Brendan Coots
Forum Replies Created
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Let’s take a big step back for a second. Your questions point to the fact that you aren’t happy with the quality level/crispness of your product, which indicates that something went wrong somewhere in your process. Here are some possible scenarios:
1. You started working at 72dpi, then changed that to 150dpi thinking it would increase quality. All you did was scale your image up which degrades image quality, not enhance it.
SOLUTION – Revert to a previous save before you scaled the file. If you don’t have a previous save, you can change your dpi settings back to 72dpi but the damage is already somewhat “baked into your cake.”2. You set up a project in Photoshop by typing in 720×480 dimensions, instead of using the photoshop DV preset. Photoshop’s video presets set the proper pixel aspect ratio on the file, whereas just typing 720×480 into your project settings results in a square pixel file (square pixel is 1:1 PAR, whereas DV is 0.9:1). If you import a square pixel, 720×480 file into After Effects, it will assume (based on the file’s physical dimensions) that it is 0.9 aspect ratio DV and treat it as rectangular pixels, screwing everything up.
SOLUTION – Once you start designing in square pixel, you can’t change the Photoshop settings to DV aspect ratio without having to completely modify your artwork OR squeeze the entire image, degrading the image quality. A possible solution is to NOT use the DV preset, but rather change the image size slightly (say, 722×482, square pixel) so AE doesn’t “see” it as a 720×480 rectangular pixel DV file and imports it as-is. Even this may not solve your quality problem, however, because the best approach is to design for the medium from the start.3. Your project settings in AE are wrong. If you use a DV preset it will, like Photoshop, set the correct aspect ratio settings (.9).
SOLUTION – Make sure you didn’t just type 720×480 into your project settings, but rather used the DV preset so that the aspect ratio (and resulting pixel aspect ratio) are set correctly. All of your settings from beginning to end need to match the final output requirement. In this case, that means DV NTSC (720×480) with a 4:3 aspect ratio and 0.9 pixel aspect ratio.4. Your output settings are wrong, compressed or something else that is resulting in image degradation.
SOLUTION – Always output from After Effects to Quicktime Animation Codec (create a “master” video), and use a third party tool for your compressed, “distribution” videos. There are free tools to do this all over the internet. TmpgEnc 4 Xpress is a good, cheap tool, and Super © is free. Google both to see your options.Brendan Coots
Splitvision Digital
http://www.splitvisiondigital.com -
As has been mentioned, computer monitors and television screens DO NOT respect DPI settings, both devices are essentially 72DPI and that’s it. Because of this, it is NOT a good practice to use DPI settings when designing for video of any kind. All you are doing is confusing the issue (and yourself) by adding a secondary parameter to adjust, rather than just using pixel dimensions to determine the size of your canvas. Case in point – the poster’s question is partially based on confusion around this very issue. Stick to 72DPI and size your project dimensions accordingly, and you’ll be better off.
As for the original question, any time you import an asset into After Effects with standard video dimensions (such as 720×480), it assumes things about that asset. For 720×480 imports, After Effects will assume that it is a rectangular pixel, DV video asset and treat it accordingly. Since computer based art is square pixel-based, you don’t want this. There are many techniques, but the easiest is to design your PS projects at 722×482 or some such number so that AE doesn’t interpret it and it imports as-is.
I tend to do my video design work in Photoshop at twice the target resolution (in your case, 1440×960) to give me wiggle room if I need to scale the artwork in AE or something. As long as you have a powerful workstation and don’t plan on using many dozens of layers in this way, it isn’t a bad way to work.
Brendan Coots
Splitvision Digital
http://www.splitvisiondigital.com -
Quicktime with the Animation Codec, without a doubt.
Animation codec is visually lossless, meaning there will be absolutely no degradation to your image. At the same time, it does perform non-lossy compression that results in smaller files than plain uncompressed files.
Brendan Coots
Splitvision Digital
http://www.splitvisiondigital.com -
Probably not the advice you want to hear, but I wouldn’t render your MPEG files out of AE. I would render them to Animation Codec as your master file, and then use a third-party application to create your distribution files.
There are a lot of good conversion apps that are cost effective or free. Super © is free and works very well, and apps like tmpgenc xpress work very well but cost around $99.
Brendan Coots
Splitvision Digital
http://www.splitvisiondigital.com -
Here’s a few thoughts:
– Multicore processing in AE is highly beneficial, but Adobe recommends (and you should give it) 2GB RAM per CPU core. With 10GB RAM you would have to tweak the multicore settings to force it to use all cores, which impacts performance.
– Everything counts when you’re doing HD projects and working with many dozens of layers, scripts etc. While we can debate the specific performance gains the addition of hard drives will get you, I think that every machine should have, at minimum, three internal drives: OS Drive, Project Files Drive and Cache/Render Drive. Splitting these three vital tasks out onto their own disks makes good sense from a variety of perspectives, and since drives are so cheap there’s really no reason NOT to.
– Much like cars, every time you upgrade your computer in one area, it only reveals the flaw or bottleneck in another area. The end game is a very expensive proposition no matter how you slice it. But the one area you can infinitely expand on free of charge is your work flow. Get used to using proxies, leaner file management, raster graphics, working in half or even quarter resolution except for clean previews here and there, subcomp and render/re-import layers with 3D lighting effects or other complex animations. Each of these steps is probably worth $100 in computer upgrades/expansion.
