Re: Photoshop title jump

When you import still pictures into FCP, it looks at the sizes of the images you are importing and makes some decisions based on those sizes. On images that it thinks are standard video images, it will set the pixel aspect ratio to one of: Square, NTSC - CCIR 601, PAL - CCIR 601, HDV (960x720), HD (1280x1080). If you are just one pixel out, it will default to square pixels.

Example: Importing an image 720 x 487 will import that image with a square pixel aspect ratio, whereas an image 720 x 486 will be imported as NTSC - CCIR 601.

When you drag such an image into your timeline, the image will be scaled if it is larger than the frame size. An example of this is that an image 721 x 487 was scaled to 99.86% to make the largest dimension (x or y) fit into the frame. Images smaller than frame size will not be scaled to fit.

If your sequence is 720 x 480 DV, then your pictures should also be 720 x 480 instead of 720 x 486 D1. Otherwise, set the scale to 100% and let the three extra pixels hang off the top and bottom of your frame. Likewise, if your sequence is D1, your pictures should be D1 (720 x 486), otherwise you will get a three pixel black line top and bottom of the frame (immaterial for TV, bad for web delivery).

So as to your situation, did you scale the picture in Photoshop, or in FCP? I can't remember running up against it automatically offsetting an image before, since the default position of images and video is at (0,0) which is the centre of the frame.

If you change the pixel aspect ratio of some clip in the timeline, then you have to replace it with another copy of that (modified aspect ratio) clip from the browser, since it won't visibly change aspect ratio once it is in the timeline.

Bill Lee