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Another newbie comes to the forum
I, like a lot of newbs, am also at my wit’s end.
First, here is my setup:
-PC with 12GB RAM, good graphics card, i7 processor
-Using Adobe After Effects to create the video
-Render out my final video as Lossless Video for Windows.-Video is 1 minute long
-Render file looks great but is 3GB.I need to do two things:
1. Convert file to QT
2. Get a file size that is manageable, under 100MB.I have played and played and played with Media Encoder, trying every possible combo I can think of. Every time it looks TERRIBLE, bleedy images and discoloration.
Please help. I know folks that send me minute long QT movies that look GREAT and are under 50MB. What am I doing wrong?
Thank you so much for any advice.
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3 Replies
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It all depends on what you’re aiming for. What’s your target?
H.264 .mov.
File size is duration and data rate more or less. Quality will be impacted by data rate vs frame size more or less. I can only be general based on your post but the above is really all the basics you need to know to start.Homework math question, 60 seconds times what kbps equals 100MB (or 50MB or whatever you want)?
Clues, If you know that there’s 8 bits to a byte the rest is easy . kilobits to megabytes.
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Render to an uncompressed AVI in AE, then buy the pro version of Quicktime if you don’t have it (It’s $29). Import the AVI into Quicktime Pro and export as an H264/mp4 file at roughly 35Mb/sec. You should end up with a file under 100MB that looks fantastic.
Also…is your file HD or SD to begin with? I’m assumming HD since it’s a 3GB file. You could also reduce the size to something more manageable like 864×480 depending on your needs. I believe 35Mb/sec translates to 3500kb/sec.
We use this method for exporting files for upload to broadcast and it works great. You may have to adjust your AVI files colors to compensate for the Apple H264 color shift issue (it can make your H264 file look a little washed out when played with other media players). But if the end file will be played in Quicktime Player, then it should look fine and you can skip that. We simply crush the blacks about 12% and boost chroma about 5% in the AVI and that corrects the gamma issue.
Chris Blair
Magnetic Image, Inc.
Evansville, IN
http://www.videomi.com
Read our blog http://www.videomi.com/blog -
I’m assuming your original file is HD since it’s 3GB. We just export as uncompressed AVI’s and then import that into Quicktime Pro (it’s just $29). Then export the AVI as an mp4 file using H264 and AAC. Set your data rate at 35Mb/sec (3500kb/sec) and your audio at 128kb/sec. Your end file should be well under 100MB and should look good. If you want it to look even better, resize it to 848×480.
Of course the pixel size depends on the target playback use, but if it’s for playback on a computer, this is big enough to view easily (and fit on the computer screen without being cut off) and will playback on even older computers without problems.
If the resulting file will be played with other media players (Flash, VLC etc.) You may want to reduce your blacks by about 12% and boost chroma by about 5-8% either on the AVI, or in the export to H264 to account for the gamma shift problem with Apple’s H264 codec.
Chris Blair
Magnetic Image, Inc.
Evansville, IN
http://www.videomi.com
Read our blog http://www.videomi.com/blog
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