[MacDV] Re: iMovie Titles Using Photoshop

[Erica Sadun]

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