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heyvern
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Post by heyvern »

J. Baker wrote: MPEG 1 <--- ugly results
Can be viewed on Windows, Mac and Linux.
Can be created on Windows, Mac and Linux.
MPEG 4 can't be used on all these platforms? Or is it only part of QT Pro?

That is what I use most times and the quality is really good with pretty small file sizes.

I hate to be the only one who is making a stink. If the majority agrees with DIVX I will go along with it. It's only $13 I think I can scrape up that much. If I have to I can use my PC to convert if it won't work on the Mac OS I have.


-vern
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J. Baker
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Post by J. Baker »

heyvern wrote:
J. Baker wrote: MPEG 1 <--- ugly results
Can be viewed on Windows, Mac and Linux.
Can be created on Windows, Mac and Linux.
MPEG 4 can't be used on all these platforms? Or is it only part of QT Pro?

That is what I use most times and the quality is really good with pretty small file sizes.

I hate to be the only one who is making a stink. If the majority agrees with DIVX I will go along with it. It's only $13 I think I can scrape up that much. If I have to I can use my PC to convert if it won't work on the Mac OS I have.


-vern
Actually divx is MPEG4 just like your QT. I don't know how much of a difference there is between the two besides the extension. I'm fine with using QT. I just want to make sure everyone can create or view this format. I don't know for sure if linux can or not. If they can, I'm all for it.
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artfx
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Post by artfx »

I know I'd feel safer if the format was Quicktime .mp4 files. They are small, look great and can easily be created on both platforms without the need to download anything extra as far as I know. It's the same format a used here:

http://www.studioartfx.com/webpage6/anime001.html

The format seems popular among pirate anime distributors too, if that matters... not that I would know first hand of such things... or... yeah...
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J. Baker
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Post by J. Baker »

artfx wrote:I know I'd feel safer if the format was Quicktime .mp4 files. They are small, look great and can easily be created on both platforms without the need to download anything extra as far as I know. It's the same format a used here:

http://www.studioartfx.com/webpage6/anime001.html

The format seems popular among pirate anime distributors too, if that matters... not that I would know first hand of such things... or... yeah...
Any tips on creating these files small with good quality? QT has always been large for me. At least when I try to get decent quality. Thanks
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artfx
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Post by artfx »

I tend to use a calculator to figure out the best data rate for the length of the clip and how small I want it to be. Always comes out looking good. I just assumed "bad compressors" were a thing of the 90's.
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Touched
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Post by Touched »

I can easily create mp4 files as well (using Windows, for J. Baker and Vern's reference), and they are playable on Windows with the VLC player as well as with the Quicktime player. Since VLC is also available for Linux, I assume (but have not confirmed) that it can play mp4 there as well.

As for distribution and hosting, there's always the very poor quality but rather universal (and free) option of hosting them on Youtube... Unlike some of the other free file hosts, it doesn't look like Youtube's going away very soon. Could be used as a low-bandwidth version of the entries for anyone who doesn't need to download high rez ones or who might have a problem playing any other formats.
IsraelRN
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codecs

Post by IsraelRN »

Aren't we supossed to send the anme file? why should we bother that much into the codecs jungle? i don't know the Linux version of ASpro but i think that any format that can be output directly by AS should be fine.

BTW are we supossed to use AS only for the final output?

As for the 'rendered' version, i think that maybe even uploading the file to YouTube or DailyMotion is better even if there's a quality loss, but that would make a lot easier to see all the contest entries, without downloading big files or installing the proper codec.

Israel RN
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bupaje
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Post by bupaje »

Actually if we are only talking 10-20 short entries I probably could just render them myselves. I have a student version of Autodesk Cleaner which I believe has several options to save in different formats and compressions. I can play around with that. I can't imagine a 30 second video will take hours to render.

I'm not sure what the limits of YouTube are, we can try it. I created a Anime Studio Challenge Group here

http://www.youtube.com/group/animestudio

we can try this for videos from any contests or challenges we post in the contest forum.

I don't mind hosting it. I do have some space, just don't have much free time. I might be able to create a section to allow upload of video and files on my site - if most think this ok let me know and maybe I can give access to that section to 2 or 3 forum regulars to help upload and update? Let me know and I'll investigate.


If YouTube works out then maybe the quick solution would be to bundle all the anme files into one zip and I can post those very easily.
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Touched
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Post by Touched »

Youtube limits: Anything posted in any format to Youtube is automatically converted to FLV at these settings:

Size: 320x240.
Video bitrate: 300 kbp/s.
Audio bitrate: 64 kbp/s mono mp3.

So if you want your stuff to look the best possible there, first convert your video to FLV yourself at those settings so it won't get recompressed. I found out the hard way on a couple of videos that letting Youtube do it all can result in more blockiness than necessary and out-of-sync audio.

If you meant limits as in how much you can post there, I don't see any such limits. And animation contest files are perfectly within their terms of use.

Conversely, Google Video, while not as popular, seems to have much the same free hosting and uploading abilities, but their specs are much better:

Video: 640x480, 4:3, 30FPS
Audio: MPEG4 (mp3 or mp4 audio) at 2 mbps
or MPEG2 (mp3 or mp4 audio) at 5 mbps
File formats supported: AVI, ASF, QuickTime, Windows Media and MPEG
Codecs supported: H.264, H.263, MPEG 1/2/4 and motion JPEG

It doesn't say what the maximum bitrate is, but they recommend that it be above 260 Kbps.

Edit: Seems that they resize the videos to 480x360 in DivX4 when you upload them, but that's an improvement over Youtube.
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bupaje
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Post by bupaje »

Thanks for the info Touched. Hmmm... I see that the Autodesk Cleaner I mentioned has options to convert files to flv. Since I'm guessing there won't be 100 videos, I could convert.

I'll take a look at Google in a minute.
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bupaje
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Post by bupaje »

Took a look at Google but the "Group" setting is seperate -so I can create a personal account but not grant access as far as I can see. I think the YouTube makes the most sense then. I can convert them to flv if that will mean a better file.
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Touched
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Post by Touched »

True, I hadn't thought of that aspect. Youtube's sharing, group, and social features are definitely more developed than Google's.
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J. Baker
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Post by J. Baker »

Yeah, doesn't matter to me if it's on youtube, google, or yahoo. Just as long as we can get decent video quality. :wink:
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J. Baker
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Post by J. Baker »

Here's a few tools that convert to flv. Three of them are free.
http://www.videohelp.com/tools?convert=AVI%20to%20FLV
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bupaje
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Post by bupaje »

A sudden thought, but for those hankering to do more the animation itself is between 10-30 seconds but you can have some additional fun br animating the title and credit screens.
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