How do I add a compression codec to export?

[Hopper200456]

Hello again. Funny how when ever I need to export, it seems my post count goes up by 90%.

So, just as a heads up I'm trying to figure out codecs and compression, and all that, but I'm having a really hard time getting it all figured out. I don't even really know if this is the right place to ask. So excuse any stupidness

Anyway... So I'm about to export my animation, and I'm not happy with the compression codecs I have, so I got a new one (which will hopefully work...)

I'm trying to use MPEG-4 Advanced Video Coding (h.264) Codec (I got it from here)

How do I add this to Anime Studio's list of exporting compression codecs?

again, sorry for being so stupid I'm getting there!

[Telemacus]

You don't really have to very much other than install the codec following the instructions.
Once you do, re-start AS, try to export your animation and then when you choose the output format, mp4 Movie (H.264) will be one of the options.
That's how I did it. I didn't need to anything other than that.

And don´t worry, we've all started like this.

And please don't put yourself down. No matter where you go, there will always be someone who tries to do that for you (this place not being the exception). You just have to avoid them.

[Hopper200456]

Thanks man!! You really helped a lot.

So, turns out I downloaded the wrong thing, herp derp, haha. BUT, now I have the real codec, and I installed it. However, I restarted AS but it's not showing up in my list of compression options... I'm gonna try rebooting, and seeing if that helps!

Thanks again, Telemacus!

Edit: I just finished rebooting, and it still won't show up. So, I just downloaded and installed the codec. Is there anything else I need to do first?

Edit's edit: Okay, It shows up if you export as a Quicktime Movie! But then it screws up the colors... Ugh! Am I doing something wrong? Is there a setting that's screws up the colors or something?

[heyvern]

Codecs are funky gizmos. They do things to the file to make them smaller, or look better or stream faster and can often change the color and quality.
I don't use codecs. I export to uncompressed video. Yes much larger but hard drives and cloud storage is cheap.
I upload the uncompressed video to Youtube, or vimeo or whatever or I do post processing in another app like premier or after effects, render from there to uncompressed or directly to a Youtube friendly saved setting in Premier or AE. Using uncompressed exports means no loss of quality or double compression when used in other ways.

What exactly are you doing with the final render? Is it going directly to the viewers through a disk or download? Are you uploading to youtube? Are you editing in another application?

Those are questions that will determine when and if you even need to use some other codec not available by default with QT. If you are going straight to Youtube, you should follow their recommendations. If you are doing editing in post, then you should render from AS without any compression. If it is going to be on a disk or downloaded then it should be compressed using the most compatible widely available codec.

There are "standard" codecs that are more compatible with all the computers and browsers out there. If you use an unusual codec that no one has installed it will make it less user friendly. If you upload a video to youtube that was originally compressed using something else, you may suffer quality loss. The end result on youtube is the same thing. if you just uploaded an uncompressed video or using a codec better supported for Youtube you get better final quality.

[Hopper200456]

What exactly are you doing with the final render? Is it going directly to the viewers through a disk or download? Are you uploading to youtube? Are you editing in another application?.

I'm not using another application, it's fully Anime Studio. And yeah, it's just going to go up to YouTube. I would really like to compress it, just because of file size...

I REALLY like the look and sound of Lagarith Lossless Codec, but it's messing with other things in the animation, practically ruining it. All the other pre-installed codecs have problems too... (One just does black and white, another looks terrible, another will just straight up crash.)

Thanks for helping!

[heyvern]

I'm not using another application, it's fully Anime Studio. And yeah, it's just going to go up to YouTube. I would really like to compress it, just because of file size...

I would suggest simply using a default standard codec that comes with QT or with AS or whatever, something that looks good and works without all the hassles. If you are uploading to Youtube all of this effort is wasted because your uploaded file is getting converted by youtube anyway. The only thing you are saving is possibly some file size on your harddrive. You should experiment with other codecs to see how much size you can save comparing to the one that is giving you trouble.

Basically you are still doing double compression. The compressed file going up to youtube is getting "converted" again by youtube. That's what's going on with youtube when it says "Processing file" or whatever. A lot of the time is uploading but It's actually converting the file so it works with their system.

I am probably spoiled by fast internet and lots of HD space so I can understand trying to get smaller files. The problem is you are trading hard drive space for a lot of aggravation.

[Hopper200456]

I would suggest simply using a default standard codec that comes with QT or with AS or whatever, something that looks good and works without all the hassles. If you are uploading to Youtube all of this effort is wasted because your uploaded file is getting converted by youtube anyway. The only thing you are saving is possibly some file size on your harddrive. You should experiment with other codecs to see how much size you can save comparing to the one that is giving you trouble.

Basically you are still doing double compression. The compressed file going up to youtube is getting "converted" again by youtube. That's what's going on with youtube when it says "Processing file" or whatever. A lot of the time is uploading but It's actually converting the file so it works with their system.

I've tried all of the default codecs previously, but all of them will always come up with some problem or another... I mean, a lot of them make it all unwatchable! And I'm not joking... Here's a frame of a codec I used today:

The problem is you are trading hard drive space for a lot of aggravation.

ah... so true...
I feel like all I can do is have it be un-compressed, but then I end up with a 7 gb file....

