Hey Guys,
I'm working on a Tribute DVD with about 30 stills that will cross fade with roughly 6 video clips. I need to know how to get rid of the black boarder that's surrounding the stills. I've done everything I know to do with the Crop/Edit function, but I've yet to figure out how to make it look on the monitor the way it looks in the editor.
I've got to turn this in Tuesday morning. So, any help you can offer ASAP will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!
Open pan/crop box for the first event. Type in the horizontal and vertical pixel dimensions ( 720 x ?). Save as preset. Apply preset to others.
Have you tried right clicking on the photo inside of the pan/crop tool and choosing "match output aspect ratio"?
Preferences > Editing : [check] automatically crop still images added to timeline ?
Have you tried right clicking on the photo inside of the pan/crop tool and choosing "match output aspect ratio"?
Yeah, I tried that. For the most part, the 16:9 Widescreen setting got rid of the border on 95% of the pics. The problem from that is I've cropped out 2/3rds of the picture. Group Photos were a total nightmare. I could get 3 out of the 4 people in the shot. On those photos, I opted to live with the black boarder.
Perhaps add bottom layer and add background instead of just pan/crop to prevent black?
Preferences > Editing : [check] automatically crop still images added to timeline ?
Seems to only automatically crop the photo in the trimmer. Black boarder is still visible when added to the time line. Should I avoid the trimmer for those photos?
Tell us the resolution of those stills . For now , I can only guess they might be 720 x 480 , Cannon Camera's take Stills with an aspect ratio of 1.5 ( about half way between 4:3 and 16:9 ) . such as 720 x 480 . If this is true , realize , these images are NOT meant to be 4:3 images such as 720 x 480 x .8889 . As the Camera took them with Square pixels , thus the true\Correct import aspect ratio should be set to 1.0000 ( square ) . seen as 720 x 480 by 1.0000 . your images may be higher resolution , but the ratio of the image is still 1.5 , using Square pixels .( assuming the Cannon Scenario , above )
if your stills are true 4:3 , then inspect each image as it is imported , right click the image and Properties at the bottom of that long context menu . Vegas will have imported , most likely at .9091 , which is incorrect . change it to .8889 . Now that the imported image has a perfect 4:3 view in Vegas viewer , you now need to Zoom the image with Track Motion ( lock x y ) to get a perfect zoom , just until the width hits the edge of the Viewer . The Top and bottom will have "gone off screen" , slightly , Now adjust y vertical to get the Center that you want .
This setting is a Big Deal . right click on the Vegas Viewer , and choose to "Simulate aspect ratio" . This one setting could cause the issue you describe .( it has happened to me ) . I get perfect result , so I know it can be done , but I need to know the x y dimensions of the source image .
If your images are a mix of different resolutions and different aspect ratios , then a 1 set , setting won't work . you will need to adjust each image individually , to get what you want .
some examples to consider : 640 x 480 1.0000 is a perfect 4:3 image . this image would have been taken using Square pixels , thus Vegas needs to import it with 1.0000 square pixels .
720 x 480 could have been taken with Square pixels , thus Vegas need to import it as 720 x 480 1.0000
720 x 480 could have been taken with NON-square pixels , for 4:3 aspect . Vegas will default and use .9091 which is incorrect . Instead , manually type into the aspect ratio digit box of the import properties video tab , .8889 . 720 x 480 .8889 will then give a perfect 4:3 import of the image .
Now that the image looks proper in the Viewer , use Track Motion to zoom ( x y lock ) , just until the width fills the screen .
This isn't really that hard. Normally photos are not 16:9 aspect ratio so everyone using photos in their videos has to deal with this all the time. You either crop in, use black bars, or as Set suggested do some kind of background underlay. Google "blanking fill" for an example. You can easily make that effect in Vegas or you could buy a plug-in I guess.