I know that AS has widescreen output formats for NTSC and PAL, but if I were to target something for the big screen (movie theatre), which format would I use? Or would that be custom dimensions?
And- would you render it out as frames and then assemble them in another program or render it all out as an AVI?
And (last question I think) what properties would you set on an AVI as far as codecs and all that stuff?
Questions for GreyKid Pictures
Moderators: Víctor Paredes, Belgarath, slowtiger
You can render any format you want, up to 4000 x 4000 px. However, if you plan for the big screen, you may use HDTV (1920 x 1080 px) or a format your film exposure service uses: something like 2K (2048 x 1556) which is the maximum exposure format (and equals academy format 1:1,33).
An AVI would be OK, however, in order to preserve best image quality, you need to use a lossless codec. Usually one renders a smaller format AVI (or QT) to use it in a video editor, to edit and sync the sound, and renders a big version either as AVI or as a sequence of PNGs for compositing.
An AVI would be OK, however, in order to preserve best image quality, you need to use a lossless codec. Usually one renders a smaller format AVI (or QT) to use it in a video editor, to edit and sync the sound, and renders a big version either as AVI or as a sequence of PNGs for compositing.
I read that when Pixar did the first Toy Story they didn't render to "film resolution" due to technology restraints at the time.
They rendered as big as they could and then just upsized the output. It didn't seem to hurt it too much.
Quite honestly... you can get away with murder on the resolution in a lot of situations... as long as it's not drastic. Even seemingly small reductions of final output can save hours of render time and tons of hard drive space.
If you listen to a lot of DVD commentaries like I do they often have more trouble going to DVD then when doing film output. On the big screen a lot of "issues" are not as noticeable to the viewers... and they can't rewind and watch it over and over... and over... and over...
-vern
They rendered as big as they could and then just upsized the output. It didn't seem to hurt it too much.
Quite honestly... you can get away with murder on the resolution in a lot of situations... as long as it's not drastic. Even seemingly small reductions of final output can save hours of render time and tons of hard drive space.
If you listen to a lot of DVD commentaries like I do they often have more trouble going to DVD then when doing film output. On the big screen a lot of "issues" are not as noticeable to the viewers... and they can't rewind and watch it over and over... and over... and over...
-vern
I could be wrong but I thought that no codec is "lossless"... that's the whole point isn't it? Sacrifice quality for size. I suppose if you set the quality to the highest possible in any codec you get the "best" quality at the largest size.
I render to QT using "none" for compression. Then I have the best quality to import to my post processing software. The files are massive of course. I should just do image sequences but then I don't get the sound. Saves a step.
-vern
I render to QT using "none" for compression. Then I have the best quality to import to my post processing software. The files are massive of course. I should just do image sequences but then I don't get the sound. Saves a step.
-vern
Quality means big files.
You have to make a choice... big beautiful full quality... or smaller size.
Determine how much space you have and then determine how much of your project you can work on at any given time. Ultimately you should back up your "raw" files as quickly as possible to give you freedom to dump stuff off the system while you work on it.
If you are rendering out scenes to be put together later in another application you could save space by backing those big files up on CD or DVD and getting them off your computer.
Better yet would be to purchase a HUMONGOUS GIGANTIC external drive to store those files for easy access.
At the end of the day... you will still need to have a drive big enough to hold the entire finished project to be put on DVD or out put to film or whatever you plan.
All those wonderful animated movies we all love from Pixar, Dreamworks, etc... one of the biggest issues they have to deal with is file storage. That is as important as anything else in the process. Those movies take up terabytes of space... and if anything goes wrong and you don't have it backed up... yikes!
-vern
You have to make a choice... big beautiful full quality... or smaller size.
Determine how much space you have and then determine how much of your project you can work on at any given time. Ultimately you should back up your "raw" files as quickly as possible to give you freedom to dump stuff off the system while you work on it.
If you are rendering out scenes to be put together later in another application you could save space by backing those big files up on CD or DVD and getting them off your computer.
Better yet would be to purchase a HUMONGOUS GIGANTIC external drive to store those files for easy access.
At the end of the day... you will still need to have a drive big enough to hold the entire finished project to be put on DVD or out put to film or whatever you plan.
All those wonderful animated movies we all love from Pixar, Dreamworks, etc... one of the biggest issues they have to deal with is file storage. That is as important as anything else in the process. Those movies take up terabytes of space... and if anything goes wrong and you don't have it backed up... yikes!
-vern
Heyvern's got it right, but I'll toss in my 2 cents worth.
I recently finished a project that is in HD video that will be played on the big screen. The files were massive. I rendered at 1920 X1080, quicktime, uncompressed. Then I imported the files into my video editor (Premiere) and when I finished editing exported as HD format from the editor. Then, I simply put the files onto a dvd so they could be edited into the final movie.
WARNING!!!! The files were gigantic. Total time to watch all the cartoons put together: a little over two minutes. Total size: 4 Gigabytes. I filled a regular DVD-R with two minutes of cartoons.
If you're looking for theatre-quality, I've done a NTSC sized cartoon that was shown on the big screen and it looked fantastic! A five minute cartoon in NTSC wouldn't even fill a DVD up, so that would be perfect for DVD export (imho). Like everyone else says, use the uncompressed format and you won't have the problems that arise from multiple recompression.
I recently finished a project that is in HD video that will be played on the big screen. The files were massive. I rendered at 1920 X1080, quicktime, uncompressed. Then I imported the files into my video editor (Premiere) and when I finished editing exported as HD format from the editor. Then, I simply put the files onto a dvd so they could be edited into the final movie.
WARNING!!!! The files were gigantic. Total time to watch all the cartoons put together: a little over two minutes. Total size: 4 Gigabytes. I filled a regular DVD-R with two minutes of cartoons.
If you're looking for theatre-quality, I've done a NTSC sized cartoon that was shown on the big screen and it looked fantastic! A five minute cartoon in NTSC wouldn't even fill a DVD up, so that would be perfect for DVD export (imho). Like everyone else says, use the uncompressed format and you won't have the problems that arise from multiple recompression.
If you're on windows, use the Lagarith codec.jhbmw007 wrote:How big does a file get when rendering lossless NTSC video? Because I've rendered 60 second animations to NTSC and they seem to get huge. What's the best way to go from AS to DVD without eating up huge amounts of hard drive space but maintain DVD-like quality?
Also, check out my DVD Tutorial.
loads of info
Thanks for all the information everyone- I'm still an amateur animator but am working on a lengthy personal project I wish to pitch to an independent movie company once I have a scene or two done.
I figure if I can present a decent sample and script they may be interested enough to help me produce it- otherwise it will be my labor of love.
I figure if I can present a decent sample and script they may be interested enough to help me produce it- otherwise it will be my labor of love.