avi/mpeg codec for 3d render?
polycounter lvl 18
OK this may be a retarded question, but if you are rendering something out in max as a video which codec are people using nowadays?
i noticed divx has gone totally commercial, i used to use that all the time for AVI's. i also like the ability to cycle back and forth through the frames with mpegs/movs but i don't seem to be able to render those out from max, do i need quick time pro or whatever?
are there any free options available anymore?
i noticed divx has gone totally commercial, i used to use that all the time for AVI's. i also like the ability to cycle back and forth through the frames with mpegs/movs but i don't seem to be able to render those out from max, do i need quick time pro or whatever?
are there any free options available anymore?
Replies
other then that i recommend mov´s and no you need no special quicktime
I haven´t tested any free encoder/cutting program, so I can´t point with the finger on one
always do it as image sequence so you have original files. hard disk space is so cheap so it shouldn't be an issue to store image sequences.
H.264 is a good one.
A good workflow is to render to a sequence of lossless-compressed bitmaps, like 24bit compressed TGA. Then compile those together with your audio and compress it all into an AVI video.
AVI is readable on both players, as well as any of the better custom video players that many computer-savvy people prefer (VLC, MPC, etc.)
QuickTime Pro is a cheap $30, and is pretty easy for the inexperienced to use. Lets you compile frames, add audio, edit, then compress AVIs. There are free alternatives, but they're not as easy to use.
Also agree with writing out to a series of images and rendering the video from those - allows you more flexibility, cos otherwise if you render out a long video then find out the compression you chose was rubbish, you have to re-render all those frames again! Waste of time
try using a quicktimegamma stripper. i think it's just a tag in the file that is the offender.
Actually I did notice that if I dragged the Quicktime window between my 2 monitors while it was playing, the contrast looked correct on the 2nd monitor - I guess it was only applying the gamma change on the monitor it started playing on or something... o_O
The reason for a image sequence?
- very fast encoding/ decoding (loading a AVI file in After Effects or Premiere is not fun at all, even more if its not MPEG2 encoded)
- in case your software crashes (like max sometimes does) you can always continue from where you stopped last time. If you would render a AVI or MOV container the file probably would be broken and ready to delete
- you can check while rendering the frames that are already rendered to check on things.
Yeah, it's a crappy bug in the way Quicktime plays h264. If you have QTpro, open the file, then go the video track properties (sorry, don't have the app here right now. it's in one of the menus) Go down to the alpha settings and choose linear blend, and set it to 100%. Then, select None and then Straight alpha. You should see your gamma get corrected. Now just save the file it will be good from now on
Quicktime with H.264 is absolutely the best choice. If you get your settings right, it will look really nice and be very small filesize. This is why movie trailers and movie pirates use it a lot. Also, quicktime has the ability to scrub videos so it's great for turntables and reels.
I personally hate quicktime, the player is one of the worst available for Windows (bloated, spy-behave, update, autostart stuff) all in all it is just nasty and horrible controls and performance. Almost just as bad as the much hated real player.
but aside from that:
If you want to reach a highest audience go with portals such as vimeo or youtube - or simply upload your own Flash SWF and H264 video (yes flash can stream h264). I assume that youtube itself and even vimeo encode h264 themselves for the HD videos that are available.
From a personal experience though I can not recommend using H264 in a quicktime container at youtube.com because for some odd reason the first few frames are not proper keyed resulting into green and pink flashes at first.
It worked fine however using XVID and some other codecs as a AVI container - must be something youtube specific though.
If you want to make sure your video can be played at presentations I can recomend encoding to anything VLC can play back such as XVID but also any x264 or h264 encoded videos in either MOV, MKV or AVI containers.