This is a common question and there are several answers:

First, the Final Cut Pro Canvas usually shows titles and graphics more pixelated and lower quality than the actual quality. Render a title and play it on a real monitor – or render and export a 10 frame test to disk and view to see the true picture.

Read these articles on monitoring: http://www.dvcreators.net/tag/monitoring/ for more info.

If you are rendering to the DV codec, you will see an instant drop in quality. But don’t worry, as long as you export to a lossless codec your final project will look great.

This article shows how to export in high quality.

If you are delivering on SD DVD, you have a challenge. NTSC and PAL are not perfect formats- and SD is low resolution and fuzzy. If you’re a graphic artist used to creating crisp, clean pixel perfect graphics in Illustrator or Flash on your expensive LCD display, you’re in for a big surprise. Keep your fonts and graphics big and bold, and put a drop shadow or slight glow on your titles. Keep checking on an external NTSC or PAL monitor if your project is slated for SD delivery. Watch TV and see what graphic styles look good on your TV set- and model those.

Here’s a list of nevers:

1. Never trust the Canvas Window to show quality
2. When using Motion or Livetype, never render to a lossless codec like DV before importing into FCP – import the project or render to a lossless codec
3. Never export from FCP using H.264 or any other lossy codec – always use a lossless codec (PJPEG at 90% – 100% is an exception)

For more info, check out:

Final Cut Pro Foundations

Final Cut Express Foundations

After Effects is the software from whence a new art form, motion graphics, was born.

Motion offers many advantages and disadvantages to AE. The two can work together, AE users can use Motion to generate layers for their AE compositions.

Owners of both, before starting many projects, will have to pause and consider which program to use.

So when would you use Motion?

• projects involving interaction between elements (attracting, repelling, orbiting, bouncing much easier in Motion)
• users needing something cool-looking quickly without having to create it from scratch (because of the large library of text behaviors, particle emitter presets, replicator presets (LiveType also good for this)
• particle emitter design (because of real time playback)
• Designs with repeated elements (because of Replicator)
• prototyping (because of Motion’s real time capability with simple projects)
• easier integration with FCP (don’t have to render a movie)
• matching motion to audio (due to real time playback)
• With complex motion, using Motion behaviors and stacked behaviors is simpler than keyframes

When would you use AE?

• projects needing high quality keying (greenscreen/bluescreen)
• projects needing high quality resizing, rotation, changing tracking, etc.
• as projects get more complex, the AE interface handles projects with dozens or hundreds of layers better when moving or scrubbing the playhead, manipulating objects, adding filters etc.
• there is such a huge variety of AE plug-ins, some projects depend on them, so a project requiring a special AE plug-in will need to be done in AE
• AE is happy running on any semi-decent Mac or PC made in the last few years, Motion really requires the fastest possible computer with the very fastest video card and a lot of of RAM to be viable in a professional environment
• some features, like Motion Math, offer power to do things Motion cannot
• 2K or 4K projects for filmout
• output to .swf

This is not a comprehensive list, just a general guide. All in all, both programs are so deep and offer so much no one will ever come close to exhausting their potential.

Some of you may be wondering what we’ve been up to lately. Well, we have many top-secret projects cooking up in our lab, buried deep within the Hollywood hills (yes, we’ve taken over Dr. Evil’s lair after his retirement).

One thing is that we’ve collaborated with the great Stephen Schleicher on the world’s finest After Effects hands-on course. Final Cut Pro editors have delved into LiveType, then Motion, but many are finding they are still seeking an industrial-strength motion graphics and compositing environment. There are many great reasons After Effects continues to be the tool of choice for top industry professionals doing everything from major film and broadcast work to corporate, education, science, medicine and more.

We are very happy with how this course turned out. The effectiveness of the training is only matched by the quality of the production… unparalleled in my (biased) opinion!

After Effects PowerStart is the world’s best learning experience for mastering After Effect’s unique and sophisticated motion graphics creation environment, whether you are a professional graphics artist, video or film editor, or new to digital media.

After Effects PowerStart excerpt 1
After Effects PowerStart excerpt 2
After Effects PowerStart excerpt 3
After Effects PowerStart excerpt 4
After Effects PowerStart excerpt 5

(the links above are simply Quicktime movie excerpts, and are NOT presented in our Chunkalized™ learning environment. They are provided just to give you a glimpse of the product quality and content, but won’t give you a feel for the actual learning experience. But they are neat, eh? You must have Quicktime 7 to view these excerpts- but the actual DVD only needs Quicktime 6)

What will I learn in this course?

