Importing still images into FCP

I just spent about an hour resizing a bunch of pictures in iPhoto to the 4x3 DVD setting. I imported well over a 100 photos into FCP and the first picture I dragged to the timeline was super big!!!! How in the world did that happen if I cropped the picture down to a 4:3 image? So now it looks like I have to go and resize all these pics all over again but inside FCP! This is crazy!

If I do in FCP, how do I accomplish 2 things:
1. Reduce an original that is 3072 x 2304 to a size that won't require an eternity for FCP to render?
2. To change the Pixel Aspect from square to rectangular so the image doesn't have pixelation (particular with hair and the like)?
Or should I do this in Motion? I was really hoping to learn how to do this in GIMP. Perhaps GraphicConverter (or some other program like Pixelmator).

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Importing photoshop images into fcp?

I'm currently working on a project where i'm having to blend in images/photos (jpeg/tiff format) with the HD footage i'm editing with. Simple question really; do you recommend that I re-size the images in photoshop so that the image is the same dimensions as the footage in final cut? I know some blurring/loss of image quality will occur but that's not important at this stage.
For instance my settings in fcp are HD 1440x1080, 16:9 aspect ratio. Just so I don't get left with big black borders around my photos once they're in the sequence is it best that I doctor them in photoshop and size them to the exact fcp frame that i'm working with?
I assume that if the image is too big for the frame in fcp it will crop the image so it fits nicely?
Thanks for your help on this,
Alex

Your assumptions are all misguided; you're in control of everything FCP will attempt to do to your still images. However, you need to understand how to wrest that control from the defaults and that's a few dozen pages in the manuals.
Bringing layered Photoshop documents into FCP is different than importing still image files. Another section in the manual. There are entire websites dedicated to this topic, too, and you're going to to need to experiement on the numerous techniques suggested.
At its basic level, you want your images to have pixel dimensions that will support the maximum zoom you will want to use. If all of your images are simple full frames, create your still in the exact pixel dimensions of your sequence. Yes, you must understand the difference between square and rectangular pixels. Manual again.
If you intend to do zooms or other complex moves, you will want to size your images about 200% larger than your HD sequence.
Still images have no fields, only sequences do.
Stick around for a few more days and you'll get several additional posts.
bogiesan

Can't import still images into a project or create a podcast track

I'd be grateful if anyone can explain why I can't import still images onto a track like you can easily do in garage band - in garage band you simply create a podcast track, then drag your photos onto it. However in logic, when I open the media browser i can get a photo folder up but it will not allow me to even look at the contents.
Also, why is it that the manual for logic express has nothing about how to import a movie to produce a movie score - and yet garage band can even do this.
Thanks for any advice.

Have you tried "Working with Video" section of the manual? It's somewhere close to the end...
Logic works with audio, not images. That's why you can't import a photo, because media browser is used to locate audio files, mostly. And sometimes video.
I guess it works this way, you create a podcast with Logic, bounce it to mp3 or another compressed format. Then import it into GB and insert a photo.

Import Still images into CS5.5.2 Premier Pro from a Sony camcorder HXR-NX30P

Any recommendations to easily Import stills from this Sony HXR-NX30P to Premiere Pro Cs5.5.2 ?

>using Windows Explorer.?
Go to http://search.microsoft.com/search.aspx?mkt=en-US&setlang=en-US and search for... examples below
windows explorer tutorial
windows explorer manual
windows explorer help
or any other search terms you think might result in help to learn windows explorer

Importing Still Images - Stuck on one step

I've never imported a still image into FCP before but I'm following some Ken Stone articles on doing it but I'm stuck on one bit.
I've pasted in the directions below and its the third one, "paste in photgraphs". I've never used Photoshop (im using elements) and I just can't paste in the photo i want to use. The 'copy' and 'paste' options are greyed out so i really don't know how to progress. Any help would be apreciated.
1) From PhotoShop File menu > new.
2) Set Width to 720 pixels, Height to 540 Pixels, Resolution to 72 dpi, Color Mode to RGB, and Contents to White or choose a Background Color.
3) Create your artwork, set text, paste in photographs. When done with your art work Save this image and give it name like "Image Name 540".
4) File menu > Image > Image size
5) In the Image Size dialog box FIRST uncheck the 'Constrain Proportions' box.
6) In the Pixel Dimension section, top the dialog box, change your Height setting from 540 to 480. Leave the Width setting at 720.
7) Click Okay.
If you look at your image you see that it is now distorted, flatten down. Don't panic, this is the conversion process and when the square pixels get converted to rectangular pixels in NTSC your image will once again look correct.
8) Do a 'Save As', Photoshop format (.psd) and name the file "Image Name 480".
9) Import into FCP and render. You will see that your image on NTSC once again has it's proper proportions.

