FCP to Flash - workflow suggestions?
by BRoss
on
Nov 30, 2007 at 10:49:15 pm
Hello all,
I'm trying to output from FCP 6 to Flash (CS3) as FLV and I'm getting poor results with a number of different codecs, export settings.
ANY suggestions for workflow from FCP to Flash with quality end result would be a huge help!
Here's the situation: I either have problems with the text looking fuzzy or irregular thicknesses, or the video plays unsmoothly (often both problems together).
*I've tried QuickTime Conversions as FLV, but when I use this method, the crop tool doesn't work to remove widescreen matting and the text in video looks quite bad, so this method seems to be out.
*Uncompressed 8 bit, then encode with Flash Video Encoder (titles in center of image looked stretched (vertically), then faded back to correct aspect higher or lower on image). It almost looked like if you had text typed on a sheet of transparency and created a slight ridge running horizontally through the middle, so it casts a slight out of focus shadow below, but the tops and bottoms of the paragraph look normal.
*H.264 in a number of permutations,then encode with Flash Video Encoder with similar results in text as to direct FLV output.
*Animation, then encode with Flash Video Encoder: motion is a little better, but text is still hard to read.
It's easy, it's cheap and it works fairly well. I've been using for a while and although it may be limited if you're doing a ton of compression, it works great.
Re: FCP to Flash - workflow suggestions? by Santiago Gutierrez on Nov 30, 2007 at 11:32:46 pm
Whenever I need to do this for a client, I export a Quicktime out of FCP using the sequence settings. It can be a reference movie if you want. Then I bring it into After Effects CS3 and use that to encode my FLV files. You can configure the output module in AE to customize the settings if you need a specific bitrate, etc.
You can use AE's tools to do your cropping for you, or change your composition settings to eliminate the widescreen matting, i.e. change from 720x486 to 720x343.
Hope that helps,
Santiago
Re: FCP to Flash - workflow suggestions? by BRoss on Nov 30, 2007 at 11:42:18 pm
Thanks Santiago,
Unfortunately, I don't have AE CS3. Only AE 6.0. I should have mentioned that I'm somewhat new to FCP, and very new to Flash.
Santiago, when you say you export a QT using the Sequence settings, which settings are you referring to? I am working with DVCPRO NTSC, but I don't seem to have that as a QuickTime export option, though I do have DVCPRO PAL... which I find odd. If I leave it at "Current Settings" will that use the Sequence settings??
Are there any particular settings/codecs that anyone has had good luck with keeping text looking really sharp?
Re: FCP to Flash - workflow suggestions? by Santiago Gutierrez on Nov 30, 2007 at 11:52:16 pm
Hey Barrett,
You're right, it's the dialog box that says "Current Settings". Sorry about that. Your text should look sharp in the DV codec. If you open up the quicktime movie that's been exported and look at it in Quicktime player. Click on "Show Movie Properties" in the menu and go to the video track. Under visual settings you'll see a checkbox that says High Quality. For DV, make sure that's checked. DV will look really lousy unless the High Quality box is checked. From there, you should be able to see how your text really looks.
As you're not using this for broadcast, you don't have to worry about looking at the output on an NTSC monitor, so in THIS case it's important what it looks like on a computer screen.
I'm no expert on Flash unfortunately, so I won't be able to provide too much help on that front.
Re: FCP to Flash - workflow suggestions? by David Roth Weiss on Nov 30, 2007 at 11:52:18 pm
Barrett,
Flash Video Encoder uses an old an very inferior Flash codec, this is at the heart of your problem. The On2 Flix encoder or better yet, Flix Pro, use the ON2 VP6 codec now used by all of the major software manufacturers (Adobe, Sorenson, etc.). I use Flix Pro, which allows you to create very high quality .swf files with very small file sizes, and with built-in players and controls that can be easlily used in most web design apps.
David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor
David Weiss Productions, Inc.
Los Angeles
POST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY™
A forum host of Creative COW's Business & Marketing, and Indie Film & Documentary forums.
Re: FCP to Flash - workflow suggestions? by BRoss on Dec 1, 2007 at 12:05:56 am
Thanks David,
Though on the Flash Video Encoder, I can choose from On2 VP6 or Sorenson Spark. I have been using the On2 as I read good things about it (and you just confirmed).
I think I'll give Santiago's suggestion a try with using the DVCPRO settings that the project was created with as the export method, then try encoding again.