After Effects PowerStart consists of two lessons: “Foundations” and “Advanced”.

The Foundations course begins with a series of modules covering the After Effects interface and basic concepts. Then, you will build a simple but ultra-cool title animation and gain a solid grasp of the entire After Effects project creation process and workflow.

Then, in the Advanced course, you’ll dive many layers deeper into After Effects, building an sophisticated, professional-level project incorporating video, vector elements, text, effects, masks, nested compositions, alpha channels, transfer modes, 3D layers, and many other intermediate to advanced features of After Effects.

How is this course presented

To master any software, you must do, not just watch. After Effects PowerStart is presented in the DVcreators.net next-generation, innovative chunkalized™ learning environment, light-years beyond any other teaching method. You will actually build the tutorial project yourself in After Effects with the help of your virtual instructor. Each technique and process is presented in a series of clear, easy-to-understand steps.

Why is this course far superior to the plethora of other training books and discs?

After Effects PowerStart was created by top experts Stephen Schleicher and Josh Mellicker. Stephen, a well-known digital media expert and teacher, was chosen by Adobe as one of the world’s top After Effects gurus to write large sections of their advanced Classroom in a book. Josh is considered among the foremost experts in motion graphics and digital media, and has been working with After Effects since the CoSa days.

Unlike other products that rehash the product manual or cover tools and concepts in an order convenience to the author, each and every concept and action presented on this DVD is presented in context of completing a real world task. So you’ll immediately be able to put what you’ve learned to work on your very next project.

And we deliver this all to you with crisp, sharp, high quality visuals on your computer screen, unlike fuzzy, headache-causing DVD video discs. The movies on After Effects PowerStart are huge, so you get the whole picture. The easy-to-use navigation and comprehensive map also allow you to jump directly to any section for quick reference after you’ve been through the entire course.

What if the course goes too fast or too slow?

Speed is not even an issue with our training discs. We encourage you to learn at your own pace. In our chunkalized(tm) learning environment, you must verify that you understand and have completed each step in the process before your virtual instructor moves on. Quickly move through sections you understand, make your virtual instructor go over difficult concepts as many times as you need without worrying about other students or the time limits of a class. You have total control.

What if I have a question?

No one should have to learn alone. Our “Ask a Question” button will allow you to post your question on our After Effects forum for thousands of other users, including our own industry-leading instructors, to answer. You can ask questions, offer advice, and share tips in a collaborative, organized online environment on the very topic that you are currently learning.

Should I buy After Effects PowerStart if I’ve been using After Effects for years?

This course is mainly designed for new users with material that will be familiar to anyone who has been working in After Effects for a while. However, any editor who has not yet attained the mastery of After Effects they desire will find going through the whole course from the beginning solidifies and improves their understanding of After Effects.

We do guarantee that you’ll find tons of unique tips and secrets sprinkled throughout the course that will be invaluable for any After Effects artist.

Course Outline

Interface Orientation • Compositions • Project Settings • Solids • Transform Properties • Text Tool • Intro to Keyframing • RAM Preview • Creating Multiple Keyframes • Animation Presets • Rendering • Import • Animation Shortcuts • Continuous Rasterization • Work Area Markers • Raster Images • Masks • Nesting • Navigator View • Moving Keyframes • Markers • Modes • Effects • Easing Keyframes • Track Mattes • Working with Photoshop Files • Motion Blur • Trendy Title Appear • The Uberkey • Text Animation Presets • Animating a Blur • Light Burst • Animating Tracking • Speeding up RAM Previews • Audio • 3D Layers • The Final Render

After Effects PowerStart course on DVD-ROM
For new users to professional motion graphics artists

Requirements: recent model computer with Mac OS X or Windows XP, QT 6+, 1280 X 1024 monitor, DVD drive

Availability: Shipping NOW!

Price: $79.95

Click here to ask a question about this disc or After Effects.

To separate a subject from a background, you can either:

1. shoot in front of a greenscreen/bluescreen, then key out the background in postproduction

You can also key out a background that is much darker or brighter than your subject, but it usually takes a little more work, because often your subject will have pixels that are darker and/or lighter than the background, so there there will be holes in your subject that must be “patched” with a garbage matte. If your subject is not moving much, this is much easier than if you have to do a lot of keyframing on the matte.

