How to render several AVI-files into ONE single file in HD or SD resolution?

[Kevin Camp]

[Ka-Yee Wu] “I’m supposed to output the film as ONE single file, uncompressed in either
SD: QT DV, QT Photo JPEG in 100%, AVI DV
HD: HDV, Apple ProRes, AVID DNxHD format.”

all the formats listed are actually compressed… for the sd codecs, the photojpeg will maintain the highest level of image quality; for hd, apple prores or avid dnxhd would be the way to go. if you don’t have a mac with fcp (i think that’s the only way to get prores), then download the avid codec (free) from avid.

your frame size doesn’t seem to be a typical sd or hd resolution… that won’t matter for photojpeg, but it will probably matter for prores or dnxhd (those will probably need to match a standard hd video resolution). it will also matter when they create an mpeg2 if it is destined for dvd or broadcast.

now, as for creating a single file, if you have all your smaller files rendered, just import them into ae and put them in a single comp in the order that you want them to appear. at that point, if you feel that the film needs to conform to a typical video standard, you can set that in the comp settings, then conform the clips to the comp’s frame size. then add the comp to the render queue (composition>add comp to render queue) click the output module, click the format options and set it to use photojpeg, prores or dnxhd. then render the new 10 minute comp, you shouldn’t have any problems.

Kevin Camp
Senior Designer
KCPQ, KMYQ & KRCW

[Chris Wright]

AVID dnxhd is jpeg compression, photo jpeg is visually lossless 4:4:4: at 100% but not math lossless, although it is very impressive for its file size. I’d put it in the same catagory as dvc pro hd for 5 good compresses.

[Ka-yee Wu]

Thanks!

AE actually crashed whenever I tried outputting the single moviefile-comp. from my original project file,
so I created a new project file just for the final output rendering. Perhaps unnecessarily,
but doing it this way I at least avoided the horrible loading time of the original file.

I bounced into another problem after having output 4gb of the file:
AFter Effects error: adding to movie – disk error (I/O error; bad media) (-36). (44::39)
The Mac-solution can be found at https://forums.creativecow.net/thread/2/908330
For PC-users, I formatted my external HDD from Fat32 to NTFS. Worked just perfect.
I’m suspecting that me forgetting to format my HDD was the root of the original problem, but anyway, case solved. =)

—

Now, there’s the resolution thingie left…
How do I actually conform my files into a standard video format? You mean resizing the files manually or is there a better way, like some sort of a batch thing?

Outputting to QT Photo JPEG 100% works now, but I’m a bit worried about the Mpeg2-conversion.
Though I’ve been working with action-safe areas, I fear my mumbojumbo settings (I think derived from PC screen res.)will force the Mpeg2-converters to need to reframe the film so much that important actions by the border of the action-safe areas get lost…

The current work resolution is 1280×960, and set with a pixel aspect ratio anamorphic 64:45…
The film was originally intended to be able to go through 4:3 PAL (broadcasting & dvd, and online) only,
so none of my source files are fit for 16:9 Widescreen display.

Is there anything I can do in order to keep the film as close to the original size & framing as possible,
before I hand in the file to the Mpeg2-converters?

[Kevin Camp]

[Ka-Yee Wu] “The current work resolution is 1280×960, and set with a pixel aspect ratio anamorphic 64:45…
The film was originally intended to be able to go through 4:3 PAL (broadcasting & dvd, and online) only,
so none of my source files are fit for 16:9 Widescreen display.

Is there anything I can do in order to keep the film as close to the original size & framing as possible,
before I hand in the file to the Mpeg2-converters?”

i think you’d be best off handling the down sizing yourself, taht way you’ll know exactly what the sd pal version will look like… assuming your frame rate is 25fps, it should be pretty easy, just drop your 1280×960 footage into a comp with the d1/dv pal preset. then choose layer>transform>fit to comp. this will scale the footage layer down to fit the comp exactly. since they are both 4:3 it will fit perfectly. then render using the quicktime photo-jpeg codec and it should be good to go.

if your original frame rate differs from that of pal (25fps) then there may be a bit of work to do to conform that.

Kevin Camp
Senior Designer
KCPQ, KMYQ & KRCW