Animation output settings

[gazbo]

Hey all,

 

I've only ever done still images before but am attempting my first animation. I'm just after some best practice tutorials/advice on output. The animation is to be shown on a widescreen plasma in our boardroom and then provided it's not hideosly bad, onto a website.

 

Any advice on codecs, frame rates, pixel aspect, size etc would be much appreciated. I've done searches on the forums but not really found what I'm after.

 

BTW I'm intending on rendering with mentalray and editing with after-effects, which I'm also going to have to learn, but thought it was more of a general question so posted here.

 

Cheers in advance.

[Claudio Branch]

You might want to just slightly back off the gas pedal Cochise.

 

I don't mean to be discouraging, but you are taking on alot if you have never done a single animation. You are going to quickly discover a rather steep learning curve is awaiting you on several fronts: Network rendering issues, GI Illumination techniques, AfterEffects proficiency...you get the idea?

 

Be careful that you do not over-promise and under-deliver. You will be setting yourself up to look rather incompetent.

[gazbo]

Apreciate your concern but I've always found the best way to learn is to throw yourself in at the deep end. You always learn more when there's a ton of pressure and the possibility of public humiliation!

 

So does anyone actually have anything that might help?

[BrianKitts]

If you're just going for computer playback you don't need to worry yourself with the majority of the things you listed (frame size, aspect ratio, codec) .... do it whatever you want. It's when you start rendering for TV/DVD output that you need to worry about those.

 

But in regards to the output codec.... from max don't use one, you need to render out to an image sequence (not an avi, mov, etc...)

 

Start with max's help menu and run through their animation tutorials.

[Claudio Branch]

 

I've always found the best way to learn is to throw yourself in at the deep end.

 

You always learn more when there's a ton of pressure and the possibility of public humiliation!

 

 

I agree with your first point - I have always gone for it and immersed myself as well.

 

As for the second, it highly depends on the individual. Not everyone thrives under alot pressure and public scrutiny.

 

Anyways, I wish you the best. If you get started and have more questions, I will be happy to contribute if I can...

[Scott Dombrowski]

Like others have said, making your stills move is a big undertaking. There's lots to think about and plan for on an animation project. Allow for as much time as possible because things will always go wrong, especially with long lead-time things like the actual rendering. Even when you think you've gotten everything right, you check it in the morning and one dumb object you thought was hidden wasn't, and you have to re-render a bunch of frames. Stuff like that.

 

First things first:

 

* Storyboard. Your animation will seem aimless if you don't work out the story first. Think about camera moves and composition. This also helps you determine what needs detail and what doesn't. You don't want to spend 4 hours on a door frame that ends up getting a half second of screen time in the lower right corner of the screen.

 

* Music. If this is being played as a focused part of a presentation, you'll want some audio to go along with it. Look into royalty free music for pre-recorded stuff. Sony's Acid lets you roll your own, as does QuickTracks.

 

* Render to HD sized frames. Under "Output Size" in the Common tab of the Render Setup, pick HDTV. 1920x1080 will look gorgeous on the widescreen plasma if you can afford the render times, 1280x720 is a good compromise. Make sure you enable "show safe frame" in the viewport configuration of your camera view so that the viewport's aspect ratio reflects what the output will be.

 

* Use motion blur. You'll have to research that on your own, but it's highly recommended for a smooth animation.

 

* Render to frames, not video. Much more flexibility for post work, ability to use a render farm, and if anything happens halfway through your render (if using just one machine), you only lose the frame, not the whole file. I've always used .tga with an embedded alpha channel, but there may be better options these days.

 

* Use a render farm. Your deadline will most likely be unreachable without using one, save for the shortest of animations. If your office has unused machines at night, conscript them into service to crank through frames. The more machines you can throw at it, the better. Setting up a render farm on your own can be easy, but it can also be time consuming. I conscripted 30-ish machines here in my office and it took me two very full weekend days to work out all the kinks. If your own render farm isn't an option, consider a commercial one to meet your deadline. I've never used one so I don't have any advice on that, but I'm sure others here on the forum have advice on that.

 

My final files are 1280x720 Quicktime files using the H.264 codec. WMV will work as well. You can output both from Premiere, so I'd assume the same for AE.

 

Good luck. When it turns out well, you'll be really pleased as will your boss. There's something about animation that makes bosses drool a little... I'm not sure what it is. Feel free to ask more questions as they come up.

[Peter M. Gruhn]

I just want to emphasize the tip to render to frames.

 

It not only gives you more flexibility in post, it saves your animation when the render crashes half way through.

 

Some of the advice you are seeing seems like "well you'll never be a pro like me, look at all the jargon I can sling around." Common enough on the net. Pah, yeah, it won't be the best that a sophisticated pro can deliver. And, you know what, a lot of work done for commercial purposes isn't that good and you know what, a lot of it is good enough. It's just what Bob in house was able to put together and we liked it well enough, it served its purpose. It can be fully possible to make people happy without even touching After Effects, Premier, or Combustion. Something perfectly visible can be made without motion blur... They are nice, they do bring something to the table.

 

A lot of what you know how to do to make really nice images takes too long to render a frame. Does your timeframe allow for each frame to take 8 hours? See the renderfarm advice.

 

My initial experiments with walkthroughs have led me to believe that having camera and target keyframes coincide is a bad idea. Makes it easy to create a herky jerky feel. I got nicer motion by offsetting them. Think of this as walking AND looking around at the same time. Let your gaze pause on interesting things.

 

People talk about problems with a scintillation effect in animation. I'm not familiar with the topic but it can look nasty. Motion blur may help; there are specific GI issues involved. Ask the experienced people.

[Claudio Branch]

When you start throwing up animation work on a large-screen plasma, there is absolutely no place to HIDE my friend.

 

Big only means better if you know what you are doing in the first place.

 

If you are uncomfortable with hearing people throw around technical jargon, then why get into a field that is full of it Cochise?

[gazbo]

Thanks all for your advice, it really helps, I haven't posted here for a while and had forgotten what a great community it is.

Fortunately I've been given quite a bit of time to work with on this project. We're architects and this is a bit of an experement to see what we can offer as an in-house service. We know we can't compete with the quality of a proffessional visualiser, but as Peter says a lot of the time it will be good enough for our clients and, we hope a lot cheaper.

 

I'm designing the buildings at the moment but will post some WIP when it's available and you can let me know if I'm making myself "look rather incompetent"

 

Cheers

[amer abidi]

SO? what happened?

[SandmanNinja]

Maybe Cochise ran into Custer...?

 

Or maybe it was a bit more than smoke and mirrors.

 

I mean, Microsoft thinks if you use 9 guys and 1 woman, you end up with a baby in a single month.