30 secs of video and rendering problems.

[Kevin Camp]

what version of ae are you using?

also, what codec is the footage you are importing (dv, hdv, mpeg2, etc..) and what codec are you rendering to?

Kevin Camp
Senior Designer
KCPQ, KMYQ & KRCW

[Eric West]

i am using cs3 and importing both mov and avi. it wont let me do mpg. unsure about codec. not sure where to look. rendering out to avi, mov, and mpeg 4.

“a film is never completed, only abandoned” stanley kubrick

[Kevin Camp]

as dave says the container doesn’t help as much as knowing the codec… for instance, you can have a .mov that is encoded as an mpeg or h.264 or dvcprohd… there are some codecs that don’t play as nice with ae, mpeg-2, hdv and h.264 to name a few. i was hoping to identify one of those ‘unfriendly’ codecs.

about the only thing i can think of that would prevent ae from importing a long clip would be the media cache. when ae imports some video and audio files (some of the ‘unfriendly’ varieties) it ‘converts’ them to the media cache to aid in faster previewing. by trying to use a lossless .mov or an uncompressed .avi you should be able to rule out any media cache problems…

now, for rendering out more than 10 seconds… i want to make sure you are not using file>export to render. you want to use composition>make movie or add to render queue. from there you can define your render settings, output module and file path. you’ll have a lot more control this way and gain many other advantages.

if you are using the render queue and are still having problems, take note of the ‘ram usage’ value at the top of the render queue as ae renders. if it crashing as that value hits the max ram cache setting (normally 60%, unless you’ve changed it), then you may want to evoke the ‘secret’ preference and set ae to purge the ram cache based on a set number of frames rather than when it hits the max ram cache setting. if you think that this is the case, then either search the cow for the ‘secret preference’ or i can describe how to get it.

Kevin Camp
Senior Designer
KCPQ, KMYQ & KRCW

[Eric West]

ok thank you for helping guys. i was using the export to in file. and i still dont know what codec im using. i import with roxio media import avi setting. there is nothing that says what codec it uses. i searched online with no help there. it states “Imports full-size DV video with optimal quality”

is there a better software to import video. id love something with more options. i used the sony one but it seemed to stutter while importing where the roxio never stutters and the audio is always in sync. AE does import avi files from the roxio that are smaller than 30 secs.

i will start using the render queue. thank you. should i use a specific codec?

i will try these things tonight and see what happens.
thanks again
e

“a film is never completed, only abandoned” stanley kubrick

[Eric West]

ok i see microsoft dv in the window. for both roxio and sony imports.
did some tests. i imported with sony import.
it stutters the footage but i was ablt to import 1:30 sec video to AE.

rendered 15 sec no effect and had no problem. added effect and it froze.

still need to play with queue. find settings that work. i am new to AE and just trying to understand how it works.

any import software you recommend? or setting i should do in AE to get nice quality without huge files?

thank you for your help so far. ill post as i try your suggestions.
e

“a film is never completed, only abandoned” stanley kubrick

[Kevin Camp]

dv compression should work fine in ae, i wouldn’t prefer to key dv footage, but it should handle working with it well.

[eric west] “rendered 15 sec no effect and had no problem. added effect and it froze.”

what was the effect? some effects use opengl and some are just flakey with certain setups.

you can rule out an opengl issue by disabling it. choose preferences>previews and uncheck the use opengl box and set accelerate previews using ‘adaptive resolution’.

also, if you happen to be running ae7 on an intel mac, be warned that the cycore effects (denoted by ‘cc’) are unstable… not that you can’t use them, but save often.

Kevin Camp
Senior Designer
KCPQ, KMYQ & KRCW

[Eric West]

ok ever since i changed the ram setting down, i have not had an issue rending. renders everytime and at a good pace. i still can’t import footage that was imported with roxio but when i import with sony, it works fine at any size. so i kinda got it down now. even when i apply effects it now works. so i am good. wish i had a better software to import.

thank you guys very much for your help.
e

“a film is never completed, only abandoned” stanley kubrick