Still Image Slideshow Looks Awful... Export Setting?

Hi everyone,
I'm trying to export a video that's basically 1 minute of high res images (taken on a Nikon D800 & D90) that fade from one to the next every 3 seconds, and a piece of music plays behind it.
I don't care what the final file size ends up being. I just need to export this video and have it look perfect. On my computer monitor however, so far in about a dozen combinations of file format / preset, they look completely pixelated and awful. The best I've gotten so far was an Mp4 (forget the exact preset I used, but I'm sure I could figure it out), but even that doesn't even look close to perfect on my computer monitor, and I'm sure once it's displayd big on a big widescreen TV it will look even worse. If I just display the images they look great (they're really high res after all), so it's obviously something with the various export settings...
Can anyone provide any help / insight into what good settings would be for a project like this? Again, file size doesn't matter at all. Not trying to save space. I just want this slideshow to look as good as if I was just flipping through a bunch of images on the computer in a image viewer...
Thanks

Before you nominate Jim for sainthood I have a quick story to tell.
I just now put some pictures into Premiere Pro that were 4608X3072 and I dropped them on a sequence of the same frame size (by dropping them on the "New Item" button). Then I dropped that sequence on a 1920X1080 sequence and used motion to scale them down. I then exported to my usual 1080p YouTube settings and the pictures are as sharp in the video as they are in Bridge.
I used a DSLR preset for my project, and the new 1080p sequence uses I-Frame only MPEG for previews.
i am not saying to not do it Jim's way. In fact, if you do not plan on panning around your images, using Photoshop to scale the images is the fastest and easiest way.
However, it is not really necessary to scale them all the way down, and if you are panning, then certainly they need to be closer to full size.
Now, your camera shoots 7360X4912, a lot bigger than my little sensor can shoot, so you might want to resize to 50% or even 60% of the original size if you want to pan. Just know you don't have to go all the way to an HD frame size.
Also, I don't doubt that the AVC-Intra setting works great, but my DSLR setting does not cause me any problems.
Just to give you something to think about.

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Hi,
I have been trying everything to make a short film, which is made with still images, to look decent once exported however it is a real challenge. Here are the steps I have undertaken:
1- I prepare the photographs and give them the aspect ration of 720p and whatever height as I try not to crop them too much at 300dpi. They look great in photoshop or capture one. I then save them as.tiff. All the images are RGB.
2- I start a new project in premiere pro cs4 and make it DV Pal 25fps.
3-I import the images and place them on the timeline. If they are a bit too big I rescale them. The images seem to look ok on the timeline although I seem to have lost the deepness of the colours.
4-I render the work area
5-I export it as quicktime, dv pal, quality 100.
My dilemna is that although exporting with quicktime, dv pal, quality 100 seems to give me the best quality compared to using quicktime animation, mpeg2, cinemak, avi..., the images are still not as sharp as in Photoshop and the colours look a lot paler and washed out. Also, when looking close to the screens you can see tiny squares on the images although from distance it's not too bad. When I view it from the exported file using Nero it's not too bad although definitely not perfect, as soon as I try to make a DVD and import it in Adobe Encore CS4 or send it by Dynamic Link, the quality looks horrible with images that look soft if not blurred and completely washed out.
I have now tried about t bu15 versions to see what 's the best I still have not reached the optimum quality and since these will be shown on big tvs or projected onto screens I need to nail it.
Would anybody have any advice please please please?
Many Thanks

My overall advice is to do that kind of work in an application that is designed for that. Give Photodex Proshow Producer trial a crack at it. I do a lot of work with stills, and that IMO PSP is the best approach. If you are intermixing the odd still, Pr may get you by. If you plan on doing a lot of that, try proshow, where the workflow and extensive features are designed for making high quality videos from stills that can be output to a wide number of formats and destinations, including color management with many of them( including avi). And, no need to resize. I know this won't solve your present problem.
Obviously, your attempt in Pr has not worked out as you had hoped. Maybe a bit more info would help. How are you rescaling them in Pr? That might well account for some quality loss. What is the original format and size of the images? What color management are you using in PS? Are you using any color correction or effects in Pr? Is your project interlaced or progressive?
From your description, you are not even getting the quality you should be getting from Pr IMO, though as Jim says, it is video and it will never look as pristine as it does in PS, but it still seems to me that something you are doing has degraded the work more than normally would be expected.

How do you export a still image from a sequence ?

