Can't get aspect ratio on stills to work with takes

smhontz wrote on 1/5/2004, 8:44 AM
I'm having trouble getting the aspect ratio stuff to work "right" (i.e., how I think it should work) when using takes. Here's an example:

1. I add a vertical still to the timeline, say 1440 x 2160. I can use Event pan/crop, right-click and say "Match Output Aspect" and now the screen is filled.

2. I add a horizontal still somewhere else in the timeline, say 2160 x 1440. I use Event Pan/Crop, Match Output Aspect, and the screen is filled.

BUT, if I do the same thing as takes, it doesn't work.

I guess I would like takes to work the same way. So, even if I drop a horizontal format picture on to a vertical format picture as a take, I want the aspect ratio to match the output as I toggle through the takes, so they all fill the screen.

But it doesn't work that way. Worse, I can't figure out how to fix it. So, if I start out with a vertical still, have it fill the screen by using event pan/crop, then add a horizontal still as a take, the horizontal still is stretched with black on the top and bottom. If I go into Event Pan/Crop and try to make it fill the screen with "Match Output Aspect", it does nothing. Even hitting Restore first and then "Match Output Aspect" doesn't fix it.

It seems like the first take in determines the aspect format and then you're stuck with it.

Comments

SonyEPM wrote on 1/5/2004, 9:02 AM
Pan/crop settings affect all takes within the event. Same thing is true with event-level fx.
rmack350 wrote on 1/5/2004, 10:03 AM
I suppose what this means is that you have to go into a photo editing program and conform all of the stills to a standard aspect ratio and then also crop them as you like. Getting the aspect ratio conformed would mean to paste the image into a properly sized frame-1636x1200 for instance (it's a multiple of 654.5x480)

This makes sense in a take as all the images are treated as the same event. A work around is to place the images on separate tracks so that they can be individually adjusted.

This behavior for takes is sensible considering that they are all part of the same event. However, it does sound like a neat trick to have individual settings for each take in an event. In fact Vegas is applying an individual setting for each take because it resizes each still to fit the frame. The amount of scaling used to resize can be different for each take. So there's precedent.

Rob Mack
rmack350 wrote on 1/5/2004, 10:07 AM
If you want to do it all in Vegas then you might get the size of your vertical right, save a still of it, and then swap that still for the original.

Rob Mack
smhontz wrote on 1/5/2004, 10:21 AM
I understand that. But it seems broken. The base aspect ratio is determined by whatever was the active take the FIRST TIME you open Event Pan/Crop, and cannot be changed after that - as far as I can figure.

Example: Put a vertical still on the timeline; add a horizontal still as a take. Change the active take to the vertical still; open event pan/crop, and don't do anything. Close Event pan/crop. Go delete the active take (the vertical still). Now open Event pan/crop on the remaining horizontal still. Try to make it fill the screen by doing "Match Output Aspect" - it doesn't work. Try doing "Restore"; the size parameters are still those of the vertical still - NOT the horizontal one. No amount of fiddling seems to be able to fix it. You have to delete the still and add it to the timeline again - you can't even just copy it because it seems to remember the base aspect ratio of the original vertical still.

This reduces the usefulness of takes for selecting from a number of different stills that may have different dimensions.
rmack350 wrote on 1/5/2004, 11:17 AM
It does present a problem. Seems like takes were designed with video footage in mind. They would likely be uniform in size.

In Photoshop you could set up an action to conform all your stills. In fact, I just made up an action to do that. I could mail it to you and then you could tweak it to taste, if that's any use to you.

Rob Mack
smhontz wrote on 1/5/2004, 1:04 PM
If you could e-mail that action, it would be great - smhontz AT att DOT net. Thanks.