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Help! setting up presentation Square pixels or rectangle? + frame size?
Hello! I am very new to after effects and this is my first (of probably many) questions to post (I hope it doesn’t sound too silly)
I have been asked to create a presentation but am having trouble as to how to set it up.
It is going to be projected onto a bigish screen in UK hotel for a conference I know the screen has the aspect ratio of 4:3. So would I use 720×756 (PAL?) or is there a bigger frame size that would work better for a higher quality?
The Hotel wants me to create it as a DVD but the client wants it as Hi-res a possible and is trying to get it played out via a laptop, (not happy for it to be DVD quality). While they battle it out I am to create the presentation, but don’t know how to set it up regarding pixel size and square or rectangle pixels (or does this not matter and can it be easily changed?)
I’ve only projected from a computer before so know how it will look. I am worried about DVD as i don’t know about the rectangle pixel thing and don’t want everything to look fine on screen but squashed when put onto DVD and have to redo it?! Also would like to create it bigger for higher quality then I can render it out smaller if needed. (don’t want to start creating it too small!) or am I worrying about nothing!
I hope someone can help!
Thank you 🙂
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8 Replies
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Hello Rachel
First off, you need to know your output. You say your client will be using a projector run off a laptop so I would do the project in square pixels as its running from a computer and not being displayed on a TV.
I have done similar projects and found that my animation done on the PAL DV1 720×576 preset, then output to DVD (Which uses mpeg2 anyway) came out looking terrible. I use the HDTV 1080 25 (square pixels) present and it comes out looking sweet. Its a beast to work with and I rely heavily on proxies but it is worth it at the end of the day, for me anyway.
I know this may be difficult but I always test on location if possible, if you have access to the hotel then great.
I hope this helps or at the very least boosts this discussion further.
Ben
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Thank you both for answering so quickly, this is my first ever forum post, so i’m impressed, its nice to know there are people out there to help, can’t believe I haven’t done this sooner!!!
My output is either a projector running off a laptop so will use square pixels but if it is a DVD running off a laptop, (projected) or a DVD from a DVD player, (projected) can I still use square pixels? Or do I need to find this out before I can start?
Regarding resolution… Will defiantly use a higher resolution and scale down like Dave says.
I tried the HDTV 1080 25 preset but it looks different proportions to the 4:3 or 720×576.
Could you suggest a frame size in PAL 4:3 bigger than 720×576. I’m unfamiliar with 4:3 and can’t find common resolution sizes for it. I have worked in widescreen 16:9 before at 1280×720 or 1024×576 (i think thats right?) running from a laptop and projected and resolution wise this has been great!Thank you.
P.S…. Ben – when you say relys heavily on proxies what do you mean? If its to do with computers I work on a mac pro 8 core…?!
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If it is running off a computer to be projected, then stick to square pixels.
As for size, PAL is 720×576 at 25 frames per second. If you want a custom size then go right ahead and just make the whole thing square 1080 x 1080 if you like. I understand that this is a one-off presentation so whats stopping you from filling the screen (the canvas drop down screen not TV).Or you could do the whole thing in 1920 x 1920 using a letterbox to mask it down to 1920 x 1080 (Full HD) if it looks wierd.
Just putting thoughts out there…
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Will use square pixels! Thank you for the link it was very helpful, think i’m starting to understand abit more…
Sorry for the confusion…
The hotel screen is 4:3 ratio.
The presentation will be projected either via a laptop or DVD played on a laptop or DVD player.In the comp settings I have chosen the PAL D1/DV square pixel setting which gave me 788×576.
I locked the aspect ratio and made the width 1080×789, this is now a custom settingI hope I’m right in thinking I have a ratio of 4:3 and building at (1080×789) a higher res than 788×576 square pixels and this (1080×789) can be scaled down to 788×576 if needed to be put on a DVD.
Rach
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My preset is defiantly 788×576. I’m using After effects CS4 and in the link you sent, under the heading ‘Upgrade pixel aspect ratios to correct values’ theres a table and it says…
Pixel dimensions in CS4, PAL D1/DV square-pixel equivalent= 788×576
(which doesn’t make sense as it doesn’t divide 4:3) but theres a high chance im reading something wrong, I also found this on it …As the preset gave me this value 788×576 i locked the ratio and typed in 1080 and it gave me 789.
If the preset said 768×576 (which make sense) then I guess I would have got 1080 x 810 – which is now the resolution im using…. phew!
As it stands I am building my comp… 4:3 1080×810 square pixels to be projected via the laptop.
If the hotel turns around and tells me it has to be for DVD and i’ve built it for square pixels how do I change it to look right for rectangular pixels so logos ect look right?
Thank you again and sorry to be a pain…
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Proxies sound like a great idea and can see how they will speed things up, will defiantly be using these!
Thank you! -
Thats great, thank you for clearing that one up!
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