Not quite sure I follow you. You're having problems in Photoshop?
You must open the photo as a separate file in photoshop. Just find the image you want to use, control/right click on it and choose open with>photoshop.
When this image is open, you can click-hold-and-drag it across to your main image canvas.

Animation. How do I import still images in final cut pro x (from dragon frame) duration 3 frames pr. image?

Animation. How do I import still images in final cut pro x (from dragon frame) duration 3 frames pr. image? We have allready tried to set stillimages duration in preferences to 0,08 sek, but it does not have any effect!

You can drag your images to the timeline, select all, ctrl-d and set the duration to 3 frames by typing 3 and enter.
Or you can use Quicktime 7 to "open image sequence", select the desired duration, export your animation to quicktime and import that into FCP X for further editing.

Still images into a project

Hello.
I am working on an SD NTSC-Anamorphic project and want to bring some still images into the project. The images were shot with a Canon 350D (Rebel XT) in Raw format and currently are in TIFF format as converted by Aperture. When I import the images I am finding a noticable degredation in quality when comparing the images in "Preview" to the Viewer to the Canvas. Once the images are in the timeline and I look at them on the canvas they look alot fuzzier.
Should I be using a different file format? Is there a setting I've overlooked somewhere?
Thanks for any and all suggestions...

Hi,
I have read the comments above and all are valid but they do not look to me to answer your core question.
I had been asking the same question on forums for a long time and had similar responses and finally fixed the issue by purchasing a Photoshop book called WOW.
One of the earlier comments really hits the nail on the head but does not seem to offer the fix (I'm not trying to be critical here because all information does help).
First of all you need to reduce the size of the file for video - this is, in my experience best done in Photoshop not FCP (Photoshop WOW book comes with DVD and automatic actions to do this).
I call this the 'resize' step and put all my photos through this stage first (it does help to have an action for landscape and one for portrait to ensure that they are kept separate for the next step).
Then you need to 'rescale' the image to the size of your project in FCP (I assume that you are using widescreen as I do). To do this you need to create a blank document in widescreen format and then drop or drag your resized photo into the widescreen format and it will take on the same format as the blank widescreen document. Get rid of any layers and save the document in TIFF or JPEG it is up to you - you can keep the layers if you want to but you need to be aware of the issues of layers being imported into FCP.
I felt like I had found my fountain of youth when I sorted this out properly (the stress was definitely make me age).
Some comments suggest that the latest FCP does a better job of compressing the photos than the older versions but I wouldn't know as I use FCP 4.5HD and this may be so. However, it is commonly accepted, I believe, that formating the photo in photoshop is the better option.
It fixed all my headaches at least because I wanted the flexibility of FCP with photos just as you do.
Good luck and no intention to dislocate any noses out there, the willingness of people helping to provide assistance out there is fantastic.
Lee

Compress many "still images" into a quicktime video file....possible????

Is it possible to take hundreds of "still frames" (like jpegs or tiffs) into Compressor and export them as a quicktime movie(I know I need 30 pics for every second using 29.97)? If so how? Thanks

Christopher..
Was doing this in ImageReady, followed all the steps to save the file (with all the time lapse images) as a quicktime movie file.
And when I open the saved quick time movie file it only saves one image as a .mov quicktime file and not the rest of the images?
Looked through a few notes, retried and couldn't figure it out?
Marion..
FCP.. I have no idea where to begin in learning how to import .jpg (timelapse) images into FCP let alone piece it into a small film.
All the images are ready to be converted into a movie file..just don't know where to start.
any leads would be greatly welcomed! ~A~

I imported 635 images into an iPhoto album so that I can share them via a photo-stream. However, iPhoto says there are only 600. When I try to add the missing images it says they are already there. Why can i not see these images in iPhoto?

