Use the Safe Frames panel of the Viewport Configuration dialog to toggle the status of the video safe frames for the current viewport and adjust its parameters.
Safe frames borders show which portions of a viewport will be visible when rendered to video.
The Video Safe Frames feature displays a series of concentric rectangular frames in the viewport. Use these frames to see the proportions of your rendered output within the viewport. This is particularly useful when you are rendering to output that doesn’t match the viewport’s aspect ratio.
The primary purpose of Safe Frames is to suggest safe areas for work intended for display on TV monitors. The bezel can cover up to 10% of the image, so you don’t want important objects or action to fall outside the Action Safe area. High contrast titles falling outside the Title Safe area are likely to bleed or be obstructed by the bezel of the TV screen.
When Safe Frames are displayed in the viewport and a bitmap image is assigned as a viewport background using either the Match Viewport or Match Rendering Output option, the image is confined to the Live area of the safe frames and matches the rendered background. This assumes that the same bitmap is assigned to the Environment background using Environment/Screen coordinates.
You can toggle the status of safe frames for the active viewport by pressing Shift+F or using the Point-Of-View (POV) Viewport label menu. You can use the Safe Frames panel of the Viewport Configuration dialog to adjust the parameters.
When Safe Frames is active in the viewport and a bitmap image is assigned as a background, and Show Background is on, the image is confined to the Live area of the safe frame. If you use a background image in your rendering, you can avoid distortion by making sure the rendering output size matches the background image size.
Interface
Setup group
The Safe Frames panel contains settings for the following frame types:
- Live Area
- The area that will actually be rendered, regardless of the size or aspect ratio of the viewport. Default outline color = mustard.
- Region (when Region Rendering)
- When on and you're rendering a region, and Edit Region is off, the region outline remains visible in the viewport. When off, the region remains in effect but its outline does not appear in the viewport. When Edit Region is on, the region outline is always visible and this switch has no effect. Note: To see the region outline in the viewport, Show Safe Frames In Active View must be on.
- Action Safe
- The area in which it's safe to include your rendered action. The Lock checkbox lets you lock the aspect ratio of the Action frame. When Lock is on, use the Both spinner to set the percentage of the live area that's trimmed within the safe frame. When Lock is off, you can use the Horizontal and Vertical spinners to set these parameters independently. Default = 10% of Live Area. Default outline color=cyan.
- Title Safe
- The area where it's safe to include titles or other information. When used correctly, this is smaller than the Action frame. The Lock checkbox lets you lock the aspect ratio of the Title frame. When Lock is on, use the Both spinner to set the percentage size of the title frame relative to the action area. When Lock is off, you can use the Horizontal and Vertical spinners to set these parameters independently. Default = 20% of Live Area. Default outline color = light brown.
- User Safe
- Displays an additional safe frame that you can use for any custom requirements. The Lock checkbox lets you lock the aspect ratio of the User frame. When Lock is on, use the Both spinner to set the percentage size of the user frame relative to the action area. When Lock off, you can use the Horizontal and Vertical spinners to set these parameters independently. Default = 20% of Live Area. Default color = magenta.
- 12-Field Grid
- Displays a grid of cells (or fields) in the viewport. In this case, "fields" are cells in the grid, and not scanline fields.
The "12-field grid" is a method used by video directors to refer to specific areas of the screen. A director might ask you to move an object two fields to the left and four fields down. The 12-field grid is a reference for this type of placement.
- 4 x 3 (The default.) Uses a 12-field grid of 12 cells.
- 12 x 9 Uses a 12-field grid of 108 cells.
Application group
- Show Safe Frames in Active View
- Toggles the safe frames display for the active viewport. This option is duplicated by the Show Safe Frames toggle on the POV viewport label menu.
- Default Settings
- Resets all values to the default values.