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Gradient problems
Hi, everyone!
I made an animated logo, that stands against the white solid and is illuminated by two spot lights. At the beginning the scene is totally black, and then the lights are turned on slowly. The background, then, gradually changes from black to almost white. The problem is that at my computer monitor the animated gradient looks just perfect, but when seen on TV screen i see it as multiple circles with clearly visible edges and not a smooth gradient. What can be the problem? The video is compressed to Matrox DV. Matrox Mpeg-2 shows the same results… -
4 Replies
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Search the COW on “banding”. There are a few workarounds, but you won’t get it looking perfect with those codecs.
Steve
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Thanks. If I get it right, in project settings I must specify 16 bit? But the output is still 8 bit, even if I use uncompressed DV… Does DV supports only 8 bit?
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Some have found that working in a 16-bit project can help things even when rendering to 8-bit. I haven’t found this yet, but then I haven’t done enough testing.
However … 16-bit really makes a difference when you render to a 16-bit codec such as Microcosm, or a 10-bit codec such as Decklink. Then you play out your 10-bit decklink file to DigiBeta or analog betaSP. Those designers who make beautiful noiseless gradients generally output from Digital Voodoo or Decklink to DigiBeta.
You should look to the weakest link in the chain, though. In your case, it’s DV. You can work in 16-bit as much as you want, but then the DV codec will knock everything down to 8-bit. No, DV does not support anything better than 8-bit.
You might have to add noise, as some of the other threads suggest.
BTW, there’s no such thing as uncompressed DV. Some cards support “lossless” codecs, which compress in a manner similar to ZIP, but they are generally Motion-JPEG, not DV.
DV is not good for motion graphics. It was designed for real-world shooting. As a result, you need to get used to compromises when outputting to DV. Adding noise to your gradients is one of them. Check the threads on banding.
Steve
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Thanks a lot. Now the subject is perfectly clear to me. Unfortunately now DV is the best thing I can afford 🙁 But 16 bits in AE really helped.
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