I imported 635 images into an iPhoto album so that I can share them via a photo-stream. However, iPhoto says there are only 600. When I try to add the missing images it says they are already there. Why can i not see these images in iPhoto?

Generally I would not use Facebook for sharing any photos, it compresses the photos substantially, and when you have shadows and dark colours you get visible "bands" where there should be subtle gradients, ie at sunsets and sunrises.
It sounds like you are using two methods to upload to Facebook:
1. Sharing from within Aperture, which basically syncs Facebook with your Aperture album, so any changes made at either end gets synced, hence the deletions from Albums, although the original file should still be in your library, just removed rom the album. It is like a playlist in iTunes.
2. Exporting pics and uploading to Facebook from the browser.
I am not sure how method 1 gets compressed, but I know that uploading hi-res jpegs to Facebook using method 2 results in poor quality images.
I wouldn't even bother comparing option 1 or 2, and they will both be poor images once you view them on Facebook, as opposed to viewing uploaded images on proper image sharing / hosting sites.
Your problem is not with Aperture, it is using Facebook for showing your work.
If you export pics form Aperture at high res jpegs or TIFFs your images will be fine.
If you insist to use Facebook as your way to share your work, then your workflow should be this:
1. Right click images you want to share.
2. Select Export version.
3. Export as 100% size and ensure the export settings are set at 100% quality.
4. Upload this pic into Facebook.
This will get you the best image size and resolution on Facebook.
See how you go.

Order of Imported Still Image

Hi
When I import a series of still images into imovie, the order is back to front ie. 25-1, how can i set it so they are in the right order ie. 1-25
Thanks

OK, another idea:
Did you select them by clicking on the first and shift-click on the last?
How about reversing the order: Click on the last and shift-click on the first.

Combine multiple still images into one clip PE 10

Is it possible to combine mulitple still images into a single clip? For example, I have 50 still images in a video track, each of which is a clip, and I want to combine them into single clip out of them so I can adjust the opacity without having to adjust each of the 50 clips individually. Any information is welcome. Thanks.

Mark,
I had done this but I was hoping there was an easier way to do it within PE, without having to export as a video file and then importing that video file.
One has to think about what PrE is doing with the Timeline, to understand why the Export/Share is necessary to get Stills/Clips to become one file. PrE is a non-destructive editor, in that it does not actually work with the Source Footage/Files, but only extracts data from them. What we see on the Timeline is really a proxy file, representing the edits that we are making. It is stored as XML language, with first links to the Source Files, and then a set of instructions on what we have done with that data. Since the Timeline is but a representation, of what we have done, there is no AV file - yet. That does not come about, until we Export/Share. At that point, PrE looks at the Project file (PREL), and notes exactly what data is required from the Source Files. The program then reads that information, and say gathers the data of Clip # 1 from 00;00;00;00 until 00;05;00;00, for use in the output file. It then moves to say Clip 2, and extracts the data needed there. Finally, the program processes that data, say adding Effects, and then Exports/Shares to a new file - creating that from the data, and the instructions. Still, the originals are not changed in any way - they are untouched, and only read from.
For instance, say we have a 20 min. Source Clip, and cut it into 30 tiny segments, "deleting" material between those. We have not really Cut that Source Clip, and we have not really deleted anything - only in our proxy file, and with the instructions in the PREL. It is the same with Still Images. We see them as separate Clips, with the Duration that we have set, and perhaps any animation that we have added via Keyframing the Fixed Effects>Motion>Scale (Zoom), and Motion>Position (Pan), but other than seeing those changes in the proxy file, used only for display of the Timeline and playback, nothing has been done yet. Then, upon Export/Share, when the output file is created, those changes are enacted on it.
Good luck,
Hunt

Cannot import still image: jpeg/tiff/png/gif/ai/psd

Hello all:
I'm running into a strange error. No matter what size image I try, I cannot seem to import a still image into Adoe Premiere Pro cs4 running on Mac OSX 10.6.2
The error I receive is a "File Import Error: File Video Dimensions width/height too large."
I've tried the following to isolate why Premiere is returning this error:
- importing images at different sizes: 100x200, 1000x2000 etc
- saving the image as different file formats: jpeg, tiff, gif, png etc
- importing it as an illustrator file
- importing it as a Photoshop file
None of that worked. I'm at my wit's end and I can't seem to find anybody that has experienced this error before.

