought daugher the 8gb ipod touch to replace her nano but it only takes 900 of her 1400 songs. Has anyone else had this problem? I was told that it would hold 2000+ songs. She had no photos or videos on it, just uses it for music. Can anyone advise. Thanks

The person who told you it would hold 2000+ songs was stretching the truth. This might be true with 128kbps MP3 files. Not true with 256kbps AAC files (like from the iTunes store).
128kbps MP3s are around 2 to 4MB each. 2000 x 3MB = 6GB.
256kbps AAC files are often 5 to 10MB each
The average size of your daughter's music files is 6.5GB/900 = 7.2MB
1400 songs at 7.2MB = 14GB
Many of us have the problem of not being able to sync our entire music collections. In that you are not alone. The answer about converting to 128kbps AAC is a possible solution. It sacrifices sound quality for size, though. My solution is to sync what I usually want to listen to. I have many songs that I rarely listen to; the result of ripping complete CDs, including all the "filler" songs.

Can adjust page elements in MX, but not in CS3

I don't know what to call this problem, so couldn't do a
search on this forum. I have two computers, one of which runs
Dreamweaver MX, the other of which runs CS3. I can access different
elements of a particular set of web pages in MX, for example
resizing a photograph. But in CS3 all the page elements within the
"contents" div tag highlight as one single element, so that, for
example, if I try to delete a single word of text, the entire
contents--pictures, text, etc.--gets deleted instead. I made these
pages in MX. I'm guessing that there is some default setting in CS3
that is preventing me from accessing the individual content
elements. Here is a sample page:
http://www.colorado.edu/English/faculty/facpages/winokur.shtml
Can someone help me out? Thanks in advance.

> for example resizing a photograph
Never resize a photo or any image from within DW. Load the
image in your
image editor and resize it there. If you do it in DW you
aren't actually
changing the size, merely squeezing or stretching it thereby
diminishing its
quality. And if you reduce the size (in DW) you have a
visually smaller
image but the pixel size (weight) doesn't reduce.
Walt
"Zaphod234" <[email protected]> wrote in
message
news:g4k4j2$atk$[email protected]..
>I don't know what to call this problem, so couldn't do a
search on this
>forum.
> I have two computers, one of which runs Dreamweaver MX,
the other of which
> runs
> CS3. I can access different elements of a particular set
of web pages in
> MX,
> for example resizing a photograph. But in CS3 all the
page elements within
> the
> "contents" div tag highlight as one single elements, so
that, for example,
> if I
> try to delete a single word of text, the entire
contents--pictures, text,
> etc.--gets deleted instead. I made these pages in MX.
I'm guessing that
> there
> is some default setting in CS3 that is preventing me
from accessing the
> individual content elements. Here is a sample page:
>
http://www.colorado.edu/English/faculty/facpages/winokur.shtml
> Can someone help me out? Thanks in advance.
>

Ni elvis oscilloscope vi in labview

Hello,
I'm using NI ELVIS and Labview to drive a remote labratory over the internet.
For this reason, I'm using the ELVIS source VI's running in labview, and not the elvis panel.
When using the VI source code for the oscilloscope, the time division function does not work properly.
When adjusting the time division, the waveform is not squeezed or stretched as it normally would.
The waveform stays the same, and the time division lines move! And if I decrease the time division below a certain value, the display itself shrinks.
What should I do about this problem?
You can veiw the distance VI's here:
http://elvis-test.cecn.sabo.mtu.edu/oscope_test.html
I did not change the source code in any way, except for moving the "Help" buttons out of the veiw of the user. (These are useless for the remote users.)

Hello,
When you installed NI-ELVIS library under LabVIEW 8.2, those
VIs were complied for that version of
LabVIEW. You can always open a VI in a
newer version of LabVIEW but you can not open a VI in an older version of
LabVIEW.
Do you have both LabVIEW 7.1 and 8.2 installed on your
computer at the same time? Have you installed
the NI-ELVIS VIs for LabVIEW 7.1?
You may have installed the NI-ELVIS for LabVIEW 8.2 and not
for LabVIEW 7.1. Those VIs are probably
complied with LabVIEW 8.2 and LabVIEW 7.1 is unable to understand how to open or
run those VIs.
What errors are you getting when you try to use Firefox? Both LabVIEW 7.1 & 8.2 should be able to
display remote front panels in Firefox. Here
is a great KnowledgeBase that describes why you might be getting some plugin
errors with Firefox.
Respectfully,
Rob F
Test Engineer
Condition Measurements
National Instruments

FCE4 'Modify Scale to Sequence' - not here .. :(

pg 801 of the FCE handbook describes a method to scale stills (and videos) 'automatically' to Sequence properties.. it says:
.. To scale an image within a sequence to exactly fit the sequence dimensions:
1 Select one or more clips in the sequence. ∏ Tip: You can also place the playhead over a clip in the Timeline without selecting any clips.
2 Choose Modify > Scale to Sequence.
Each selected clip’s Scale parameter is set to the appropriate amount so that both horizontal and vertical image dimensions fit within the sequence dimensions. The images are not squeezed or stretched, but they may appear letterboxed or pillarboxed if the aspect ratios of the image and the sequence don’t match.
Note: The Scale to Sequence command works on video clips as well as still-image clips.
unfortunately, there's no 'Scale to Sequence'-command in that menu of FC/e 4.0.1 ..
Uploaded with plasq's Skitch!
so.. ? wrong chapter in handbook, FC/p only? ..
appreciate any insights ..

thanks, Tom, mystery solved!
they translated this error into the German manual too

