Can you upscale then export downscale an AE project?

[Deaf_Guy]

I found a great stock AE sequence.  I customized it and was all happy about it.  Then it hit me - OMG I forgot to look at its dimensions.  Ugh - it's 1280x720.  All my footage after the intro is 1920x1080.

So I tried importing the entire 1280 sequence into an AE comp and just transformed it - blowing it up to fit the 1920 size.  I exported it and it doesn't look good - looks soft 😕

The entire final program is going to be 1280x720. So is there some way to make all of these elements work? I'm thinking now when I bring the 1280 intro into Premiere to just make the Premiere timeline match it, and then scale down all of my footage from 1920 to 1280 so it all fits?  But maybe there is a better solution?

Thanks in advance.

[Szalam]

Sometimes it's as simple as ticking the continuously rasterize button on your precomp.

[Roei Tzoref]

If your output is 1280*720 anyway then where is the problem? you should work all the way in your output dimension. There will be no softening unless you scale it more than 100% with your player.

[Szalam]

Oh, yeah, I missed that part. If you're outputting everything at 720, you're fine. Just render your AE composition at 720!

[Deaf_Guy]

Thanks for all the replies and maybe I'm not explaining this clearly. So imagine we are in PP now.  Here's what the timeline would be"

Timeline dimensions (1280) --->>> AE comp (1280) ---- Raw Footage shot with DSLR (1920) -------- Graphic (1920)

Now it's time to export the above to an .mp4.  I export it as 1280.

So I guess as long as I don't blow up the AE comp and just it as is, because the final output is 1280 it will work right?

[Roei Tzoref]

So I guess as long as I don't blow up the AE comp and just it as is, because the final output is 1280 it will work right?

right

[Deaf_Guy]

Thanks all appreciate it.

[Deaf_Guy]

UPDATE:

OK this actually did not work.  In AE I exported the sequence as a 1280x720 MOV file.  My machine is very under powered and can barely handle AE on it.  So I updated it and then exported it rather than bring the AE sequence into Premiere with Dynamic Link.

I then imported the above sequence into Premiere.  I made a 1920 timeline, put the 1280 sequence on it, then all of my 1920 interview footage.  This is my edited master sequence.

I then exported this master as 1280 but the 1280 AE sequence DID NOT "scale up" to fit the dimensions of the 1280 export.  I did nothing to it on the 1920 timeline (that was discussed above when I was told there's no need to scale it up because since the final video is at 1280 it will make it fit). Because I did nothing too it, it looks "small" on the 1920 timeline as to be expected.

However, once exported to a 1280 MP4 file, it did not scale up to fit - it still looks "small" like it does on the timeline in Premiere.

Please advise.

[Szalam · Accepted solution]

I think we misunderstood you or you misunderstood us. It will not scale itself to fit magically by itself, but you could scale it up to fit the sequence and then, as it's scaling back down on output, it should still look fine.

Alternatively, if you're planning to export a 720 file, you could make your sequence 720.

The easiest way to do this would be to drag your AE render onto the new sequence button (to let it create a sequence matching those settings) and then drag your 1080 Premiere sequence in there and scale it down to fit the 720 sequence. (Note: remove your AE graphic from the 1080 sequence and just put it where it goes in your new 720 sequence.

Alternatively part 2, use our earlier advice to render your AE comp at 1080 and then just put out a final product at 1080. (Unless there's some reason you want to output at 720 only...)

[Deaf_Guy]

OK great thanks again Sz.  This is helpful as well and has given me some good options.  I just scaled up the 1280 AE sequence on the 1080 PP timeline.  I then exported the timeline to a 1280 MP4 and it looks pretty good.  Luckily this is not broadcast too - only for web viewers - so all in all, it works and I got it now.

Thanks all.