Crystal Clear Graphics

[markz]

Hi,

I have included a couple of graphic elements (a small logo that appears throughout and a full-screen shot at the beginning) in a short video but I'm wondering if there's a way to make these graphics more clear.

They were sent to me as jpg files and I've tried saving them in Photoshop CS3 as jpg, gif and png files, but I don't get the clarity I'm hoping for.

Thanks!

- Mark

I tried to put a link to the video below, but it says I'm a new user (although I'm not) and so can't add a link. The video is on Vimeo. Search for "Super F Futsal."

[tiny]

Is this the video in question?




It looks like the only graphic which is blurry is the actually round logo - as to that one is blurry, my guess would be low resolution, but if it looks super clean in just .jpg form when viewed on your computer, then I don't know.

[Chuck Engels]

Hi Mark, Welcome to Muvipix
New users are those that have never posted in a topic before, even if you have been a member for years.
As this was your first post you are considered a new users

After a few posts the ability to add links will be approved.
Thanks for being a part of the community

[markz]

Thanks for the quick replies!!

And yes, that's the video!

Both graphics do look clean when in Photoshop. But both are "fuzzy" (sorry for the technical term!) when viewed in the Vimeo player when it's playing or paused.

Just trying to get it as clear as I can.

@ Chuck. Thanks for the info about New Users.

[Bob]

You'll get the best results if you scale them to the exact size needed for the video in photoshop and then use them in PrE 7 with scale to framesize off.

You can generally scale down in PrE OK, but don't scale up past 100%.

[markz]

I'll give that a shot, Bob.

Thanks!!

- Mark

[Barb O]

They were sent to me as jpg files and I've tried saving them in Photoshop CS3 as jpg, gif and png files, but I don't get the clarity I'm hoping for.
- Mark

questions for Bob --
In addition to your advice of

scale them to the exact size needed for the video in photoshop and then use them in PrE 7 with scale to framesize off

I am wondering if it would be better if Mark saved from Photoshop CS3 as a PSD file ?
In fact, I am even wondering if it would have been better if the file had been sent to Mark in a file other than jpg compressed.

This is because I had thought that other formats like PSD would preserve the "quality" of the graphic better.

[Bob]

I am even wondering if it would have been better if the file had been sent to Mark in a file other than jpg compressed.

Yes, that's true. jpg is a lossy format designed for compression of soft, low contrast transitions, and noise typical of continuous tone photographic images. It does not do well with text, line art, or sharp transitions as the lossy compression results in softness of the image and introduces artifacts. The higher the compression, the worse the artifacts. Any lossless compression would do a better job. PSD, TIFF, and PNG are all lossless.

am wondering if it would be better if Mark saved from Photoshop CS3 as a PSD file ?

For photographic images, a high quality low compression jpg would probably be fine. But, for artwork with sharp transitions, I'd definitely want to use a lossless format. My preference is for PSD. But, any lossless format supported by PrE would be fine. Adobe products work with PSD very well. And, in the pro products (After Effects, Premiere Pro CSx) you can even work with the individual layers of a multi-layer PSD file.

[markz]

What worked best for me was getting the size right. Setting up the jpgs in Photoshop at the same size as they're used in the video. The words are still not perfect, but they're much clearer.

Thanks to all for the help!!

- Mark