Edit: Gonna bite the bullet and try and do un-compressed... All the codecs and things is just making me mad, and stressing me out... One thing I'm thinking of doing is exporting Full-Frames un-compressed, uploading that to YouTube, and then deleting the file. Then I'll just export it a second time, this time compressed, just so I have a watchable version on my hard-drive.

[sbtamu]

I never compress an animation from AS. I usually render as AVI or as an image sequence then I compile it all in a video editor and for YouTube I render from my editor as Mainconcept AVC/AAC (*MP4.)

[Hopper200456]

Yeah. I think that's what I'm going to do from now on.
But I need to export this one from Anime Studio, just because I have no video software, I want to get it done quickly (this week), and everything is already put together.

Anyway... I tried exporting it uncompressed. It turned out only being a 4 gb file, which is nice! But... It messed up the animation!! It put scenes in random order, and messed the camera! (Example: It put the end scene at the very beginning!)

I'm so confused... How can I export it with out ruining it?

[sbtamu]

I can not imagine how rendering would rearrange the scenes. If you would share the .anme file I am sure we can figure out what is going on.

[heyvern]

The problem you described with export and scene reordering has nothing to do with codecs or export settings. Something else is going on.

Are you batch rendering multiple AS files? How are you rendering and what is a "scene"?
Are your "scenes" separate ASP files and are you rendering image sequences? That's the only thing I can think of that would effect "scene" reordering. If your scene render image sequences are numbered improperly and you "stitch them together" then "scenes" could be in the wrong order.

You said it "messed up the camera"? Not sure what you mean by this. What exactly is "messed up"? Key frames, zoom, scale?.

I would also suggest you do "preview" rendering with smaller resolution files to make sure everything is working before doing the high res. It will save time and help track down issues in the ASP file/s.

[Hopper200456]

I can not imagine how rendering would rearrange the scenes. If you would share the .anme file I am sure we can figure out what is going on.

Ah, good. I'll upload the file, I hope you can find out what's going on...
Here's the link to download the anme file: http://www.filedropper.com/snowkid
If you're able to export it fine, I'll give you my email and you could send it to me.

Hope you can work it out!

The problem you described with export and scene reordering has nothing to do with codecs or export settings. Something else is going on.

Are you batch rendering multiple AS files? How are you rendering and what is a "scene"?
Are your "scenes" separate ASP files and are you rendering image sequences? That's the only thing I can think of that would effect "scene" reordering. If your scene render image sequences are numbered improperly and you "stitch them together" then "scenes" could be in the wrong order.

You said it "messed up the camera"? Not sure what you mean by this. What exactly is "messed up"? Key frames, zoom, scale?.

I would also suggest you do "preview" rendering with smaller resolution files to make sure everything is working before doing the high res. It will save time and help track down issues in the ASP file/s.

Nope, I animated everything all in one anime studio file. What I meant by scene is.. well, like section of the story. Example, it would skip ahead like 20 seconds passing part of the animation.

Also, this is what I'm talking about the camera getting messed up. (I know that technically this isn't the camera, but I didn't know how else to describe it.)

obviously, that's not supposed to be all split up like that.

[heyvern]

It rendered fine for me. Of course I don't have all the sound files which may have an effect.
This is a very long animation and even with my fairly fast powerful computer it did slightly bog it down when opening. So with that AND including all of those sound layers, it could be a memory or processor issue effecting it. What version of Anime Studio do you have? I think there is 9.2 update you should get.

I really have no other idea what could be effecting the export the way you describe. I saw no "camera" problems, no reordering of scenes. I did simply render to QT movie. Also I'm on a mac which might be different.

The good news is the animation is really good. I liked the story.

[Hopper200456]

It rendered fine for me. Of course I don't have all the sound files which may have an effect.
This is a very long animation and even with my fairly fast powerful computer it did slightly bog it down when opening. So with that AND including all of those sound layers, it could be a memory or processor issue effecting it. What version of Anime Studio do you have? I think there is 9.2 update you should get.

I really have no other idea what could be effecting the export the way you describe. I saw no "camera" problems, no reordering of scenes. I did simply render to QT movie. Also I'm on a mac which might be different.

I'm using Anime Studio 9, and I don't think I have version 1.2! I'll download that, and then try. Just to clarify, this won't over-right my existing files, right?

The good news is the animation is really good. I liked the story.

Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed it.

[heyvern]

One thing I noticed completely by accident...

I was rendering to different options from your file just to experiment and noticed that during rendering the frames of course render very quickly in the preview.

So the frames "zip by" much quicker than normal playback. During this faster render preview, the animation almost seemed to "look better" at a faster rate. I do not want to add to your frustration or work load, but speeding up the overall timing of the entire animation could save on file size and the animation might be improved.

This is just my personal opinion. Just something to consider.

upgrading Anime Studio to 9.1 or 9.2 shouldn't overwrite any files. If you use a custom content folder any thing you added should be protected. The only thing that could possibly cause issues is that once you open and save files with a new version you can't "go back".

I did check your file in a text editor and you are using version 9.1. However the 9.2 update would still be something to consider.