Here are some threads to check:
http://forums.adobe.com/thread/387776
http://forums.adobe.com/thread/480381
http://forums.adobe.com/thread/387156
http://forums.adobe.com/thread/443138
IIRC, the third one is for the Mac, but might be useful info in all.
Good luck,
Hunt
PS - welcome to the forum

Importing reference images into a premiere linked sequence

I'm trying to import some still images into a project for color matching... is there a way to do that directly in speedgrade or do they first have to be imported into the premiere project?

Not really in my experience ... except that it's oft easier if they're as big or bigger than your frame-size, and if they're from a stills camera they will almost always have at some point been bigger than either biggie HD (1920x1080) or standard HD (1280x720). If you're just using those snapshots for scene matching ... color grading to match them ... pretty much anything around the framesize works fine if it's in a format Sg accepts.
But yes ... always test ... always test every step you're thinking of trying ... as the one time you don't something is gonna bite your backside ...
Neil

Imovie imports different image into project

I'm trying to create a slideshow using only jpg images. Sometimes (now frequently) when I drag a picture into the slideshow from iphoto, desktop, Adobe Bridge, or even straight out of downloads, the image that actually shows up in imovie is a previously used picture. Sometimes the correct image shows up in the strip, but a different photo shows up in the preview window.
I spent several hours at the Genius Bar yesterday and we dumped a plist and rebuilt the entire iphoto library.
I've got to say that after having imovie closed all night, I reopened it this morning and was able to import correct images into the correct positions on my project, but then it started acting up again (after I cancelled my Genius bar appointment for today!), and is again putting different pictures into the project than I am actually trying to put into the project.
I litterally just need to get about 5 more images into the project!
Please help
Using imovie 11 and OSx 10.7.5
Thanks in advance

I didn't film the video, so I'm not sure what kind of camera was used.
Here is a screenshot of the Quicktime Inspector:
And here is a bit more information about my situation: The video plays fine off of the thumb drive it was given to me on, and it plays fine off of my hard drive. But when I import the video into iMovie, all I see is the one still video shot while the audio plays beneath it. I've tried this on two different computers and on both of them, the video is frozen once it's imported into iMovie.
Bizarre.
I appreciate your help!

Trouble importing .mov files into FCP X

I'm relatively new to FCP so this could be a really easy fix. I took a bunch of short video clips (20s --> 1.5 min) on my Panasonic ZS25 and imported the clips to my MacBook Pro (2008 with 2GB 1067 MHz DDR3 Memory and 2.26 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo Processor). [I have version 10.8.4 of OSX]. The clips from my camera were in .mts format so I used the Smart Convertor Pro App from the App Store to convert all 80 files to a .mov format. Both the converted clips and FCP X are stored on my 700 GB external, and while I tried to import the clips into FCP X, the program almost immediately froze and shut down. Thinking I "overloaded" (for lack of a better word) FCP X, I decided to try and delete the blank clips that were showing up in the program. However each time I attempted to click on a clip the program crashed again. I eventually was able to delete all the clips, and decided to move the converted clips from my external to my desktop. Once they were moved I then tried to import just one clip from the desktop to FCP X (which is still run through my external). Although it was successfully imported, once I clicked on the file to play it in FCP X the program crashed again.
What can possibly be the problem and what can I do to fix it?
Note: This is my first time using both my new camera (and having to deal with this .mts BS) as well as FCP X.

Thanks Russ, Tom, and Hughmass for all your input. It really is appreciated. Unfortunatly even after moving FCPX to my desktop and converting the .mov files in MPEGstreamclip, importing the movie clips into the program still causes random shut downs. Perhaps the clips are corrupted or something? I honestly don't know, and I'd rather kind of just ignore this problem then keep hashing away seeing as the clips aren't that important (and yes, being super smart, i deleted them off the camera well before hand).
Just to make sure FCPX works, I took some short clips on my Panasonic DMCZS25, and imported them successfully into FCPX and was able to edit together a quick piece. Thanks again for all your help!

Importing still images into FCP

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