Rendering Options

that1guy · Post by **that1guy** » Wed Jul 27, 2011 4:13 am

In general I would like some advice on the best techniques for turning my Anime Studio project into a movie.

When I initially experienced rendering problems, a friend suggested that I always save in png format. That is a great idea and it makes sense that it would work.
I understand that the audio would have to be added back in during editing, which I can do on “Windows Live Movie Maker”.

What I can’t do on Movie Maker is edit the png stills down to 24 frames per second.

Any options that cost Money would not be of much help at this point, but I would appreciate any other advice.

Thank you
John

Fulkster · Post by **Fulkster** » Wed Jul 27, 2011 6:02 am

I've had good results w/Quicktime movie, with mpeg 4 compression... have you tried the different compression types under the Quicktime movie setting?

GCharb · Post by **GCharb** » Wed Jul 27, 2011 6:15 am

If you want to hand out the animation so peoples can watch it, then Quicktime with mp4 works really well, you just need to play with settings to get a decent ratio size/quality.

If you want to render so you can import in editing software, then Quicktime with animation codec at full quality may do the trick, but it is not loss-less.

If you want fully loss-less quality with sound embedded, your best option is uncompressed avi, as it is truly loss-less.

that1guy · Post by **that1guy** » Wed Jul 27, 2011 6:41 am

I have had my best results the Quicktime movie, with mpeg 4 compression, but only as far as it renders the audio and video in sync. I don’t like the loss of quality though.

Giles, I would love to export in uncompressed avi , but whenever I do, the audio is out of sync and the video is choppy, freezing here and there on one frame for over a second.

For a while, I thought I did not upgrade to a strong enough machine, But I’ve been advised that it is strong enough. I could always use another opinion so here is what I have.
AMD Athlon II X 4 640 processor 3.01 GHz
ram 4.00 GB
64 bit operating system.

GCharb · Post by **GCharb** » Wed Jul 27, 2011 2:45 pm

Those specs are more then enough to run ASP, I run a AMD Phenom II 1100T with 16 GB ram here and all runs fine.

How long has your system been installed, maybe it is time for a fresh install, maybe some of those codecs have gone missing parts, darn MS registry is a difficult mistress and goes often awry.

Have you tried to render a sequence to uncompressed avi from other software, like virtualbub?

that1guy · Post by **that1guy** » Wed Jul 27, 2011 3:08 pm

Assuming you meant virtualDub, I am checking it out now. I see that there is a lot of education available there too. That is a good thing for me since I don't have much of an understanding about compression and codecs.

win7 was installed in march of this year. When you suggest a fresh install, is that what you are talking about. wiping out my hard drive and re-installing win7, AS and anything else I may need?

thanks Giles

sbtamu · Post by **sbtamu** » Wed Jul 27, 2011 4:17 pm

I always render AVI uncompressed from ASP and it really lags on play back but I have learned to trust that once I do a final render in my video editor that the sound will match the video.

When you scrub the timeline in your editor the sound will usually match the video but if you hit play(in my case) the sound and video does not sync up. I have gotten used to this and hardly notice any more.

GCharb · Post by **GCharb** » Wed Jul 27, 2011 4:18 pm

LOL, I meant Virtualdub, great free application for compressing avi.

And yes I meant a fresh install as in whipping out your HD, but march is not bad.

Codec says it all, coding decoding, plenty of those out there, there are codec packs also, like the K-Lite codec pack, which I use, also installs Media Player Classic Home Cinema, a great multimedia player.

http://www.free-codecs.com/k_lite_codec ... wnload.htm

The standard one will install pretty much all the codecs you will ever need.

hayasidist · Post by **hayasidist** » Wed Jul 27, 2011 4:23 pm

might be file sizes?? I've had all manner of troubles such as loss of video/audio sync on "huge" files (it doesn't take long to eat up 4Gb with uncompressed AVI!).

I keep the AS outputs short (10-15 secs typical max - so up to about 1Gb - but depends on frame size) and merge in video editing s/ware (I use Premiere, and I don't really know enough about Win MM to comment on how well it might perform)

that1guy · Post by **that1guy** » Wed Jul 27, 2011 5:23 pm

Sbtamu, great advice. I went back to my editor and loaded the jumpy un-synced AVI render. It did exactly what you said; it fixed itself in the final render in my edit program. Very interesting and a huge time saver. Thank you.
Giles, I’m sure that the link you provided will come in very handy. Thanks
Hayasidist, I was keeping the test clip very short, less than three minutes. Thanks for the advice, though.

GCharb · Post by **GCharb** » Wed Jul 27, 2011 5:52 pm

3 minutes of uncompressed avi makes for a huge file, especially if in HD, no wonder sound was not in synch!

that1guy · Post by **that1guy** » Wed Jul 27, 2011 5:56 pm

LOL, yes, that would be. I meant three seconds.