-
After Effects and MPEG
Hello. I recently bought After Effects (after reading all the tutorials on here showing what you could do with it!) but I ran into some little problems.
#1- AE can’t import my MPEG-2 files. I read online that you had to convert it to a .MOV or .AVI, so I tried to use a program called Magic Video Converter to do it. After doing that, I could import it into AE, but the .avi only shows a black screen, and the .mov a white screen. I also tried MPEG Streamclip 1.1, but it gave me an error saying that ‘MPEG 2 codec is not installed, buy it or install QT Alternative’
I installed QT Alternative, but that does not solve the error.
How do I get AE to recognize and import my MPEG-2 footage successfully?#2- Because of my limited hard drive space, I always compress my videos after I render them, using Ashampoo Movie Shrink and Burn 3. If I try to import a compressed video, the video loads, but AE won’t detect the audio. It will only detect audio from movies freshly rendered from Sony Vegas. How can I get it to detect audio from all my other files? (PS Ashampoo MS&B 3 compresses the videos as a Xvid MPEG-4 .avi file.
Thanks a lot guys 🙂
-
8 Replies
-
AE does not deal well with any footage that has interframe compression. It also doesn’t deal well with uncompressed audio. In fact, you’re better off using another programme to process audio.
Simon Bonner
youtube.com/simonsaysFX -
Thanks for your reply. Is it possible to disable or remove interframe compression?
Thanks.
-
Interframe compression is the basis of formats like MPEG. You would need an uncompressed version of your footage. I think I read that you already tried to render Quicktime versions of your files: make sure you don’t render using compressed codecs like MPEG4 – render usng the animation codec or photo jpeg (and make sure you have a good many free gigs of hard drive space, animations are generally massive). Or uncompressed AVI should work too. Not sure why you’ve had problems with AVIs so far, maybe they were compressed? DivX?
Simon Bonner
youtube.com/simonsaysFX -
Yes, I think that my video converting program compresses it when I convert it. From the drop down list of compression options, I do not see an ‘Uncompressed’ option.
Also, I was wondering, is there a codec I could download that would allow AE to import my MPEG2 footage? Thanks 🙂
-
There’s none that I know of. If you’re having trouble with your conversion software, perhaps you could import your footage into your NLE of choice and render it from there prior to importing into AE. Premiere, for example, has an option to render as uncompressed avi.
Simon Bonner
youtube.com/simonsaysFX -
Ok, I will do that. Thanks for your help 🙂
-
Ive been reading through the posts and didnt see anything that fit my problem particularly…so id like to get some help.
I am putting together 30 second animations for digital signage for 52″ LCD screens. The signage systems is VitalCast 2.0 from Texas Digital which uses MPEG2 files. The problem is when I render the animations out, they come out blurry and chopped up like they are low resolution. Ive been reading through the forums alot so I think it has to be the render settings. Here are the settings Texas Digital gave me:
MPEG
Video Output
Format: Video
NTSC
29.97 non drop frame
Filed Order: None (progressive)
Pixel Aspect Ratio: square pixels
Profile: Main
Level: High
Bitrate encoding: CBR quality 4The size of the files for the screens are 768×1360 and they specify that I have to change the width and then lock the aspect ratio so it will size properly on the screen.
I know that MPEG2 is not the best for redering animations in AE, could someone tell me a different technique to get them out with good quality?
-
Render first – QT animation – Design and render at final square ixel size
Then compress
using a 2-pass VBR method if possibleRichard M. Harrington, PMP
Author: Photoshop for Video, Understanding Adobe Photoshop, Final Cut Studio On the Spot and ATS:iWork
Reply to this Discussion! Login or Sign Up