A lot of new After Effects users and sadly even seasoned users get hung up when it comes to rendering their videos. The most common mistake that I have seen people make when rendering their videos is choosing the “Animation” compression type when outputting a QuickTime video file. This results in ridiculously huge file with an unnecessary level of detail. This blunder is soon followed by another when the inexperienced user tries their hand at the AVI output setting. More frustration overcomes the user when they experience a tremendous loss to the level of quality in their video, long render times and large files. When it comes to rendering videos for the playback or further video editing leave the “Animation” and “AVI” outputs to the pros.
Rendering High Quality Video for Further Encoding
The Quick-Time “Photo – JPG” compression type is what you should be using if you are archiving source files from AE, rendering video to import into your video editor or rendering video to later encode into video playback format like WMV, MP4 or MPEG. “Photo – JPG” compression can create relatively small video files without sacrificing much of the the quality of the video. That is why “Photo – JPG” is the compression type of chose when it comes to stock video clips bought over the web. The quality is superb and the file size is manageable.
Two things you should keep in mind when it comes to the settings for these two compression types. One is compressor depth and the other is compressor quality. The depth is the bit-depth of color. For “Photo – JPG” you want to keep this on Color. Compressor quality is something to be noted when using “Photo – JPG” because it determines overall compression quality. It is a good practice to keep this marker somewhere on “High” (If you choose “Best” you are going to be left with a very large file.)
Rendering High Quality Video for Easy Distribution and Playback
It is common to render a video straight from After Effects into a playable file that is good for the web or universal distribution. On a Windows machine or on a Mac equipped with Flip4Mac, Window Media Video (WMV) is a good choice if the viewers will be Windows based. A general set of WMV export settings are as follows: WMV Standard, One pass, constant bit rate (CBR), Quality of 80 and a Bit rate of 2000 Kbps SD, 3000 Kbps for WS-SD and 5000 Kbps for 720p.
Another common form of distribution is the Flash Video (FLV) file format. A general set of export settings for this file format are as follows: Max data rate 650-2000 Kbps, On2 VP6 video codec (Sorenson Spark is a less desirable alternative) and a frame rate “Same as Source”.
Lastly one of my favorite formats to render video in is xH.264. This produces a very high quality video that that is small in file size. At times this can be a very complex format to use because of all the setting variations, so stick with the factory presets if you are unsure. Here are some general settings I like to use: NTSC, CBR of 2Mbps, Progressive field order, square pixels and “main” profile with a level of 3.0.
Written by Jeff McIntosh