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Some Guy That Edits IDK
Participant
November 11, 2023
Question

Maintaining a certain resolution with a .9091 pixel aspect ratio

  • November 11, 2023
  • 1 reply
  • 464 views

If I wanted an AE composition in HD (1080p preferably), what resolution would the composition have to be if I wanted to maintain a 4:3 aspect ratio WITH a pixel aspect ratio of D1/DV NTSC (.9091)? I ask this because I shoot my footage using a MiniDV camcorder wich outputs at 720 x 480 and since the PAR of that footage is .9091 it displays a 4:3 aspect ratio with the image filling in the frame perfectly in Premiere. However, my AE comps are graphics made from scratch and since I have the ability to work at a higher resolution for them, I'd prefer to downscale them in Premiere after export for a sharper look than a 720 x 480 source. But after exporting them and bringing them into Premiere, they show up with additional pillar boxes. These exported comps were worked on in 1440 x 1080 because I assumed changing the PAR in the AE comp settings would force it to display in 4:3 (removing the pillar boxes), but unfortuantely AE doesn't automatically change resolution to confine to the PAR and aspect ratio lock configured in comp settings. (I've exported said AE comp with a PAR of square pixels and D1/DV NTSC and get the same result) I feel like the answer is simple but I can't seem to find it after countless search results. Maybe I'm asking the wrong question? Maybe a .9091 PAR only works for SD footage? Please let me know.


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1 reply

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Community Expert
Rick GerardCommunity Expert
Community Expert
November 11, 2023

Here is the way it works in 2023. No media players default to anything but square pixels. The pixel aspect ratios for 4:3 and 16:9 were implemented to help digital 720 video files fit into a television screen without distortion.

 

In today's world, interpret your original 720 4:3 footage correctly, using the proper pixel aspect ratio for NTSC or PAL, but create a square pixel comp. If you want to keep the comp width to 1920, the height should be 1440, and the pixel aspect ratio should be square. Drag your 4:3 original footage into the bigger comp. Then, the best option would be to add Detail Preserving upscale to the footage and use the Fit to Comp Height (to avoid the transparent (they render as black) lines at the top and bottom of the frame. 720 X 480 eliminated six scan lines for DV footage because it made the file size smaller, and a TV cut off at least that many lines to make sure there were no black edges on the almost square display. An NTSC Video Camera was 720 X 486 pixels, but DV camcorders threw away six lines to comply with the DV standard.

 

This will scale up your footage by 300%, which is quite a lot. Detail Preserving Upscale helps hide the artifacts. After Effects handles the PAR conversion automatically. If you plan on editing the video, the same workflow works in Premiere Pro, and Premiere Pro's scale function does a better job than After Effects.

 

You might want to consider setting your comp frame size to maintain the 1080 standard height for an HD comp instead of maintaining the width. This would make your Comp or Premiere Pro sequence frame size 1440 X 1080 with Square Pixels. Your scale would then be 225% instead of 300, and the results would be much better.

 

One more thing. DV footage was often interlaced. Make sure that you check and that the 3:2 pulldown is set correctly. If you drag some DV footage into the timeline to create a new DV comp, you can verify the pulldown by following these steps.

 

  1. Check the footage's File/Interpret Footage/General menu settings to see if it was automatically set to separate fields, with the lower field first (Standard NTSC, DV).
  2. To verify the correct file Interpretation, open the DV comp settings (Ctrl/Cmnd + K) and double the frame rate.
  3. Check the comp using shift + the right arrow key to move forward one field (frame) at a time.
  4. If you see two duplicate frames down, the footage is not interlaced.
  5. If you see the frames move constantly forward in time, then the footage is standard NTSC interlaced lower field first footage.
  6. If the footage moves forward, jumps backward one frame, and moves forward for a couple of frames, the pulldown is wrong – use the File/Interpret Footage/Main menu to fix the interpretation.

 

That's about it. If you have more than one shot to work on, the process will go much faster, and you'll get as good or better results resizing your footage if you do the upscaling and file interpretation in Premiere Pro.

S
Some Guy That Edits IDKAuthor
Participant
July 6, 2024

Hi Rick, I know this is an incredibly late response, but the scope of my project managed to change and I think I might've phrased my initial question incorrectly. My goal for the project is to make text or PSA graphics in After Effects, export it, then drag it directly into Premiere to match the sequence settings that happen to be the same as the source settings of live footage that I've shot (that being 720 x 480 with a PAR of .9). My initial goal was to have the AE graphics be higher res because I'm solely working with shape layers and any footage within AE is used as a source for a displacement map.

My issue seems to be that even if I have my AE composition match the resolution settings of the Premiere sequence, it will end up previewing the file (while working in AE) to look wider, I understand that the PAR of .9 can do that, but whenever the file is exported and brought into Premiere it ends up mitigtaing the wider than normal look that was previewed in the AE comp before being exported. This has been bothering me because I end up working directly in AE then exporting something that looks different from what I seemed to be working on.

Further more, matching the exact resolution settings of the Premiere sequence and AE composition gives me different aspect ratios in the preview panel. For example the 720 x 480 res with a PAR of .9 will show a 4:3 aspect ratio in the Premiere sequence settings, but for AE it will instead say Lock Aspect Ratio to 3:2. Even further, adjusting the PAR of the AE comp to not have square pixels will change Frame Aspect Ratio to 15:11.

At this point, matching the resolution of the After Effects comp to the Premiere settings does indeed get rid of the black bars without me having to modify the scale properties, which is what I was initially struggling with. But, I'm unable to properly gauge what my AE composition will look like after export when working.

I apologize if this reply seems like a tangent but I've been having trouble with this pipeline for some time now.

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