-
Optimal format…
I feel a little stupid for asking this question, but I’ve just never gotten around to it. What would be the optimal file format to render from After Effects to be used in Premiere Pro without loss of quality? I’m on a PC, using a 720×480 1.2 pixel aspect ratio/SD project. I’ve always just used the default AVI setting that After Effects has, but the files tend to be very large. I haven’t been able to find anything that says “make your settings this and you will maintain the same quality”. So if I’m working with a short AVI file in After Effects, its pretty small, then I render out the same file using the default AVI lossless settings, and its huge. I just want to render that same AVI file out so that the quality is preserved.
-
4 Replies
-
Wow, I am totally confused. I was always led to believe that the Mini DV codec was a “lossless” compression scheme, thus the ability to shoot, capture to your computer, then output back to tape without loss of quality. That’s always been my understanding, so you’re saying this is not true?
What I can’t seem to get any clear answer for, is that if I capture some footage, SD, 16×9 shot on my XL2, onto my PC, using Premiere, and then open that footage, which is an AVI file, in After Effects, add a title graphic, and then want to render out the composition to be used back in Premiere, same project that I captured the footage with, what render settings do I use so that the quality matches/equals the same quality that I have in the Premiere Project? But you’re saying I’ll “suffer a quality hit to some degree” no matter what… this doesn’t make sense to me… I thought the whole point of digital footage is just that, its digital, so I should suffer no loss quality simply importing an AVI file into After Effects, and then rendering it back out again… you’re saying you can’t do that?
-
Ok, thanks for steering me in the right direction Dave. I found some really good info on Adobe’s site, and I’ve been doing right, using the “no compression setting” for renders which apparently results in no loss of quality. They are also suggesting using Quicktime’s animation codec that according to them is lossless. Thanks again, quite the eye-opener!
-
[Cal Johnson] “Wow, I am totally confused. I was always led to believe that the Mini DV codec was a “lossless” compression scheme, thus the ability to shoot, capture to your computer, then output back to tape without loss of quality. That’s always been my understanding, so you’re saying this is not true? “
The Mini DV codec is not lossless, however you are correct to a certain (very small) degree. Since the data stored on the tape is digital, you can theoretically make a copy of that digital data (capture it, record a copy of the tape, etc.) without any generational loss (this isn’t counting nasty things like dirty deck heads/mishandled tapes).
The problem is that in order to make any changes to that heavily compressed digital data you need to first decode it, then after you’ve made your changes you need to encode it again. If you use a lossy codec (such as Mini DV) to encode it after your changes then you will suffer an overall reduction in quality. However if you decode the information and then encode to a lossless codec you should suffer no degradation due to recompression.
Darby Edelen
Designer
Left Coast Digital
Santa Cruz, CA -
Thanks Darby, and Dave. The last two posts you guys put up between have really clarified this for me. Good explanations… thanks again.
Reply to this Discussion! Login or Sign Up