I could easily export a frame as still image in CS3 (File / export / ...)
But how do you do this in CS4 ??... Adobe found another way of making something simple so difficult !... I try to export media, then select a still image format, make sure ''export sequence'' is *not* selected, but when I look at the output, what I get is not where I had stopped the cursor and appeared on the monitor, but I get the first frame of the sequence instead.
What am I doing wrong here ?
Thanks,
Rob

Your way should work, it worked for me.
Try reading this:
Select a clip in the Project panel or a Timeline.
Choose File > Export > Media.
In the Export Settings dialog box, select a still-image format from the Format menu. See Export Settings Format options.
If tabs are not visible below the Summary pane, click the Advanced Mode button.
On the Video tab, deselect the Export As Sequence option (if it is selected).
(Optional) To deinterlace the frame, select Progressive from the Field Type menu.
(Optional) To correct the pixel aspect ratio for display on computer screens, select Square Pixels from the Aspect menu.
Click the Output Name hot text.
Browse to the location where you want to save the still-image file, type a filename for it, and click Save.
In the Export Settings viewing area, drag the playhead to the frame you want to export as a still image.
Click OK.
Check no.10 did you drag the playhead in the export settings viewing area? Or did you do that on the timeline?
Good luck.

Why is a still image fuzzy when being played but clear when I pause it?

I'm trying to make a video out of a collection of still images. It is a tribute video, essentially, and I am trying to liven it up by panning and zooming documentary-style. I've imported all the images I want to use into my media folder, and added them to my timeline. When I hit 'play,' the images suddenly become blurry, but when i then 'pause' it, they return to being clear. Any idea why this might be happening and what I can do to fix this?
Thanks very much,
Brian

More information needed for someone to help... please click below and provide the requested information
-Premiere Elements FAQ http://forums.adobe.com/thread/1042180
>make a video out of a collection of still images
What is your project setting, and what size are your pictures?
Pictures that are "overly" large may cause video editing problems
Photo Scaling for Video http://forums.adobe.com/thread/450798
-HiRes Pictures to DVD http://forums.adobe.com/thread/1187937?tstart=0
The Tutorial Links Page http://forums.adobe.com/thread/1275830 may also help
Plus...
Premiere Elements FAQ List (2 pages of FAQ as of September 2013) http://forums.adobe.com/community/premiere_elements/premiere_elements_faq?view=all
Premiere Elements TIPS List (6 pages of Tips as of September 2013) http://forums.adobe.com/community/premiere_elements/premiere_elements_tips?view=all

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Hi,
I have tried tried almost everything and I still have issues with the still images exported to DVD as sequencefrom FCP 7.0 by using Compressor are deinterlaced and flicker on TV monitor. Please help remove the annoying flicker.
My FCP Timeline Sequence settings match the image resolution:
Frame Size: 1024 x 682 (double of 720 x 480 standard DVD res)
Pixel Aspect Ratio: Square
Field Dominance: None
Compressor: Photo JPG (also tried, DVCPRO-NTSC)
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Final output of DVD will be on this monitor:
Specifications:
Ikegami
Model: VCM-2101
Resolution: 450 TV Lines (Horizontal)
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How can I match the sequence or the images settings to avoid the flicker and deinterlaced look on that monitor? I am not able to test the image by having the monitor next to computer.
Compressor:
I used custom DVD settings in Compressor for 90 min best quality DVD. Tried the Porgressive and "Same as Source" in Output field.
In "Crop to" and "Padding" I set for preserve source aspect ratio and letterbox area of source.
I followed the advices from below and I still did not resolve the problem. Please is there anythign else I can try?
Thanks a lot..
Re: Poor Quality Stills
Dec 19, 2006 4:08 PM (in response to Steve Braker)
Things to try (In increasing order of image degradation)
- (in FCP) field order>none
- (in FCP or Photoshop) reduce whites by 10% - reduces overly bright areas
- (in FCP) flicker filter - minimum
- (in Photoshop) motion blur>vertical> .2 - .5 pixels - blurs vertically only
- (In FCP or Photoshop) Gaussian blur> .2 - .5 pixels -blurs both horizontally as well as vertically
- (in FCP or Photoshop) deinterlace - throws away half the image and is generally not appropriate on scanned images

Dear Russ,
Thank you very much. Yes, there is something else in the sequence, old documentary, 768 x 570 (no field dominance, 25fps, Apple ProRes 422) but the images are more imporant.
make a progressive sequence with square pixels. (I am partial to 720P, 1080 should work – or 540). Choose Pro Res 422
Do you mean that I should make a sequence in FCP with these settings? If yes, how can I set a "progressive" sequence? I dont see a setting for output field in FCP sequence settings, lnly in customizing Compressor output DVD format.
Also: "720P, 1080 should work – or 540" are you talking about Frame size? If so, to set in Compressor or in FCP?
If you have interlaced material, then de-interlace before you bring it in. If you don't have interlaced clips, don't de-interlace.
The images are not interlaced after I crop them, apply motion blur filter in Photoshop but look interlaced in FCP timeline after I import them and even to the same as photos sequence in FCP timeline.
Please help and thank you for your comments.

