Thanks Andy's FREE plug-ins (especially the 4:3 to 16:9 "fake" anamorphic)

Question

This a message to "Andy" who frequents this discussion group. It was for his comments on his plug in site (Great free and useful plug-ins by the way) but the image verification isn't working. Others may find it useful if they're interested in converting old 4:3 video to 16:9 widescreen TV's.
http://web.mac.com/andymees/Freeand_Easy/main/Entries/2008/3/3_Andy’s_ElasticAspect.html#
Hi Andy, excellent filter addressing something of an issue for me right now (converting old 4:3 video to 16:9 aspect for viewing on my plasma)
You're being a little hard on yourself saying is far from perfect; it's more like "nearly perfect" I've been experimenting with it, and before that Mattais Sandstrom's Smart anamorphic from Too Much too soon plugins. That was a script that I tried to modify (knowing nothing of computer code; just FCP's plugin builder) and I know it's a ***** getting the kinks out of the "bending" around the points of distortion. You've managed very well and with possibly a smoother blend (Protection override helps) this could be perfect. As it is, the user control; the ability to keyframe the sliders makes this a great plugin. I've done some tests and like you say, a static image works great. the give away is a panning shot or if you keyframe the protected area to move (to sometimes track a subject) That said it's densely detailed backgrounds that give away effect; out of focus works a treat. I tend to key frame on the edit so on the next frame the area has has jumped to protect another subject. If I have to track a figure for instance I try to keep the move as long as possible so the effect of "bulging" is gradual and less noticable. I also "squeeze" the footage slightly to produce two slight black bars either side of the screen, barley noticable, bur lessens the stretching of the protection override. ( I have best "compromise" settings of protection width 30, Protection override 3-6, and elasticity of 4) I think if you can smooth out that distortion around the protected area you'll have a "perfect" plug-in! I'd even make a donation to see this gets done! Great work Andy, Thanks!

Answer 1

if the source is 4:3 and the target is 16:9 then you will need to blow-up the image so that the horizontal axis fills the 16:9 image width ... that means you will have to crop the image either top or bottom or a bit of both.
simplest is to nest the 4:3 sequence into a 16:9 one and then resize the nest to 133% using the motion tab scale attribute and accept the default centre cut cropping of top and bottom of the image.
for more control you may want to reframe each shot for best placement