animation

[cristoforo]

I'm about to do an animation of a current project. In a previous project, prior to using Vray, I used a resolution of 1024x768.....it was an animation to be viewed on a computer screen. I'm no expert, but I have read that the standard NTSC is 720x480 and PAL 720x576 and PAL Windows 768x576. Though, rendering at these resolutions, if I fit the animation to the computer screen, it becomes pixelated. This is why I rendered to 1024x768. Obviously, using Vray the render times will increase. I'm curious to what resolution everyone else is rendering when producing an animation for computer screen? Instead....if it needs to be put on a DVD to view on a television? And which frame rate? 25 fps? Any other Vray animation tips would be appreciated before I begin the job.....which will be the following days. Thanks!

[Mirko]

I always render 25 fps cause I want to be compatible with the biggest european TV standard PAL. If I render an animation with 20 or 30 frames - I will have to rerender it later on if the customer wants the animation on a DVD.
The normal PAL format for DVD ist 720x576 (non square pixel). I often render my animations a bit smaller (640x480; 480x360) but with a sharp AA Filter (catmull rom; Area 1,25; etc.) to lower render times and then scale it up again in post. This works fine for TV.

[cristoforo]

Viewing that animation at 720x546 on a TV screen...is clean...or pixelated a bit? With an animation at that resolution that I view on the computer screen, can I just save it to DVD and you see it fine on TV...or must I do something special? What file format must it be to view on DVD?

[Mirko]

If you wanna view your DVD on a normal PAL-TV (not the new HD ones) your Animation has to be 720x576. You can not use a larger pictures size. PAL is defined a standard.
If you want to burn your animation onto a DVD you have to convert your animation into MPEG-2 first. MPEG-2 is necessary because it is defined in the DVD standard.
Programms like Nero or Adobe Encore DVD can most likely convert your rendered movie into DVD conform MPEG-2.

[cristoforo]

Thanks for the advice!

[Clifton Santiago]

I often use PAL standard 720x576 @ 25 fps (at least on this side of Atlantic).. It will look fine on a television, unless it is an HDTV. Also it seems a good size for playback on computer monitors or projectors. You can play back at original size or make the player full screen.. just like you might do when watching a DVD on your computer.

However if you are only planning on playing it on a computer monitor or projector you can render to whatever size or proportion you want, though ideally not to exceed what is supported by the target monitor resolution. Be careful about the size and codec though... if you go too large playback might not be smooth.

As for animation optimization tips, just remember multi-frame incremental and only render IR every 10th frame or so. See Chris Nichols exteriors DVD on the topic.

[cristoforo]

Thanks Clifton! I guess I will stick with the 720x576 @ 25fps.

[Da_elf]

this forum is about 80% european huh

[cristoforo]

[muzzy]

Thanks Clifton! I guess I will stick with the 720x576 @ 25fps.

Thanks for the info..

Which pixel aspect ratio do you use ? 1.0 or 1.2

[cristoforo]

I read that the PAL standard is 1.067.

[Clifton Santiago]

I suppose it depends if you are planning to output to DVD and/or TV. If so you would want to go with a non-square ratio, but I don't know exactly which.

I use square (1.0) because most of my animations are played off a laptop hard drive connected to an LCD projector. I am only just starting to do presentations to DVD.

I'm sure there are european TV/video production experts on this forum... anyone?

[RErender]

There was a thread that covered it very well, probably a few years old now. Happy hunting.

[Raytonium]

Hey RErender,

I just saw the focus360 link in your sig--I got an email from Peggy yesterday asking if I was interested in a position (or at least applying for one).

[RErender]

Cool