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I am bringing in 72dpi jpegs of some of my design work into iMovie. I am trying to make a slideshow and have the images change by using the music as a cue, new sound—new image, etc... I then want to export it as quicktime movie.
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I am bringing in 72dpi jpegs of some of my design work into iMovie
The dpi setting is of NO importance in iMovie/iDVD - only the actual image pixel size. See Preparing images for DVD slideshows at http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=iDVD/6.0/en/17.html for suggested sizes unless you plan on using a lot of Ken Burns Effect zooming.
When I am in iMovie and I drag a clip(still image) into the time line the image looks dull and blurry
The preview window in iMovie is just that - a preview window - for use in editing. It does NOT show the actual image quality of the clip.
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certainly not the100% from my original documlent, it opens way much bigger.
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Peter Spier wrote:
You've set up at 1024 x 768 px doc size? Your PDF should also then have a 1024 x 768 size (it might read 14.22 x 10.66 inches in Acrobat since as far as ID is concerned, pixels = points). Have you scaled the images in ID?
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Firewire Cable
Every import/export has been working perfectly until today. I have not knowingly adjusted any settings within FCP - it works, why should I?
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Sky Pix
If you are outputting to DV then all your ProRes nonsense counts for nothing, nada, zilch, because at then end you are wholly discarding when you export as DV.
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When the final DVD plays on a computer or TV screen, the photo images in the titles are fuzzy even though they were clear 300 dpi images. (I know dpi doesn't matter in video). The title text is also a bit fuzzy and the title text that has animation applied to it is even more fuzzy. Yet the old MPEG video clips look fine - it's just my title graphics and text that look bad (embarrasing).
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* With the advent of BD players, and up-rezzing DVD players, things HAVE improved, when viewing a DVD-Video on an HD TV. The newer players have up-rezzing chips, that do a very good job of "improving" the viewed material's quality. However, even with those amazing chips, DVD-Video will NEVER be as good as a full-HD source. Also, computers do not have those up-rezzing chips, so when one views a DVD-Video on a high-rez computer monitor, it will still look pretty bad. There ARE a couple of new DVD software players, that improve the quality of DVD-Video played on a high-rez computer monitor, and a few look fairly promising. I speculate that we will see some more development in the DVD-Video area, especially as BD is not proving to be the big seller, that many promised. Even 3D is not helping BD realize its promise.

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Frank, Cranford, NJ

Studio X wrote:
2. When you start with DV material, the highest res
you can get is 720x480 (non-square) or the equivalent
of a really bad quality cheepo still camera.
(~640x480 square pixels)
To avoid the need to deinterlace, (the horrors of
which are described below) find sections in your
video that have VERY LITTLE motion, i.e.
everyone/thing standing/existing absolutely still
with the camera locked down on a tripod. These
sections will yield the very best possible still
images.
If you have motion, the still images will exhibit
'tearing' which comes from the two fields of video
being recorded ~1/60 second apart. The second field
shows elements displaced from the first field - hence
a kind of internal image shifting going on. The only
real way to deal with these kind of images is to
deinterlace them - that is - decide which field you
are going to keep and throw away the other.
When you have deinterlaced the image, you have in
effect reduced it from a 720x480 image to a 720x240
image. The image pixel count REMAINS 720x480 but with
half the vertical information as the remaining lines
are doubled or interpolated to build back to 480
lines.
I take your explanation to mean that when you export a frame from FCE you get both fields. I am confused by the use of the term "de-interlace", since in television displays that term is defined as obtaining a full frame picture either by a) combining the two fields (called "weave"); b) duplicating lines of a single field (called "bob") or c) using some form of interpolation to derive the alternate lines.
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Am I correct on this?
867 MHz PowerPC G4 Mac OS X (10.3.9)

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Question that I can't seem to find a clear answer for -- maybe you can help !
I am producing a film and am exporting it using the H264 setting, square pixels, CBR. Video quality is wonderful --- but I am having an issue with a still image. Essentially, I am importing an image of a film logo at the beginning of my film. The image is vector, dropped into photoshop from illustrator, saved as either an EPS or jpg, then I import that into the timeline. Once exported, video looks crisp and beautiful, but the logo at the beggining has slightly jagged edges and is NOT crystal sharp super clear as it should be or as it was saved as.
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Create a new .psd in Photoshop (using the Film and Video templates) that match your sequence settings. Bring the vector image into PS and add it on a second layer to that new .psd. Save out that .psd as a .png with no Interlacing.
Bring that into PP for use in the sequence.

FCE 4 for slideshows with still images only

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Unfortunately, Tom, the slideshow capabilities in iPhoto are not sophisticated enough. I need to be able to "choreograph" the images with a musical selection. I like the marker features in FCE so I can easily time out the musical selection and place the transitions where I need them before I even import my images. I also like the ability to play with the audio, for example, trimming and fading out a piece of music that may be a tad long; or starting a selection of music after a title slide has been on the screen. I kind of need the type of editing one does with film but using still images. If only Apple would combine some of the features of Final Cut Express with a program like iPhoto that handles the still image resolution. Any possibility of that happening?

Still Image Slideshow Looks Awful... Export Setting?

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