-
Jerky Motion Menu Preview
Hello all,
First of all, please forgive me if this has already been addressed elsewhere. I have searched high and low throughout Creative Cow and Google for an answer to my inquiry, but have failed to find even the slightest bit of a hint as to what might be causing my problem. So hopefully I’m not repeating a question.
Anyway, here’s what’s happening:
I have created a video for use in a motion menu. The different elements of the menu transition in (painstakingly timed to the music), and then at about 24 seconds the loop point is set. Now that all works just fine. My problem comes–believe it or not–in previewing the menu. Every time I attempt to test it out, the motion menu video, as well as its audio, pauses every one or two seconds for about a second or two, backs up a bit, skips, pauses, repeats half a second, skips, pauses, plays for a half second, pauses, backs up a little, pauses, skips, plays for a second, etc., etc., etc. (you get the idea). During this whole time Encore takes over my machine and the mouse cannot even be moved, except for those few short seconds between pauses and skips. Once I finally navigate to the close button of the preview window and click on it, there’s another thirty seconds or so before it actually stops and I can again take control of the machine.
Now I would just assume that Encore is a piece of junk and simply can’t properly preview motion menus, but I’ve found that if I replace it with a different AVI file (from one of my timelines), the preview works just fine. So there seems to be something wrong with the AVI file I’m using, as putting it in a timeline and previewing it results in the same problem. (As a side note, previewing other timelines and static menus works just fine.) I’ve tried changing the format of the motion menu video both to Windows Media and Quick Time, as well as compressing it way down, but to no avail.
So does anyone have any clue as to what I’m doing wrong? The AVI files for the timelines were rendered from Premiere Pro with standard settings and they work just fine. But for some reason Encore doesn’t seem to like previewing anything I’ve rendered in After Effects, even though WMP plays them perfectly without any issue.
Anyway, I would appreciate any advice given. I am very frustrated at this point!
Nate
-
6 Replies
-
You didn’t mention much specifically about the video file (such as its settings), but…
Did you try transcoding the asset in Encore? Does that help?
-
Joe,
Well I figure an AVI file is an AVI file; what’s there to change but in compression, framerate, and the number of colors–all if which seem to have no effect on whether or not Encore chooses to preview it properly or not? Besides, what should it matter? If WMP plays it just fine, shouldn’t Encore do so as well? I am thoroughly perplexed about this whole situation.
And obviously, yes, I have tried transcoding the menu. Unfortunately the result is exactly the same.
*Sigh*
Nate
-
If you put the same file in a timeline in Encore, does it play back in the same way?
And yes, if WMP plays it, then Encore should be able to, too. But there may be a clue somewhere in the AVI settings. What were the settings from AE?
-
Joe,
[Quote] “If you put the same file in a timeline in Encore, does it play back in the same way?”
Yup. As I stated in my original post, “there seems to be something wrong with the AVI file I’m using, as putting it in a timeline and previewing it results in the same problem.”
[Quote] “What were the settings from AE?”
All the default of 6.5, basically: video for Windows, just RGB (no alpha channel), millions of colors, premultiplied (matted) color; audio is 44.1 kHz, 16 bit, stereo; quality is set to best with full resolution (720 x 480), no proxies, frame blending and motion blur on only for checked layers, field render off, but setting to lower doesn’t fix the problem; framerate is the standard 29.97 of DV.
Any clues why Encore wouldn’t like that?
Nate
-
The default is No Compression (no codec). That could cause playback problems alone, but transcoding it should eliminate any playback errors. Before you do anything else, try putting it into a timeline, then right-click the asset in the project window and choose Transcode Now. Does that fix it?
If not, try a few variations: set audio to 48 kHz and re-export with No Compression. Does that play back better in Encore? If not, does transcoding it in a timeline as above solve the problem?
If not, then try exporting from AE using Microsoft DV codec. Does that play back better in Encore?
-
Joe,
[Quote] “Before you do anything else, try putting it into a timeline, then right-click the asset in the project window and choose Transcode Now. Does that fix it?”
Hmmm, most interesting. It fixes it for the timeline, yes; plays back beautifully. But the menu continues its pausing and skipping. Odd…
[Quote] “If not, try a few variations: set audio to 48 kHz and re-export with No Compression. Does that play back better in Encore?”
Nope, doesn’t fix it.
[Quote] “If not, then try exporting from AE using Microsoft DV codec. Does that play back better in Encore?”
I thought I’d already tried that, but apparently not. The quality suffers, but Encore does indeed play it okay.
I think I’ll go ahead and use the MS DV codec for previewing everything; then when I’m ready to actually burn the DVD, I’ll use the uncompressed AVI so as to lose as little quality as possible.
Thanks for all your help Joe! Appreciate it.
Nate
Reply to this Discussion! Login or Sign Up