Aspect Ratio problem with DVD output

I have a FCP sequence that I have output as a self contained QT movie. The film was shot 16:9 HD, 1080i/60
I have processed this with Compressor, using the SD DVD setting for 90 mins (the film is 8 mins) because the client wants an SD DVD, not an HD DVD, even though the film was shot in HD.
I then take the Compressor output and import that into DVD Studio Pro. I set the display mode for the track as 16:9 and in simulator select display mode.
The problem is when I output the DVD, I have two non 16:9 televisions to test it on.
On one, which can switch between wide / original / 4:3 the only setting that looks normal (i.e. not squeezed or stretched or cropped) is the 4:3 setting. Yet this is a 16:9 film.
On the other 4:3 television, with no ability to switch between wide / original / 4:3, the image fills the screen but is stretched vertically (I would have expected letterboxing and wide screen image, as when I play a commercial DVD film on this television).
How can I output a SD DVD in 16:9 from this project?
Thanks in advance!

Thank you this was very helpful. I had NOT in fact set the preferences ofr 16:9 encoding. I have now burned another DVD having made this change.
The result is better in that there are now two settings, original and 4:3 that work on one of the televisions I am testing on. Previously, the only one that worked correctly was 4:3.
I am still puzzled why I don't see the output as widescreen with black bars only at top and bottom. (I see it with black border all around. Though the image is not distorted.
Can this have anything to do with the fact that I am going from an HD format in Final Cut sequence to an SD DVD?
Thanks again!

Viewing korean websites

It seems that a lot of korean language websites don't show properly on Safari. Is this because most of them are probably configured for I.E.? I downloaded Firefox but it seems to have similar issues. Certain banners and text gets squeezed or stretched and certain text boxes are floating on screen. Does anyone else have these issues and if so are there any fixes? I tried to find I.E. 5 for mac but couldn't find a site that hosted the files for download.
Thanks

So if it's coded for IE, then there's no work around
for Mac users?
Without a url, there is no way to know whether what you are seeing is only on your personal machine, or only with certain browsers, or on all Mac's in general, and it's impossible to say whether a work around exists or not.

Import Existing Cartoon Into Adobe Illustrator

I found a cartoon on the internet that has given me an idea for a cartoon that I want to do for a friend. Is there a way that I can import this cartoon into Adobe Illustrator and then proceed to alter it to suit my own purposes? I need to squeeze it, stretch it, subtract from it, add to it, and generally change it until I come up with a completely different cartoon of my own.
I have tried placing the original art on a surface in Adobe Illustrator, but the Adobe tools have no effect on it whatsoever. I am unable to change anything. All I want to do is use the nucleus of an idea and expand upon it to the point that it no longer has any resemblance to the original.

Ok, I now see you dont know much about computers and all that.
How to make a screenshot:
1. Press the Print Screen [sometimes also shown as Prt Scr] button on your keyboard.
2. Open Microsoft Paint.
3. Goto Edit > and choose Paste.
4. Goto File > Save.
5. Choose where you want to save the file.
6. Choose to Save the file as: JPEG.
7. Type a filename, and save press Save.
8. Go to www.tinypic.com and press the Browse button and select your image file, which you saved 1 steps ago.
9. Press the big upload button.
10. Goto the box which says Direct link, select the text inside and Right-Click > Copy
11. Paste that link here.
Then we can continue.
However, I think you need to learn the basics of Illustrator first, as you dont know the basic functions very well.
Here are some nice videos: http://tv.adobe.com/show/learn-illustrator-cs4/
Regards,
KSwoosh

How do I stretch or flare a certain part of a picture like holding a fish to make it look like a comet? I done it once but do not know how I did it.

I created a stretch of a fish I was holding, but do not remember how I did it. I did it just trying to learn photoshop elements 11. The head stayed normal, but from the gills back I stretched it all the way to side of pic. Any help would be appreciated.
Thank you,
Marvin Engel

No worries, Pat.
A string of screen shots...
Simply select the rectangle. Use the gradient tool to draw a gradient from one end to the other. Likely is white to black like below.
Open the gradient panel. Right-click on one end stop. Add to swatches.
I add gradients to the swatches to make it easy to update/change.
Double-click on the new swatch. You'll get the following dialog box:
Change to CMYK.
Change one end stop.
Change the other:
I didn't rename it, but I do in practice.
take care, Mike

Time-Stretch effect breaks Hold interporation animations. Why?

Hello. I use AE6 windows version.
Sometimes I want to make "hold interporation animations" on some layers, and time-stretch compositions that contains layers with hold interporation animation, but if I time-stretch those compostions,it ruins the hold interporaton, and make them all linier interporation. This messes up all hold interporation animations.
My layer nest is something like this.
Parent Cmposition A
Child Composition B(this composition is time-stretched, duration is 300% )
Layer A (this has hold interporation animation )
In this case, composition B in compositon A ruins the layer A's hold interporation animation if compositon B is time-stretched.Can I keep the hold interporation? Right now I pre-render the compositon B and replace it with movie file and time -stretch the movie file. Movie file doen't break the hold interporation of course.
Please help me.

Try applying the Posterize Time effect or a posterizeTime() expression to quantize the interpolation to the nearest keyframe. You could also enable time-remapping in the pre-comp linked to a slider in the main comp and instead of animating inside the comp, animate the slider. Other than that you should consider restructuring your project. Seems somewhat inefficient to work this way. The behavior is otherwise normal - when you manipulate time, your hold keyframes may end up at fractional times and AE needs to interpolate to the next full frame, which can cause short smears and blips to appear.
Mylenium

Hold Me! Squeeze Me! STRETCH ME!?!

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