Codecs and Antialiasing Suggestions

[Mokiloke]

Hi

 

I'm doing some technical animation and want crisp results but am having so much trouble finding which AA to use in Max and which codec to use when outputing the individual frames from Premiere. Frame size can be up to 1000 wide, and will be played from a harddrive or DVD to keep datarate up.

 

I've tried so many altenatives which is timeconsuming when rending 1300 frames for each run. I have even rendered out at 1200 across and reduced the size in premiere with no joy.

 

The 2 attachments which are media player screen grabs show the main problems

 

1. An antialiasing effect produced when using premiere to convert to MS DV Avi

 

2. A ripple effect causing waves in diagonals

[Mokiloke]

Here are the attachments

 

http://www.cgarchitect.com/forum/filepush.asp?file=CodecProblem.jpg

 

http://www.cgarchitect.com/forum/filepush.asp?file=Rippleproblem.jpg

[bio-hazard]

i havent got much experience doing animations, but i did one for my university project (UNSW) and i used an Mpeg2 format. the results were quite fair.. not as good as a commercial dvd movie but better than almost any other codec i tried.

[Crazy Homeless Guy]

i don't think the AA problems and the codec problems are related. if your AA is not high enough, then you will have problems with moire patterns and such no matter which codec you use. the more refined the detail in your images, the higher the AA will need to be set.

 

as far as codecs, you should be able to get good results with...

 

windows media

quicktime sorenson

divx

 

i would only use mpeg2 if you have access to hardware compression. the videos i have tried to compress with software compression using mpeg2 playback nicely, but are to blurry.

 

typically i use windows media. my only complaints are that it shifts the color a little bit, and if you look closely you can see it surge slightly when it hits a key frame.

 

sorenson is nice and all, but i have never acheived the results vs size like you see in movie trailers online. sorenson does a nice job, but if i am going to keep the quality i demand, my file sizes end up to large to post on the net.

 

divx rocks, but is not on enough computers to distribute confidently. you are limiting the number of people who are going to see your work by distributing in divx.

 

mpeg4 sounds nice and all, but there are still to many cooks in the kitchen for this standard to take hold like it should.

 

....but i have had the best luck with windows media.

[mbr]

As a side note, divx will be shipping with many DVD players this year, and they've got MPEG4 beat, so it looks like it may become the new standard.

 

Something to keep an eye on - the file sizes are quite small, although I"ve never used it due to the compatibility issues, too.

[Crazy Homeless Guy]

if memory serves, divx 5 was supposed to be coded so that it would play back through any player that could play mpeg4. part of their goal was to take advantage of the dvd market. dvd's were being designed to play back mpeg4 as well as mpeg2. so if divx could be decoded using and mpeg4 decoder, then divx could be viewed through a dvd player.

 

in my limited experience with divx, divx 4.2 looked better than divx 5.0. i always assumed this was because they were trying to comply with mpeg4 standards.

 

if divx is being included as a codec in dvd players that is awesome. that will help push the divx market from just computer geeks (myself included) to the real world.