LiveType: Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

1. Some fonts appear to shake in the preview movie. 2. My images appear pixelated. 3. LiveType doesn't open anymore. 4. The motion is not smooth on my NTSC monitor. 5. When I bring titles into my nonlinear editor (NLE) or compositing program, the characters appear squashed or the aspect is wrong. 6. A keyframe is "stuck" at the beginning or end of an effect, and I can't select it, move it, or delete it. 7. When I apply an effect with a glow or shadow change, I don't see a change in the Live Wireframe Preview in the Inspector. 8. When I change certain attributes of a track, they don't seem to have any effect. 9. I can't select an element or character. 10. I keep accidentally selecting the texture, image, or movie I created on a track as a background image. 11. When I have a lot of elements in the Canvas, everything slows down. 12. The .afp characters I created appear squashed or out of their proper aspect ratio when typed into the Canvas. 13. How can I create smaller .afd files? 14. The proxy images (.afps) for each character I created are blank. 15. The .afp characters I created don't rest on the track. 16. I created a LiveFont, but the characters type out with odd spacing in LiveType. Question 1: Some fonts appear to shake in the preview movie. Answer: Because LiveType uses a small sampling for low-quality previews, some images may be missing pixel data that provides smoother movement. Increase your quality settings in the Project Properties dialog to produce smooth results. Question 2: My images appear pixelated. Answer: If you render a preview, your movie is displayed in low resolution and appears a bit pixelated. Also, if you size your elements beyond their original size, some pixelization may occur. Question 3: LiveType doesn't open anymore. Answer: It is possible to save a set of default settings that prevents LiveType from opening. Try erasing your default settings file: \Library\Preferences\LiveType Pro Defaults.dat. Your configuration reverts to the original LiveType settings. This is essentially the same as choosing LiveType > Settings > Clear Settings within the application. Question 4: The motion is not smooth on my NTSC monitor. Answer: Use the fielding option for the smoothest motion. Question 5: When I bring titles into my nonlinear editor (NLE) or compositing program, the characters appear squashed or the aspect is wrong. Answer: Make sure to set the project properties in LiveType according to the size and pixel aspect your NLE uses. Some NLEs require the correct frame size even if the title doesn't use the entire frame. Square pixels take a value of 1, and NTSC pixels take a value of .9. Question 6: A keyframe is "stuck" at the beginning or end of an effect, and I can't select it, move it, or delete it. Answer: Try increasing the Timeline zoom, to see whether you can select and drag the keyframe away from the beginning or end of the effect. Because the beginning and ending keyframes cannot be deleted, it is possible to slide an internal keyframe to the far end of the effect so that it cannot be moved, regardless of the Timeline magnification. To remedy this, do the following: 1. Select the beginning or ending keyframe that's obscuring the other keyframe. 2. From the View menu, choose Go To and the choose Next Keyframe (or Previous Keyframe) to select the "lost" keyframe. 3. Choose Edit > Cut. 4. Move the playhead and from the Edit menu, chose Paste. Question 7: When I apply an effect with a glow or shadow change, I don't see a change in the Live Wireframe Preview in the Inspector. Answer: The wireframe boxes in the preview show the basic shape of each glyph, and aren't changed by Style settings. Other preview options, such as a RAM preview or preview movie, reveal shadows and glows. Question 8: When I change certain attributes of a track, they don't seem to have any effect. Answer: Because effect parameters override track parameters, you may be trying to adjust a parameter that is being overridden. Disable the effects associated with that track to see whether the attributes become active again. If so, the solution is to change the effect parameters. Question 9: I can't select an element or character. Answer: Make sure that Lock Position is not selected in the Layout menu. When you add a texture or background movie, it is locked by default. Also, you may be clicking an element that uses the entire Canvas. Try zooming out to view beyond the edge of the Canvas to reveal its bounding box. Consider the layer order, too, when you want to select an element on the Canvas. If one element gets in the way of selecting another, use the Timeline to select the track underneath, and highlight glyphs in one of the text-entry boxes in the Inspector. Question 10: I keep accidentally selecting the texture, image, or movie I created on a track as a background image. Answer: From the Layout menu, choose Lock Position to prevent the element from being selected. Question 11: When I have a lot of elements in the Canvas, everything slows down. Answer: See Chapter 8 of the LiveType for Final Cut Pro 4 manual, "Previewing and Fully Rendering Your Titling Movie," for ways to optimize preview performance. Question 12: The .afp characters I created appear squashed or out of their proper aspect ratio when typed into the Canvas. Answer: Set the aspect value in the FontScript to the same pixel aspect as the movies you have created. Square pixels take a value of 1, and NTSC pixels take a value of .9. Question 13: How can I create smaller .afd files? Answer: You can set the RGB and Alpha values in the FontScript to a lower number to obtain more compression. Also, try reducing the number of frames in your movies. You can consider lowering the recommended 800 x 800 resolution of your font. If you know that you'll never go beyond a size of 250 points, you can generate the font at 400 x 400, reducing your file size substantially. Question 14: The proxy images (.afps) for each character I created are blank. Answer: This probably indicates that a proper alpha channel was not used when creating your character movies, and LiveType is displaying the entire frame as blank. Another scenario could be that your .afd component is installed, and that your first frame contains no pixels, so all you need to do is play the movie or move your playhead forward in the Timeline. Question 15: The .afp characters I created don't rest on the track. Answer: Your Lowerleft values are not correct. Question 16: I created a LiveFont, but the characters type out with odd spacing in LiveType. Answer: Your width settings for each character do not match in the FontScript.