Preview vs Best Render

[Nathan Halder]

I think my question was answered inadvertently by the gentleman two posts down – I turned off the resampling and now it looks great!

[John Rofrano]

[Nathan Halder] “When I render using BEST (which I always do), it doesn’t look so hot.”

It’s probably important to note that there is no reason to render at BEST unless you are resizing video. The difference between BEST and GOOD is that BEST uses a more complicated resizing algorithm which increases render time by about 2x. This is why GOOD is the default. You can save yourself a lot of render time by using GOOD unless you are resizing.

~jr

http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com

[Jeff Schroeder]

John,

If I had 1920 AVCHD and my render was 1280 and in the pan/crop I zoomed in to 1440 would I get better results with Best or would Good be enough. I guess I should try it. What are your thoughts.

Jeff

Windows 7 64-bit, ASUS P6X58D, i7 960 3.20GHz, 24.0GB DDR3, 12TB connected storage
http://www.narrowroadmedia.com

[John Rofrano]

[Jeff Schroeder] “If I had 1920 AVCHD and my render was 1280 and in the pan/crop I zoomed in to 1440 would I get better results with Best or would Good be enough.”

Since you are resizing you might try BEST and see if you can tell the difference. That’s the real test. If you can’t see a difference, it doesn’t pay to use BEST because it takes a lot longer to render (unless render time is unimportant to you). You may only see a difference when resizing very large images and not just going from 1920 to 1280.

~jr

http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com

[Mac Mcginnis]

I need to ask a really stupid question here. So the end result quality of your video is also determined by what you have your preview screen set at? I guess I really never have asked the question of what the different variations of the preview screen are for.

[John Rofrano]

[Mac McGinnis] “I need to ask a really stupid question here. So the end result quality of your video is also determined by what you have your preview screen set at? I guess I really never have asked the question of what the different variations of the preview screen are for.”

That’s actually a GREAT question and the source of some confusion. The answer is NO, the preview setting DOES NOT affect the render at all.

The preview will, however, show you what the render will look like at a given setting. Most people need to keep the preview low to keep frame rates up, but if you are color correcting or working with plug-ins, you should change the preview to match your final render setting occasionally just to check how things will look. Some plug-ins, especially those that generate effects like fire, smoke, rain, snow, etc. will look very different in PREVIEW mode vs GOOD or BEST. So it’s always important to check what they look like at the render setting quality.

~jr

http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com

[Mac Mcginnis]

John,

When you say render settings, is there an option no matter what template is used to render at a good or best setting? I may have just never noticed it if there was, or like you said, used the default of good.

Mac

[John Rofrano]

[Mac McGinnis] “When you say render settings, is there an option no matter what template is used to render at a good or best setting? I may have just never noticed it if there was, or like you said, used the default of good.”

Yes, in your project properties there is a setting called: Full-resolution rendering quality and it defaults to Good. In the render templates there is a Project tab with an option called Video rendering quality which defaults to: (Use Project Settings). This is how you make any template use good or best regardless of anything else.

~jr

http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com