*NOTE: there an excellent section on lighting a greenscreen on this DVD:  

2. have a team of rotoscopers (or just you) manually “cut” the subject out of the background frame by frame

There are advanced tools that help rotoscopers, but consider how long it takes to do a decent job cutting a subject out of the background in Photoshop. Now multiply that by 30 and you have one second of footage.

So, if it takes you 5 minutes per frame, that’s 150 minutes per second of final footage. For a ten second sequence, that’s 1500 minutes, or about 25 hours of work. For a national spot, this is probably worth it!

For a minute of final footage, plan for 150 hours of work! A team of three people could get this done in a week.

If you’re using Final Cut Pro, you might need more than 8 points, sadly.

Here’s a 50 point matte plugin.

If you’ve had any problem with After Effects and Intel Macs, this article might help.

creativecow.net review

creativemac.com review

Demos at MGLA (Motion Graphics Los Angeles) meeting, courtesy of the Pixel Corps:

For the light rays (and you can see them in the demo movies here), we used After Effects and a plug-in called Shine. Check it out here.

When moving footage is not available, don’t forget about still photos! You can animate still photos with motion and scale, crop them, apply filters (like sepia, B & W, color tint) and sometimes stills can fill empty spots in your timeline as well or even better than a video clip. Also, many stock photos are automatically HD res!

http://tutorialblog.org/25-places-to-find-awesome-stock-photos-%E2%80%94-free-and-cheap/

Here is a monster list of sites with free photos:

Wikipedia Commons
Stock Exchange
Morguefile
Image After
Free Photos Bank
OpenPhoto
BigFoto
USDA
NASA
NOAA
NPS
Earth from Space
FWS1
FWS2
Picture Station
Geek Philosopher
Free Images
Pixel Perfect Digital
FreeFoto
Image Base
Cepolina
Amazing Textures
Texture Warehouse
PDPhoto
Image Blowout
Piotrpix
Mandragora
Fotogenica
Mayang
Free Photo Station
Cromavista
Afflict
Creativity 103
The Photo Repository
Aarin Free Photo
Stockvault
Designpacks
Unprofound
Four Bees
Insect Images
Free media Goo
Burning Well
A digital Dreamer
Freestockphotos.com
Freewebpics
Lightmatter
Majestic Imagery
Triparalbum
Twice Pix
AboutPixel
Woophy
Pixelquelle
PIX
tOfz
Fontplay
Orangetrash
ArtFavor
ImageTemple
LogoDesignweb
Fotodatebank
Bajstock
PhotoCase
NPS Digital Image Index
Gimp-Savy
DeviantArt

Public_domain_image_resources @ wikipedia.org
Long page of links to websites hosting public domain images.

pixelquelle.de
Some 20,000 free images. You are not allowed to build (commercial) online databases or galleries.

Photoshop Tutorials Blog
An extensive list of over 50 free stock photos resources.

Yoto Photo
yotophoto is a search engine for finding free photos. The nice thing about it is that it searches multiple photo collection sites, so it may make a good starting point when you’re looking for something specific.

Finding Images Online
a Directory of Web Image Sites

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morgue file
This morgue file contains free high resolution digital stock photography for either corporate or public use.

Pixel Perfect
PixelPerfect? Digital is an image archive with over 4,000 images sorted in 146 categories free for commercial and non-commercial use. The newest files appear on the gallery home page and randomly selected images on the bottom of the page. You can stay on top of the newest files by subscribing to the RSS feed.

Open Photo
The Open Photo Project is a stock photo community and framework devised, implemented and supervised by Michael Jastremski. Its purpose is to allow photographers to share and protect their works through Creative Commons licensing where you can view photo thumbnails by license.

Image After
Image*After is a free online photo collection. Download and use any image or texture from the site to use in person or commercial work per the terms of use. At the top is a drop-down list for browsing images and textures by category or you can use the search box. This well-organized library can be sorted in different ways and the thumbnail pages include the image’s dimensions, number of hits and file size. Plus, you can select how many images to display on each page and even make the thumbnails larger by clicking on the magnifying glass.

