At 11:58 AM -0600 9/8/03, Ron Woodland wrote: >Is there a compelling reason for such a high resolution in your >graphic? The only reason for such high resolution is to allow >zooming or panning of the still image. Otherwise, the image >dimensions you indicate is extreme overkill. iMovie is going to >down sample that image to work with it in the video frame. > >First, think in terms of actual pixels and video frame size. Video >isn't like print where you need high resolution. The NTSC DV frame >size is 720 by 480. It also uses rectangular pixels. Whenever I >make a graphic in Photoshop for video use, I start with 720 by 534, >then once it's ready, I squish the image vertically to 480 and use >the Unsharp Masking filter on it to get a nice crisp look. The >pixel squishing is done with the Image Size dialog and Constrain >Proportions turned off. Photoshop works with square pixels, as does >your computer in general. If you bring a square pixel image into >iMovie, or FCP for that matter, when you put it on the timeline it >will have to be rendered. That causes it to appear fuzzy or >pixelated. By squishing the pixels so they are rectangular first in >Photoshop, no rendering is required. The result is a situation over >which you have control. It yields a nice crisp look for the text or >other still-image graphic when integrated into the video by the DV >codec. > >Ron Woodland Just one note: use 640x480 or 720x540 for iMovie (NTSC), not 720x480. It's just an iMovie thing. -- erica