How do I add a compression codec to export?

[Hopper200456]

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.

Okay! I'll look into working on that! Ah, and thanks! I love the feedback on how I can make things better.

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.

Yeah, I upgrading to 9.2 today, and things don't seemed to have change... I've exported it 3 more times with 1.2 using different options, 1 was with Lagarith Lossless Codec (Checked to see if maybe it would work now, it didn't) the second time I tried exporting it as a Quick Time Movie with MPEG 4. And it played fine, but it makes the colors... gross looking. (see?)
Left is the bad one, and right is the correct one.


The third time I exported it un-compressed, and it was all out of order and the view was messed up, as before. I'm uploading the uncompressed one to Google Drive (it uses the same compression as YouTube) and maybe it'll fix it after using it's own compression, but it hasn't in the past.

Oh, and thanks for helping me!

Edit: Posting it to Google Drive didn't help. Sigh... When you exported it on your computer, did you notice the colors being different?

[heyvern]

It might be your computer monitor color calibration but the color difference is very subtle and not at all "gross", it's just slightly darker probably due to gamma difference. I honestly think that render option is the way to go.

I would suggest you may want to do some sort of color calibration of your monitor so you can preview actual color. Also everyone's computer monitors are probably not calibrated either. Best to start with "accurate" color display on your system first so you can at least get an idea of what will look correct.

I use the same render setting you say looks "gross" and it looks fine on different systems and browsers. Color will always shift depending on the system.

[Hopper200456]

It might be your computer monitor color calibration but the color difference is very subtle and not at all "gross", it's just slightly darker probably due to gamma difference. I honestly think that render option is the way to go.

I would suggest you may want to do some sort of color calibration of your monitor so you can preview actual color. Also everyone's computer monitors are probably not calibrated either. Best to start with "accurate" color display on your system first so you can at least get an idea of what will look correct.

Alright, I'll try and calibrate it tomorrow! So, if you say that the QT MPEG 4 looks good, then that's good enough for me. I'll upload it tomorrow then, and (hopefully) I wont run into anymore problems on the way! Thank you so much for helping me work everything out, even though in the end nothing has changed, haha. Thanks again!!

[heyvern]

MPEG 4 files with H264 video codec and AAC audio codec.

This is probably the most popular online video format. When I do a large video project in After Effects, I use uncompressed source video and export using Media Encoder to a "Youtube" preset. I just checked and the AE presets for Youtube use mpeg4 with h264 (there are a bunch of other settings I don't fiddle with much). The quality is always good, the size is good, although occasionally there may be some banding that require some tweaks. It uploads to Youtube flawlessly. I have multiple OS's to test visually for color but overall, I don't even worry about color differences with OS and browser. The difference is subtle enough it won't "break" the presentation.

Without the "pro" tools to tweak options you get what you get. That is why uncompressed straight to Youtube in your situation would be best. If file size is an issue... hmm... I would save up for a really big 2-3TB external drive... "cheap" is a relative term, but hard drives are getting cheaper and cheaper. When a project is finished back it up on DVD or Bluray. If you are simply exporting straight from Anime Studio without post editing, you don't even need the exported video file. The Anime Studio file and audio is the only thing you need to save. For me, I tend to export "passes" and composite in post, so I need to back up the whole AE or Premier project folder.

I bought a 2TB external drive with thunderbolt. That's a lot of space, and super freaking fast. I don't do video and animation for a living so it's been more than enough for me storage wise.

[Hopper200456]

I could look into external hard-drives, though I'm actually fine on space. It's a new desktop, so, space shouldn't be a problem, I'm just really paranoid, haha.

Anyway, I'll use the settings you said! Thanks for all the help!