Apple Final Cut Pro 6 - Manual (Page 1155)

370 Part II Effects
Bit Depth of Imported Graphics
Final Cut Pro can import graphics with a bit depth of up to 16 bits per pixel per color
channel, although 8 bits per color channel is the bit depth most commonly used. The
more bits used to represent color in an image, the more accurately the color is
represented. This is important when you are trying to preserve color detail in motion
picture or still-image film.
Scaling a Graphic to Fit the Frame Size
If you want your imported graphic to fit entirely into your image frame, you can select
the clip once it’s edited into the Timeline and use the Scale to Sequence command to
set the scale of the graphic so that it fits as neatly as possible into your frame size.
To scale a graphic:
1 Select a clip in your sequence to rescale.
2 Choose Modify > Scale to Sequence.
If the aspect ratio of your imported graphic doesn’t match that of your edited
sequence, the graphic will not exactly fit the dimensions of the Canvas and will
therefore appear letterboxed or pillarboxed. For more information about aspect ratios,
see Volume IV, Appendix A, “Video Formats.”
Video Is Not 72 Dots per Inch
There is a myth in video graphic design: Because some older computer displays used
72 pixels per inch, all video created on a computer must be at this resolution. This is
not true or necessary. The dimensions of a video image are dependent only on the
number of horizontal and vertical pixels used in the image. Pixel dimensions alone
determine the resolution of a video image. You can easily test this yourself by
creating two 720 x 480 images in a still graphics program, setting one image to a
resolution of 300 dots per inch (dpi) and the other to 72 dpi. Import both images into
Final Cut Pro and compare the two. They are absolutely identical. This is because
video editing software does not use the dpi setting of a graphic image.
Even though the dpi setting for your graphics is irrelevant for working with video, keep
in mind that many people may still adhere to a policy that graphics for video must be
72 dpi. To avoid confusion with other graphic designers, you can just as well leave your
video graphics at 72 dpi. Just know that there is nothing special about this setting.