julie.jenkinson
3rd July 2006, 18:41
Hey there,
Ok, so, I've been trying to encode a series a short films (6 * 1-2 minutes 3d abstract animations) in the most faithful way as possible. The source files are uncompressed .avi, output from After Effects 7. Here are the different things that I've tried :
1- Dvd compression : with nero high quality parameter, the final result would maybe look allright if only I didn't compare it against the source. I also tried to prepare my own mpeg2 encode using QuEnc and the tutorial here at Doom9, but the result was not satisfactory.
2- Windows media encoder : the encoded files play back very well, even on fast scene change. Problem is that the image quality is so-so on complex scenes, but more importantly, every .wmv file I've ever made looks darker than the original.
3- H264 : H264 with Quicktime Pro 7 gives me a very good image quality but when i play the encoded file in quicktime It looks a bit too bright and not as contrasted as the source. Also, when i play the .mp4 generated by quicktime in Vlc, this time it appears darker than the source.
4- X264 : I've tried quite a few different ways : directly from After Effects, from Virtual Dub, from MeGUI, Staxrip... The encoded files won't play in WMP or Quicktime (which i think is normal). They play fine in VLC, but again.. darker !
So, I don't know what I'm doing wrong. All i want is to encode my animations in near-perfect quality. It was very important when I did them in Maya to always work with uncompressed material, and render with the highest settings etc... so I just can't imagine showing them to people in an altered form. Finally, it is very important that the encodings that I make can be viewed on Macs and Windows. I don't mind doing differents versions for both systems if I can't get around a "one size-fits all" solution.
Allright, I really hope that someone can help me !
Julie.
Ok, so, I've been trying to encode a series a short films (6 * 1-2 minutes 3d abstract animations) in the most faithful way as possible. The source files are uncompressed .avi, output from After Effects 7. Here are the different things that I've tried :
1- Dvd compression : with nero high quality parameter, the final result would maybe look allright if only I didn't compare it against the source. I also tried to prepare my own mpeg2 encode using QuEnc and the tutorial here at Doom9, but the result was not satisfactory.
2- Windows media encoder : the encoded files play back very well, even on fast scene change. Problem is that the image quality is so-so on complex scenes, but more importantly, every .wmv file I've ever made looks darker than the original.
3- H264 : H264 with Quicktime Pro 7 gives me a very good image quality but when i play the encoded file in quicktime It looks a bit too bright and not as contrasted as the source. Also, when i play the .mp4 generated by quicktime in Vlc, this time it appears darker than the source.
4- X264 : I've tried quite a few different ways : directly from After Effects, from Virtual Dub, from MeGUI, Staxrip... The encoded files won't play in WMP or Quicktime (which i think is normal). They play fine in VLC, but again.. darker !
So, I don't know what I'm doing wrong. All i want is to encode my animations in near-perfect quality. It was very important when I did them in Maya to always work with uncompressed material, and render with the highest settings etc... so I just can't imagine showing them to people in an altered form. Finally, it is very important that the encodings that I make can be viewed on Macs and Windows. I don't mind doing differents versions for both systems if I can't get around a "one size-fits all" solution.
Allright, I really hope that someone can help me !
Julie.