Still Photo Pixel Ratio Madness

rtimesr wrote on 10/28/2005, 4:35 PM
I want to use still photos in a DVD for a NTSC 4:3 TV movie rendering. The photos are all 4:3 ratio with pixels ranging from 2400 x 1800 to 800 x 600. They were taken with a digital camera and downloaded in .jpg format. If TV pixels are rectangular, and not square, it seems I should resize them horizontally before importing them to Movie Studio to avoid distortion. Per a net article I have resized copies to 720 x 486 (http://www.creativecow.net/show.php?forumid=1&page=/articles/gerard_rick/pixel_madness/index.html). They come out stretched horizontally. Please keep it simple for my slow wit. If I start with a 1600 x 1200 still photo .jpg what do I do to it before importing to Movie Studio. How about an 800 x 600 .jpg? Thanks for the help.

Comments

allyn wrote on 10/28/2005, 4:39 PM
don't bother resizing at all, it is just wasted effort. movie studio will do the right thing if you import the full-size images. and then you have more pixels to work with if you want to crop, pan, zoom, etc.
Tim L wrote on 10/28/2005, 5:14 PM
I agree -- just bring the original photos into VMS -- it understands JPEG's and PNG's etc. and it will take care of everything for you. It will convert everything from square pixels (JPEG) to rectangular pixels (DV and MPEG2, widescreen DV and MPEG2), etc.

In many cases, however, converting to DVD and showing on a TV will result in "interlace flicker", especially in any light colored, fine detail in the photo. When you drag the photo to your timeline, right-click on it, select "Switches", and then put a checkmark next to "Reduce Interlace Flicker".

Also, don't forget that you likely will lose maybe 10% of your image all the way around when displaying on a TV. Enable the "safe areas" grid now and then (near your preview window) to make sure that everything in the photo you need to have on the screen is actually within the safe area. I sometimes use pan/crop to reduce the size of a photo (leaving black space around it) just to make sure somebody near the edge of the photo doesn't get chopped off.

Oh, and I notice that in my preview window, especially on any quality setting less than the best, that hi-res photos (2-3 Megapixel or so?) often look horrible in the preview window. Don't worry, they'll look better when you actually render.

Tim L
djcc wrote on 10/28/2005, 6:49 PM
When you drag the photo to your timeline, right-click on it, select "Switches", and then put a checkmark next to "Reduce Interlace Flicker".


Is this something new in version 6?? It certainly does not exist in my version 4.
Tim L wrote on 10/28/2005, 7:44 PM
djcc: "Is this something new in version 6?? It certainly does not exist in my version 4."

Yes, you're right -- new in version 6, did not exist in version 4.

I think in version 4 there was an option somewhere -- maybe when you render? -- to "disable fast resize" or something like that, which was supposed to help stills and reduce interlace flicker. (I think) Also, you could apply a gaussian blur with just the smallest value -- 0.001? -- in just the vertical direction to help.

I now routinely use the "Reduce Interlace Flicker" switch on all stills -- because I know I had problems with stills in ver 4, but sadly, I guess I can't comment on how good a job it does. I haven't really experimented with enabling and disabling it and comparing the difference. (You would only be able to see a difference when viewing on a TV, which for me means burning a DVD. I don't have a TV near my computer that I could hook the camera to to get preview directly from VMS. (PC firewire out --> camera --> TV -- although that might be new to ver 6 also?)

And additional thoughts regarding the original post: I have to admit to being a newbie myself. If more experienced people are recommending resampling before bringing into Vegas/VMS, then they probably know more about it than me. Perhaps rescaling (downsampling) the photo in PhotoShop or whatever does a better job than doing it in Vegas/VMS?

But in the context of the original post: "Please keep it simple for my slow wit." The easiest thing to do with the photos is just bring the originals into VMS and drag them to the timeline, let VMS handle all the details.

Tim L
Clarke wrote on 10/31/2005, 6:29 AM
I believe the correct approach is to set the still aspect ratio to output source.

After dragging the still to the timeline, select the "Event Pan\Crop"
On the Event Pan\Crop window, right click anywhere within the photo and select the option of "Match Output Aspect"

VMS would provide a correct resolution window for you. So it does not matter what resolution was the original still photo.
If you follow the photo's standard rule of 1/3, there should be sufficient space for you to play with.

Hope this helps.