garageCube

hi!
I know animation is good for transparancy and photo jpg is good otherwise. I just bought final cut studio 3, and they have the codec called prores 4444. how is this compared to the animation and photo jpg for playback through modul8?

I think it produces rather large file that may be a problem to play back. Photo JPG at 75-85% for short clips is the best. Longer movs are better in H.264. Animation has not played well on my MBPv.4.1 so I use PNG with alpha.
To be honest I have not used Prores, but I doubt it will fly with M8.

I have reports that it does but only using a zippy, souped up MacPro.

So, whats the best codec for footage that has alpha channels? I used to use photoJPG or Animation at 100% quality, but witht he FCP suite, you get alot of new options.

Btw: is it any bug difference in performance/quality between 75% and 100% quality?

That's what Vanakaru is saying, for video with alpha use the (fairly new) PNG codec. Yes, there is also a PNG video codec, I was surprised too at first.

And ecoding to 100% quality is just a waste of resources. File size is larger and takes more to play back but not much difference in 75% quality. I never go over 85%.
PNG(+alpha) work much better than Animation.

Guys from resolume just released their beta version of avenue 3.2 and it has the built in DXV 2.0 Alpha codec that has alpha channel support... Drop them an email to mail@resolume.com if you want to get your hands on it...Only available for resolume beta testers though

Yeah, but as I remember it this codec either only works in Resolume Avenue OR only Resolume Avenue can take advantage of it.

Thanks guys! So if I use PNG 75% for clips with alpha channel, and photo jpg 75% for clips without alphachannel, then Im all set?

madsmeskalin wrote:Thanks guys! So if I use PNG 75% for clips with alpha channel, and photo jpg 75% for clips without alphachannel, then Im all set?

I don't see quality option for PNG (after effects), just Millions of Color+. At PhotoJPG 75-85% enable fast start streaming - some report it helps.

Everybody is saying PNg is better than Animation, but on my system PNG gets quite jerky (in quicktime) while animation is smooth as silk. In what ways is Animation better? I have uploaded two files, one with animation and one with png: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/443091/Archive.zip

Also, when I change the quality of the codecs to 75%, I still get the same filesize for the exact same file. Nothing changes. I use motion 4 btw.

First Animation produces twice the sise of PNG clip. Yours as well. Both of these work the same on my MBP.
Tried - Photo JPG at 85% is half the sise of 100%. These look absolutely the same when played. M8 loads clips into RAM, so file sise matters a lot.