Hello to all
I am new to this forum. I came here in search of answers for the following question. Please forgive my poor English.
Situation
I am an armature flash animator doing my first animation project. I am forced to take (because of budget/time/software problems) “.avi” out put from flash with all the voice over and sound effects. There are around 124 avi files. These .avi files will be combined in aftereffect and will be given to the music composer to add background music (after effect work will be done in a studio by professionals).
Question
1. Is there any quality loss to video or sound when we export (from flash) and use avi instead of PNG or TARGA sequence?
2. Does any quality loss occur to audio or video while we burn the avi files into a CD. (I am asking this because I am going to transfer the files to the studio from my PC in CD’s)
3. I am exporting the avi’s with “Video format:” setting “24 bit colors”. Should I use 32 bit color w/alpha to obtain broadcast quality out put. (The “smooth” check box is checked and “compress movie” is unchecked)
Additional info
The output is for broadcast.
The flash files are done in 720 x 540 size. 12 frames per second
Only vector art works are used.
All sound effects and vocals are 44Khz Sterio type (hope this will give maximum quality)
All the avi’s are exported without compression.
I have already tried few sites for answers including flickerlabs
thanks yogyog and USB
Under which category does 720 x 540 dimension comes? I don’t remember why I chose this dimension; I think I need to refer my sources again to find it. If Aftereffect allows me to speed up my animation to 29.97 fps, I am satisfied with 12 fpm frame rate that I am currently using (I found it a bit tough to work with 30 fps).
When I started to work I did not know about broadcast safe color, by the time I read that on flickerlabs.com it was very late. On flickerlabs.com they mention that in Aftereffects there is an option to make the colors broadcast safe… (NTSC color… I guess). Do we have to manually select portions that have to be made color safe? Or can we make the entire animation color safe when we take out put?
--i guess, with all the extra pixels that won't be shown on tv (overscan)
somebody correct me if i'm wrong.
rgb monitors and ntsc have different color space-- some rgb colors won't
be shown on tv.
manually select? won't that be too cumbersome?
i thought you apply the filter on the film as a whole.
Don't worry. All shall be well.
When you select that filter on After Effects, it applies to the entire layer, no selections needed. It takes the colors that go outside the average NTSC color limit and tame them down into the NTSC-safe pallette. You will notice that mostly your bright colors will look a little dismayed. But it should be OK on TV.
If you can, it would be useful to have a DV camcorder connected to a TV set and your computer, so you can preview your After Effects project on an actual TV.
danielpoeira.org
It would be really helpful and educative if you could post in yr samples here :)
www.devilsgarage.com
I wonder why I did not any guidance. :confused:
No one faced similar situation?
Or is it because of my poor “English”?
At least give me hint how I can find some reply folks.
1. Is there any quality loss to video or sound when we export (from flash) and use avi instead of PNG or TARGA sequence?
The loss of quality in video can occur when you compress the video, so there fore avoid using any compression ( when you get the export avi, uncheck "compress video"
as for the sound , I would not be able to give you any professional advice, but heres the best I can give, it would be a lot easier to use the source sound files that you imported into flash, (Hoping its a wav 44k,16bit,sterio)
I generally export my avi's as a 720x480 30fps (maintain aspect ratio) 24bit color ( I am not to wise as to where to use the 32bit with alpha) no compression on video, smooth and sound 44khz,16 bit , sterio . to get the best out of the movie for NTSC.
its important to keep in mind that NTSC is 29.9 / 30fps
2. Does any quality loss occur to audio or video while we burn the avi files into a CD. (I am asking this because I am going to transfer the files to the studio from my PC in CD’s)
no , but its always to keep the source sound files ( RAW FILES) with you when importning into any post -prod software like after effects etc.
3. I am exporting the avi’s with “Video format:” setting “24 bit colors”. Should I use 32 bit color w/alpha to obtain broadcast quality out put. (The “smooth” check box is checked and “compress movie” is unchecked)
still no clue ,as i donot handel post=prod ,so wouldnt not be able to give you any info on that.
a note to remember
if the output if for broadcast , decide whether its NTSC or PAL thus working on the right flash movie dimension and framerate.
well if you have worked on 12 ( like you had mentioned) in aftereffects there is a way to convert the movie to NTSC/PAL , but may or may not affect yr movie, guess you may have to do some trials on that
and if you do please do post yr finding here :D
yr english is fine ! ( excuse my typos , if any)
www.devilsgarage.com
Man, sometimes you can get quality losses while converting ti avi. It depends on the program you use. "Flash to Video Encoder" do the job perfectly I've checked it up!!! Googl will help you to find this prog!
I am not using any external converter. Simply taking the output as .avi from flash (export movie as avi). Does it still lose quality?
1. depends. if you use "uncompressed" or "none" as your video codec
(meaning no codec is used) your avi will be lossless.
not sure about sound but it is generally compressed without loss.
2. no loss to burning if you just put the original avi file-- as in archive.
if you burn as dvd-movie or vcd-movie then you get lossy.
3. 24-bit format is the maximum for broadcast.
32-bit doesn't mean more colors-- it only contains extra 8-bit alpha
channel for compositing purposes.
as a side note: if it's for broadcast why is it 12fps? should be 29.97 for
ntsc, shouldn't it?
Don't worry. All shall be well.
Thank you kukut and webmonkey. Your comments have given me enough courage to proceed with the following settings in flash while exporting avi. 24 bit color, compress video turned off, smooth turned on, sound format: 44khz 16 bit stereo. I am also going to burn the output into ordinary cd.
"as a side note: if it's for broadcast why is it 12fps? should be 29.97 for
ntsc, shouldn't it?"
As this was my first try… I was completely following the “Art of Cartooning with Flash” for technical stuffs like that. I worked on movies with dimension 720x524 and 12 frames per second speed.
I thought it is possible to convert this out put to 30 frames per second in aftereffect; with a 3:2 pull down setting. Flickerlabs.com also suggest this will give a smoother video. Anyway folks I don’t have any idea about this matter, because I never used after effects.
You can retime it to 29.97 in AE.
Hi - I'll just add that PAL (europian video) is 720 x 576. x 25 fps. I hope you find that helpful. and sorry about my spelling. it's crap.
Mike Futcher - www.yogyog.org