PDPhoto.org
PDPhoto.org is a repository for free public domain photos. It contains about 2,000 photographs under a many categories. One person has taken most of the photos.

StockVault
Stockvault is a stock photo resource which offers medium-sized images for personal and non-commercial use. Stockvault has evolved from stock.b-man.dk and features images from various photographers, both professional and amateur.

Buzznet
Buzznet.com is an online photo-sharing community that allows its members (registration free) to upload images from mobile phones, and post, syndicate and republish digital photos in their blogs. For RSS feeds, look at the bottom of each user page, gallery, community gallery and friends listing.

Flickr.com
Flickr.com, bought by Yahoo, is one of the best ways to store, search, sort and share your photos. This online software application and image resource has super features and a community of world contributors, plus it’s s easy to use. Each person publishing images on Flickr can select and specify the type of licensing to be applied to those pictures — from fully reserved copyright to any of the Creative Commons licenses. So look carefully for the explicit author permissions specified on each individual photo page.

Ourmedia.org
Ourmedia is a (still in alpha) non-commercial free clearinghouse for all rich-media content for sharing, re-use and enjoyed by as many people as possible.

Jupiter Images

Frimages Royalty free images.

Multimedia @ all the web

Pro Corbis

galerie photos @ l’internaute

Freefotos
Self-proclaimed largest collection of free photographs for private non commercial use.

Creative Commons Search
The Creative Commons Search engine specializes in finding different content on the Web, which have been published with a Creative Commons license allowing re-use, and in some cases even modifying the work.

Gimp Savvy photo archive
The photo archive at Gimp-Savvy?.com contains over 27,000 free photos and images. The images come from three sources: National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS). Though the photos are copyright free, be aware some restrictions apply.

DHD Multimedia Gallery
This isn’t a fancy site, but its photos are free for personal and commercial use. However, be sure to read its terms and conditions. You can browse collections by category, new entries and best photos. Each photo includes information on the date added to the collection, size, image type and rating. Also, the photo details page has the photo’s copyright information.

Free Photographs Network
Free Photographs Network is a resource for royalty-free stock photographs available for non-commercial use. If you use any of the photographs from the site, you’re agreeing to abide by international copyright law. Its terms of service outlines the rules for using the photos from the site. You can browse collections by category or use the search tool.

Free Stock Photos
FreeStockPhotos?.com is a resource for free photography for personal or commercial use. There are some restrictions in using photos from the site such as retaining the domain name when using the photo on the Internet, in a Web page, in printed publications or in any product, advertising or packaging. Categories include animals, Christian, Egypt, Israel, Near East, Rome, scenery, sky/weather and wildflower/plants.

Free Images UK
FreeImages?.co.uk has over 2500 stock photos. To ensure following the Web site’s rules for using its images, read the terms and conditions to ensure following the Web site’s rules for using its images. The home page lists the top three galleries, which is currently the home, financial, and flora.

Free Images.com
FreeImages?.com has over 2300 stock photos. Note this one is FreeImages?.com and it’s not the same site as the one from the UK. You can read the terms and conditions to verify the rules for using the site’s photos.

Big Foto
bigfoto.com is a repository of photos organized by categories and sub-categories. Each sub-category has a brief description about the category. The main categories are America, Asia, Europe, Africa, Pacific, Themes and Miscellaneous.

Geek Philosopher
Geek Philosopher has a collection of photos, backgrounds and wallpaper organized in nine main categories with subcategories. If you use an image, the site requires you to include a link to GeekPhilosopher?. According to the site, you are free to do whatever you want with these photos except redistribute them.

Barry’s free photos
Barry’s Free Photos has over 2300 free and royalty-free stock photos organized by many categories and subcategories.

Holyland photos
Holy Land Photos has over 2400 photos related to the holy lands. The photos represent a diversity of religions with photos sorted into three categories: daily life and artifacts, people and region. Regions cover Jordan, Lebanon, Italy, Israel, Turkey and Greece.

Aar In Free Photo
Aarin Free Photo and Digital Images offers over 950 free photos and images for personal and commercial use. You may download and use the images on your Web site, print ads, brochures or any other end products as long as you display the copyright information per the Web site.

Photo Rogue
Photo Rogue has a unique concept — if you can’t find a picture you need, submit a request to Photo Rogue and you might see your request fulfilled. The site relies on volunteer photographers. Before submitting a request, review the Guidelines. While the service is free, there are no terms on the site regarding the use of photos.

