RAM Previews Settings

[Ben G unguren]

[Naveen Mallikarjuna] “my RAM preview could look significanly different from what I end up with as my final render output”

If you have all your layers set to best quality, motion blur and frame blending turned on, and if you aren’t doing anything fancy in your render settings like overriding shutter angle, and if your comp window is set to full resolution, what you see in your RAM Preview should match up with the final render. RAM preview frames, from what I understand, are essentially uncompressed “RAW” frames, so you won’t be able to anticipate any kind of compression. Generally, you should render with a high-quality compressor and then mess with compression setting after that (thus avoiding the need to keep rendering over and over).

A major exception to this are fields, which isn’t a limitation of AE so much as a limitation of yoru computer monitor (or your TV, depending on how you look at it). Your computer monitor doesn’t present video with fields; it is progressive. Your TV shows video with interlacing. This means that when you are rendering with fields you can’t see what the moving image will look like on your monitor (the more you do it, the better you get at guessing, however). That’s why it is a good idea to render out a part of your moving section, import it into a program like Final Cut Pro, and hook up a television monitor. Then see how things look.

ben

[Naveen Mallikarjuna]

Ben, thanks for the reponse. Fielding was the major issue I was dealing with, but I was wondering if I could preview compression as well.

After I posted, I went back to my copy of Creating Motion Graphics with AE Vol. 1. According to the book, RAM Preview is calculated using the Current Settings Template.

So, if you go into that particular template and change the fielding from “Off” to either Upper or Lower, I guess the RAM preview should now calculate with fielding in mind. Of course, if someone could give me a “Yes, that’s what will happen.” I’d really appreciate it so I know I’m on the right track.

[Steve Roberts]

[Naveen Mallikarjuna] “So, if you go into that particular template and change the fielding from “Off” to either Upper or Lower, I guess the RAM preview should now calculate with fielding in mind. Of course, if someone could give me a “Yes, that’s what will happen.” I’d really appreciate it so I know I’m on the right track.”

Sorry, no. You can only see fields on a TV monitor, not a computer monitor. To do that, you can hook up a camcorder or digital/analog converter to your Firewire output, then connect the camcorder/d-a to the TV. Check the AE help for more details.

Steve

[Naveen Mallikarjuna]

Actually, I am connected to a video monitor. Maybe I wasn’t clear:

I have some footage, shot on DVCAM, lower fields. When I bring it into AE and RAM Preview, it looks slightly different, as if it had FilmFX applied to it. My thinking is that it looks different b/c the RAM Preview is rendering it progressive and outputting to the monitor, where it is again broken up into fields. So the video is going from fields to progressive back to fields.

So, in order to preview the video in its natural, “fielded” state, I should change the Current Settings to “Lower Fields first”. Thus the video stays in fields all the way through. Make sense? And if so, does this work, not work, or does this not even matter?

[Steve Roberts]

If you want the video to look identical to the original, it should not be put through AE. Since AE always renders every frame, it will recompress every frame, and every frame will look (at least) slightly different from the original.

This goes for RAM previews and final renders.

Does that make sense?

Steve

[Naveen Mallikarjuna]

Yep. Thanks.