Hey guys, I’ve always had this issue where if I’m importing a psd that is larger than my scene size (in order to have a camera move) I cannot get it to import at exactly the correct pixel dimensions (that I set in Photoshop). Even if I select “pan” when importing it will come in a little smaller and I have to scale it up to approximately the right size. Seems like I must be missing something - any thoughts? I’m using Harmony but I remember this appying to Animate Pro as well.
It depends on your scene resolution and the alignment set in the layer.
If you are in HDTV, try the HDTV vertical instead or vice versa. Then play with the layer’s properties >Advanced>Alignment Rule. It’s probably set to Center Fit, try different ones in combination with the vertical or horizontal scene resolution.
The other thing is, if you are importing a bitmap image and turning off the vectorization, then you want to select “Project Resolution”. This will import it at exactly the right dimensions to keep the pixels in ratio to the project’s resolution.
~Lilly
The problem persists and has become a huge nuisance over the last few jobs we’ve done. The commercial world is a world of revision after revision, etc. and every time there’s a change made to BG elements we have to hand match them to the old version because nothing will just snap into place at the correct size. I’ve messed around with making the files Vertical HD but that seems to want to have everything come in snapping to the top and bottom regardless of pixel dimensions; changing the alignment doesn’t seem to do anything.
I prefer to vectorize imported elements because you can see them clearly in Camera view and we often need to match animation closely to the imported elements - maybe it’s different if you’re leaving them as bitmap but as vectors (assuming we understand that they’re really not vector just converted to tvg’s containing bitmaps) they refuse to adhere to their set pixel dimensions.
On a broader note, there’s not even a good way to check the pixel dimensions - I looked for a way to make a rectangle at the dimensions I was trying to hit and then figured I could size up my image to match that, but there’s not a way (that I can see) to even do that. This is a pixel driven business we’re in - any chance we can make this software a little more pixel-friendly?
Sorry if I sound frustrated - it gets to you when you’re boss keeps asking you why things aren’t working correctly and you sound like you’re making excuses because you’re blaming it on the software. Help me not have to make excuses please!
I import at project resolution and keep everything in pegs - I’ve had no problems with this method. At least you would only have to adjust size once keeping it in a peg – as for this pixel problem – I feel your pain.
After doing a bit of research and talking with support I understand the problem but it seems the only way to deal with it is through workarounds. Thought I’d put that info out in case anybody else’s dealing with this too.
It comes down to TB being vector based (which is great and I would never wish that away!) so it deals with resolution in terms of coordinates not pixels. The way the software reacts when importing bitmaps is to match them to the existing field guide (look under view to find this). If you’re working in HD and set your field of view to vertical the top of the 12-field guide will match to the top and bottom of your camera frame - this means that whatever the size of your image it will import touching the top and bottom of the frame. Our workaround is to make sure that the file we intend to import is always at a multiple of 1080 pixels high so that we can easily transform it up to match the actual size. Ex: An image that’s 6000 px x 3240px we can simply scale by 300%.
The reason setting to project resolution hasn’t worked is because we prefer to “vectorize” the bitmaps (not really vectorizing, just making a tvg of the bitmap) so that they show up clearly without bogging down processor time. Steve at support let me know that it’s possible to increase quality of bitmap elements but that it will be a drain on the graphics card - haven’t tested it out yet but maybe that’s a better solution. My concern is that there’s no way to know if the pixel dimensions are a 100% correct - sometime’s they need to be right on the money.
Anyway, that’s what I got - I don’t know, has this been an issue for anybody else?