Brendan Coots
Splitvision Digital
http://www.splitvisiondigital.com -
Most of our approvals are done via an online system we built from scratch. It is password protected, shows clients previews from current and past projects, and handles audio, video and stills. For video, we encode everything to Flash video (FLV) for its smaller file sizes and protection (clients can’t download the files). All videos have time code burn-in as well.
We do approvals in person with the client more and more these days, it really helps in building relationships, keeping errors to a minimum and keeping revision cycles down since we can really dig deep and get more feedback from them the first time around.
For invoicing and bidding we use Quickbooks and just email PDFs of the docs.
Brendan Coots
Splitvision Digital
http://www.splitvisiondigital.com -
– It’s been proven that people, by sizable margins, learn and retain information better when they see and hear something being explained on video – much more so than print or any other media can ever hope to provide. Whether it’s training or an internal meeting video, corporations with thousands (or even tens of thousands) of employees can’t afford to have 1/5 of their audience miss the key message or require retraining. Think about the lost productivity, error rates, customer dissatisfaction and retraining costs a company might incur if their materials don’t connect with even a small portion of their employees.
– My personal observation is that a frightening number of people in the “professional” world can’t spell or write to save their lives. I would guess that people who can’t spell or write probably have some problems reading as well, and they might not even realize it. Studies have shown that when you don’t know the meaning of a word, or the wording of a sentence confuses you, your brain does not properly processes the surrounding paragraph and you fail to retain the information provided. A lot of people also tend to speed-read (especially true if it’s dry training literature they have been forced to read) and they will NOT re-read a paragraph if they didn’t understand it on the first pass. Relying on people’s reading skills and ability to process written information is nowhere near as reliable as show and tell, where the pacing and information delivery can be highly controlled, and where visual entertainment can keep the audience engaged while they learn.
– When was the last time you actually read a sales brochure sent to you? And I mean read it from cover to cover, thought about the message, and considered buying on the strength of that brochure. I don’t know that I ever have. But a B2B sales video, or even B2C, is going to get a lot more attention, play and consideration, especially if it’s produced well. Dollar for dollar, upping response rates and, as a result, sales, is worth every penny a good video will cost you.
– Remember all those large brick-and-mortar companies who, in the late 90’s, refused to build a web site because they thought it was just some fad? Well it wasn’t, and their late entry to the game showed that they were a little out of touch. This is the era of New Media and, much like web sites in the late 90’s, the companies who are last to come on board with video will get left behind to some degree. People consume a lot of video these days, and I would wager that within ten years or so video (primarily on the web) will almost completely replace printed direct mail as a sales tool.
– When I think of corporate video I don’t focus on meeting videos or CEO speeches. My shop gets a lot of work doing B2B sales videos, training, product demonstrations, web videos, technical breakdowns, viral videos, product install walk-throughs etc. In my mind, all of these areas are considered corporate video simply for lack of a more appropriate category. Framed in that way, I doubt anyone can honestly say corporate video has no place.
Brendan Coots
Splitvision Digital
http://www.splitvisiondigital.com -
I tend to agree with this. Now that Apple has gone 8-core-standard on the Mac Pros, the quad-core machines are very attractively priced. Here’s some things to consider:
iMac
– can’t upgrade anything
– if monitor dies, computer is useless
– apple monitors are way overpriced, and this is just as true when it’s part of a computer.
– the iMacs are, in some ways, a faster mac mini with (overpriced) monitor built in
– can’t add hard drives, much less RAID. Because of this, your media and OS will be on the same drive and performance will suffer. Alternative is using external drives for everything, which is more expensive and less convenient.
– 2GB RAM won’t do you much good with AE or FCP. I personally feel like 4GB is the minimum, and like their monitors Apple memory is crazy overpricedMac pro
– can upgrade everything – drives, RAM etc. using third party providers and save hundreds or thousands of dollars
– Will run circles around the iMac. Even though you are just talking about learning, you probably don’t want to be completely hamstrung by your computer
– can add (or replace) the monitor as you see fit, using any size, brand, pricepoint etc.
– better resale valueBrendan Coots
Splitvision Digital
http://www.splitvisiondigital.com -
Agreed. Keep your day job and be thankful for it. Now is not the time to be starting a new post business, especially if you don’t already have a list of clients. Sorry, but it’s true.
Brendan Coots
Splitvision Digital
http://www.splitvisiondigital.com -
Well, I don’t agree with ANY of the advice on this thread.
There are no “legal fees” associated with taking someone to small claims court. There are no lawyers, it’s just you and the defendant. The only fee MIGHT be hiring someone to serve the defendant notice that he is being sued, but anyone can serve notice, it doesn’t have to be a paid individual.
If the poster has written proof (i.e. emails) documenting that the client agreed to pay x amount for services rendered, he can sue if he does not get paid. It wouldn’t be tough to win either, if you think about how the judge might approach such a case:
Poster: “here is an email in which the client agrees to pay for the work I performed.”
Client: “Yes, but I didn’t like the work he did!”
Judge: “Where is your documentation, client, saying that pay was contingent on the quality of the work?”
Client: “errrr….”
Judge: “Pay up, buddy.”
Of course, collecting on that judgment is another story, but no one should EVER let a deadbeat client get away with it just because that client MAY disobey a judge’s order.
Brendan Coots
Splitvision Digital
http://www.splitvisiondigital.com