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Rendering from AE7 (photo jpeg, animation, h.264?)
Hi,
I’m rendering a series of movies from AE 7.0 Pro, which will then be edited together and re-rendered. I don’t want to lose quality in the first render but also don’t want to end up with files that are too big for my puny computer to handle.
I’ve seen people mentioning exporting as QT animation / photo jpeg, but I don’t really understand the difference between the two. Given that I can now also select H.264, should I do that instead (on the first set of renders or the final render of the edited movie). Also, as if I haven’t already asked enough already, does anyone know if H.264 will cause problems with Encore 2.0, which I will be using for final delivery?
I appreciate your attention and thank you in advance for any advice you might have.
Simon
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7 Replies
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H246 is to send in an e-mail, it affects the colors a lot.
Animation is good but not perfect,
Photojpeg I don’t know, but it is compression.
If you need to rerender everything later, you should consider
none, or no compression, If the movies go to Final cut,
uncompressed 8/10 bits is a good option.
(Sounds like no compression, but it is compressed; it’s half the size of no compression)
I don’t know how much you have to do, but firewire discs go very cheap these days… -
You want an Intermediate codec, not a delivery codec. Intermediate codecs are high-quality (to prevent loss) but are not necessarily playable in real-time, due to their size. Delivery codecs are lower-quality, but playable.
Delivery codecs are Sorenson, H.264, and MPEG-2. The latter can also be an acquisition codec (HDV), but it’s a compromise.
Intermediate codecs are Animation, Photo-JPEG, TGA sequences and so on.Animation is higher-quality, but larger file size when compared to Photo-JPEG at about 90% quality. PJPEG is often quite acceptable, since stock houses use it. If you have the space, use Animation, if not, use PJPEG. Hey, do a side-by-sdie test to see if you can see the difference. Then re-render those clips 2-3 times and see the difference. It’s really up to you.
In other words, don’t use H.264 as an intermediate codec. Only use it for the final render.
Now if you’re going to DVD, use Animation, then compress (as required) to MPEG-2 — that’s your final delivery codec. Use Compressor, Squeeze or Encore to compress to MPEG-2.Does that make sense?
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Thanks for the advice, it really helps. I had noticed that photo jpeg was smaller than animation and, given that, I was going to go for the latter (after what Aharon said in a podcast a while back about using as little compression as possible before the final render). I wasn’t familiar with the terms “intermediate and delivery” codecs but now it makes sense. Thanks for the help with this rather basic question.
Simon
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Sometimes we work with Animation as an intermediate codec, then when the job’s done, archive to Photo-JPEG or TGA files zipped.
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Then that’s what I think I will do. Have rendered out some of the clips today as animations and they look good. Seeing as that seems to be a standard way of doing it, I feel more confident I’m not making it up as I go along. Thanks.
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… and Animation is often the codec of choice when sending rendered material to editors, though they generally prefer their native codec such as Avid Meridien, for example.
Uncompressed 8-bit or 10-bit are other high-quality options, but they might not work on a Windows box, but Animation does. In time, you’ll find your favourite high-quality codecs.
Just some extra info fer ya.
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Which I greatly appreciate (you can never have enough extra info)! Thanks again!
s
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