Rendering for HD

[tricky]

We are looking at rendering at a higher resolution than we normally work to. Typically, in the past, we have rendered to 720x576 with a pixel aspect ratio of 1.422 which gives us PAL widescreen.

We are now looking at 720p. Now my understanding is that I need to render 1280x720 with a square pixel aspect ratio. However, I have just spoken to a film production company who will be comping together some of our animations with other bits of their own film for a big presentation, and they have said that they need the footage from us at 960x720.

All this stuff really confuses me. If I render at 960x720, I'll need to change the pixel aspect ratio to something like 1.333. Am I right? In that case, what I see rendered in the VFB will be 'distorted' just as when I render to 720x576 with a pixel aspect ratio of 1.422 (which really annoys me!).

If I render at the full 1280x720, what I see in the VFB is 'correct', but it will take longer to render as the image is bigger.

Why is rendering at 960x720 with an awkward pixel aspect ratio 'acceptable'? Isn't there going to be some kind of trade-off with image quality when it is finally output to full 720p by the film production company? (such as AA quality/jaggies etc)

[m_hinks]

Hi Rich,

For 720p you render at square pixels, 1280x720. You definatly don't want to work with an aspect ratio.

plus while you are rendering to a larger output, you can then drop some of the render settings and get the same quality as with your pal renders.

We only render to 720p now, gives you the flexibility to go smaller, and clients never really want full HD unless its a big old screen being used for the presentation (and they have a damn good machine to play the MASSIVE movie file!)

[andrewjohn81]

if render time is a concern just do 720 at 30fps (essentially 720i)

That's what we do, and someone puts it on blue ray disc. It looks great on the plasma we use to output it so I can't complain. Just do some testing. For many animations I don't think you'll notice the 60fps if you don't have things moving quickly. Also, since most people are use to 30fps anyway it's an easy transition.