Question about 4:3 footage in widescreen project

Torchlight · Post by **Torchlight** » Thu Aug 05, 2004 2:06 pm

Hi all...

Footage is Trigun - standard 4:3 NTSC
Going to play around with After Effects 6

I would like to use this footage to make some clips in 16:9 (widescreen) format - will be piecing together partial frames, graphics, etc... just playing around a bit to learn AE better. I will not be using any widescreen footage - only full frame footage, but in a widescreen composition. I don't want to know how to "make" my 4:3 footage widescreen.

I would like to be able to output the final product to either NTSC or square pixels for computer viewing. (of course)

I'm having a problem deciding what size to make my comp - 960x480? 854x480? Something I haven't thought of yet? Maybe the choice between those 2 resolutions is dependant upon whether or not I resize the 4:3 footage to 640x480 first?

So, I guess the question would be - in AE, better to work with square pixel or NTSC pixel aspect ratio, and dependant on that answer, what resolution to make the comp to end up with a widescreen project?

ty for any assistance, and if i haven't been clear enough, just ask for more info. =)

-T

Any suggestions for me?

trythil · Post by **trythil** » Thu Aug 05, 2004 4:40 pm

It sounds like you want to project NTSC 4:3 data onto a NTSC 16:9 display.

If that's the case, try resizing your 4:3 footage to 720x640 and using NTSC 16:9 pixel aspect ratio (96:79). This will maintain roughly the correct display aspect on a widescreen PAR canvas.

A more accurate projection can be obtained by cropping 8 pixels off from each side of the original 720x480 frame and then resizing to a multiple of 528x480.

The only place I've seen 960x480 and 854x480 are when designing graphics at PAR 1:1 for 96:79 and resizing anamorphic NTSC 16:9 material for proper display on PAR 1:1 screens, respectively. I wouldn't use them for this purpose.

Torchlight · Post by **Torchlight** » Thu Aug 05, 2004 5:15 pm

hmm... ty for the info, but i think i've not been clear as to what it is that i want to do. i want to use 4:3 footage, as-is in a widescreen composition. i just need to know what size to make that widescreen comp when i create it. hopefully, this helps to illustrate.

here, we have our regular good ole 4:3 footage... =)

and here is one way that i would like to use the 4:3 footage in a widescreen comp - no resizing, cropping, etc...

so, does it make sense that the footage i use is still 4:3, but because of what i am doing, the final result is a widescreen piece? i just need to know what size to make my canvas, so to speak =)

ty in advance and ty to tryth already =)

trythil · Post by **trythil** » Thu Aug 05, 2004 5:58 pm

Torchlight wrote: so, does it make sense that the footage i use is still 4:3, but because of what i am doing, the final result is a widescreen piece? i just need to know what size to make my canvas, so to speak =)

Using square pixels, I'd say that 854x480 would work. It's not quite 16:9 but it's close enough. You'll have to squeeze it to 720x480 and then resize that to 720x360 if you want it to appear properly at conventions that use NTSC 4:3 equipment, but that shouldn't be much of an issue if you don't mind resizing twice.

Torchlight · Post by **Torchlight** » Thu Aug 05, 2004 7:17 pm

wow - tyvm for the info there - that has answered my question. =)