Codecs For Clarity
Tuesday, September 18, 2007 Filed in: Weekly Tip
One question we get a
lot is “why does my text look so soft?” While there
are few answers to this question, but the most
common reason is the codec that is being used for
the sequence the text resides in. Compression heavy
codecs like DV and HDV tend to make text look soft.
Like this tip? It comes from the book
Final Cut Studio On the Spot from Focal Press.
Consider “up-rezing” to an
uncompressed sequence when you’re done with your
show to help with the text and graphics. If you’re
going back to tape you’ll need pretty fast hard
drives to play this sequence back, but if you’re
outputting to DVD or QuickTime you don’t need to
worry if your drives can play this back.
To “uprez” your sequence use the following steps:
- Duplicate your final sequence so you can have a back up.
- Open the duplicate sequence and go the Sequence Menu > Sequence Settings (Command + 0).
- From the compressor pulldown choose 8- or 10-bit uncompressed (10-bit will create bigger render files compared to 8-bit).
- Click OK.
- You will have
to re-render your sequence but your text and
graphics will thank you for
it!
Like this tip? It comes from the book
Final Cut Studio On the Spot from Focal Press.