Free Photos
FreePhotos?.com offers over 1000 royalty free photos with no usage restrictions for Web site or print work use. The site doesn’t ask for reciprocal links or credits.

Free Stock Photos
Free-StockPhotos?.com is a collection of (what else?) free stock photos available for use in personal and commercial design projects as long as the terms of use are followed.

tOfz.org
tOfz dot org is one photographer’s collection of everyday urban life. Jeremie Zimmerman, the person behind the site, sorts his photos by location and categories. He shares his favorites. The site uses the Attribution-ShareAlike? 2.0 Creative Commons license and free art license (Copyleft Attitude) from License Art Libre. This site is available in English and French. A small, but respectable collection.

Free Media goo
FreeMediaGOO? has a collection of royalty free images, audio, textures, and Flash available for commercial and private user free of charge except for propaganda, adult or suggestive materials. Credit for the images is not necessary.

AMG Media Works, Inc. Free Photos
AMG Media Works Inc. is a design and photography service company that offers free stock photos for your use as long as you give credit to the photographer, Ernest von Rosen.

US Agricultural Research Service
The United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Agricultural Research Service (ARS) image gallery is a complimentary collection of over 2,000 high quality digital photographs related to agriculture.

Creating Online
Creating Online Stock Photos Gallery is a free stock photo gallery of over 500 photos, most of which have been taken by Pamela Auer Roth. Photos are free for personal or commercial use as explained in the Terms of Use.

Woophy.com
Woophy has a collection of over 23,000 photos from around the world and over 4300 cities are represented. You can search by city, country, category keywords or member to find photos. The categories are animals, culture, landmarks & buildings, objects and people.

Image Base
ImageBase? is a collection of over a few hundred photos on nature, people, city, and objects taken by presumably one person, David Niblack. Though a small database in comparison to others, you can expect to find quality photos here. The site clearly states that “all images are 100% free to use.”

Free Stock Photos from Cepolina Photos
Free Stock Photos from Cepolina Photos contains over 1900 photos by three photographers covering mostly nature and geography.The photos are free (see FAQs for details) as long as the site is credited and that you don’t link directly to the images of the web site as that’s stealing bandwidth.

From Old Books
Pictures from Old Books is a unique collection of over 800 images scanned from old books that are public domain (copyright-free or out of copyright) unless otherwise noted. The site has many pictures of castles, abbeys and old houses.

Majestic Imagery
Majestic Imagery has a collection of over 400 royalty free photos organized by categories. The terms of use require that those who use photos give proper credit with a link back to the site.

Photocase
Photocase contains a repository of photos and a community that includes forums, polls, buddy lists and user profiles. Photos from this site may be used for commercial and noncommercial self-contained original work. You can download up to three photos per day.

Visipix
Visipix is an art museum, clip art, and photo gallery with around 100,000 exhibits. If you publish the photos, the site requires crediting the authors and Vispix.com somewhere near the pictures. Per the copyright page, all copyrights are free. However, they can’t be used in the sex industry or in the promotion of tobacco and alcohol.

BurningWell.org
BurningWell?.org is a repository of over 1400 public domain images for your use. You’re allowed to download, copy and use the photos for any purpose. Photos from from photographers around the world. The site has eight top-level albums (categories) and 27 in total ranging from activities to textures.

Art Favor.com
ArtFavor? has a collection of vector and flash clipart, sounds, fonts, photos, pictures and images that the site indicates, “All artwork and sounds are absolutely free and you can use them in commercial applications.” You can download files in their original or zipped format.

freedigitalphotos.net
Freedigitalphotos.net has over 2000 free images for use in commercial and non-commercial work so long as you don’t claim the works as your own, redistribute them or offer them for sale.

Ixuz.com
Travel the world in pajamas with Ixuz Travel, which is dedicated to collecting photos from around the world. The site has a Korean version of its pages. Currently, the collection has over 2700 pictures sorted in 85 albums and 18 categories.

High quality & free photos

Free photos gallore

Absolut Vision

Fotolia.com

Totally Photos

WebReviews.ca

Pixel Load

Media lytecube

Wikipedia:Public domain image resources

The above sources come to us courtesy of Revolution in Education

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Here is an interesting site with some low cost photos:
http://www.blish.com