Best Compositing workspace for HVX200 960x720 1.33 footage in After Effects?

[jesse]

This is really an after effects question which I posted to that forum. But I thought I also might catch people working with HVX200 footage.

Which is best for compositing HVX200 960x720 1.33 footage in After Effects? Square or 1.33 pixel aspect ratio workspace?
The final output is for D1 SD but also want to preserve for future HD resolution i.e. 1280 x960 square resolution.

Here is the step by step example comparison:

1.33
1. Import 960x720 1.33 footage (leave interpret footage as is)
2. Compify clip, creating a 960x720 1.33 comp
3. Composite and work in this comp. Use Pixel Toggle aspect ratio correction to temporarily display for square viewing without compromising footage.

[Pro's: 1.33 toggled space keeps the footage completely untouched until final output. Cons: displays with slight artifacts on edges stair-casing etc. This may make it difficult to cut a matte.]

Square:
1. Import 960x720 1.33 footage (leave interpret footage as is)
2. Create a new comp 1280x720 Square.
3. Drop in footage in new square comp.

[Pro's: you can see your footage clean with no artifacts. Con's: you have compromised your footage. You will then need to stretch again to D1 ]

A composite package like Fusion apparently doesn't have any temporary display artifacting while in the PAR correction.

Does anyone have any recommendations for the optimal work flow?

 

[NoahK]

I'd go 1280- better quality and much easier to view in AFX as properly unsqueezed. It will scale back to match perfectly in FCP.

Noah

 

[jesse]

Thanks for your reply. Right now visually square is what I prefer, while original 1.33 aspect ratio would seem to be the most lossless. Someone recommended "Preserve Edges" in the AE forum but wasn't sure whether that existed in AE. Have you heard of anything like this? I don't see a preserve edges function. I believe its display a design flaw in AE. Fusion is able to display square toggle without artifacts.

Another recommend: "use your footage in a square pixel comp, create your matte and then bring the matte and whatever else back into the 1.33 composition for use with your original footage. Use the best of both. Get the clarity, setup, and control from Square, but render from the 1.33."

Pre-comping the matte is an interesting recommend. I just tested a matte spline in a square comp and that copies perfectly into the 1.33 comp. I assume other additional elements can then be comped in square and copied to original 1.33 for final output. This could become a time consuming work around.

Right now working in a square space seems to be simpler. The big question is there loss in vertically un-squeezing 1.33 to square and then horizontally un-squeezing (down-resing) for an SD output. Or is AE smart enough if your precomp to not cause any loss? For SD it may not make much difference, but I am trying to simply understand all the options and why.