Video experts... I need your help!

[johnbro23]

I have a video of a car dealership. I broke it up into chunks to allow it to render on multiple computers. This first part, for example, is 5 seconds long with 150 frames. I can't understand why the file size is so big, though. It is 350MB... that's 6GB for a 2 minute video! Is there any way to reduce the size of the file without hurting the quality? I have Final Cut Pro available if that is the best answer.

Here's a link to the video if you want to download it... its pretty cool, you should take a look:
http://s44.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=2559GJHWQTBQB06RQS5VR75QCG

That link will probably run out pretty soon, so I'm uploading a second one now.

 

[Lacero]

What codec are you using to encode the 5 second video?

 

[johnbro23]

What codec are you using to encode the 5 second video?

You mean what file extension? It's .mov.

The program that made the video is Autodesk 3D Viz. I have been playing around with the settings in that program, and nothing really makes too much of a difference in terms of size of the file. This 350MB video happens to be the one that I did that was maxed out with all the options. But still, 350MB for 5 seconds is rediculous. I've gotten similar quality 45 minute HD TV shows for about the same size. Something's gotta be wrong here and thats why I'm asking for your help.

 

[neut]

I have a video of a car dealership. I broke it up into chunks to allow it to render on multiple computers. This first part, for example, is 5 seconds long with 150 frames. I can't understand why the file size is so big, though. It is 350MB... that's 6GB for a 2 minute video! Is there any way to reduce the size of the file without hurting the quality? I have Final Cut Pro available if that is the best answer.

Here's a link to the video if you want to download it... its pretty cool, you should take a look:
http://s44.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=2559GJHWQTBQB06RQS5VR75QCG

That link will probably run out pretty soon, so I'm uploading a second one now.

sounds like you have some nice uncompressed videos there ... try outputting to a 'smaller' compression/different codec. what are you trying to acheive? what is the end product?


peace | neut

 

[Windowlicker]

You're not telling too much about the source material..

What is the resolution of the video?
The .mov extension only tells it's a QuickTime file. It can be Sorenson, MPEG-4, Cinepak, Pixlet, H.264 -- just about anything.

If the source material is shot with a normal DV Cam it's in DV-format, which is MPEG-1. If you want to save the video without losing image quality, save/export it as DV-NTSC or DV-PAL (depending on which one you want to use).

The big size of the clip might be if you're using a Codec that doesn't compress the image at all, or if the size of the picture is huge.

 

[Lacero]

If the source material is shot with a normal DV Cam it's in DV-format, which is MPEG-1.

Really? I always thought DV-format was based on constant bitrate DCT-based spatial compression of 25MBits/sec at 4:1:1 color resolution with support of DV/D1 0.9 aspect ratio.

 

[johnbro23]

That definitely makes sense that this is uncompressed video. I chose the QuickTime .mov option when I rendered. The resolution is 1152x864. I'm not real sure about anything more specific than that. Is there any way of checking the file now?

I've never used Final Cut before, but would that program help me get it into "compressed" format? If so, how? Would you be able to explain it to me, or is it too complicated?

Someone asked about the final product... I'm hoping for it to be around 20MB. I don't think thats too hard to get, given that an episode of "Lost" in HD is 350MB.

 

[johnbro23]

I just put it into Final Cut and exported it as a QuickTime movie. It's still a jerky, I'm guessing it plays only every other frame. Why would that be?

The good thing is is that that 350MB file is now only 11MB

 

[Mr. Anderson]

What are you going to use it for? Where is it going to be shown in the end?

One thing to do is cut the frames down to 15fps. Also, leave the compression setting to high, but make the cut back the data rate. You may have to tweak it a little to get something you're happy with.

Good luck,

D

 

[johnbro23]

What are you going to use it for? Where is it going to be shown in the end?

One thing to do is cut the frames down to 15fps. Also, leave the compression setting to high, but make the cut back the data rate. You may have to tweak it a little to get something you're happy with.

Good luck,

D

I'm planning on emailing it to my new boss. I got a job at an architecture firm and I wanted to show him what I've been working on. So obviously I want it to look good.

Do you think 15 frames per second is going to be smooth enough? Is it easy to convert from 24 fps to 15 fps?

I'm messing around with export settings in Final Cut Pro right now, and it is still looking choppy. What should I make the settings in order to get the biggest bang for my buck... or quality for my megabyte lol.

Keep in mind I hardly know anything about Final Cut or digital video.

 

[Mr. Anderson]

I'm planning on emailing it to my new boss. I got a job at an architecture firm and I wanted to show him what I've been working on. So obviously I want it to look good.

Do you think 15 frames per second is going to be smooth enough? Is it easy to convert from 24 fps to 15 fps?

I'm messing around with export settings in Final Cut Pro right now, and it is still looking choppy. What should I make the settings in order to get the biggest bang for my buck... or quality for my megabyte lol.

Keep in mind I hardly know anything about Final Cut or digital video.

ah, you did it at 24fps - so 15 might be a little weird

I'm downloading the beast now and I'll take a look and see what you have.

D

 

[johnbro23]

ah, you did it at 24fps - so 15 might be a little weird

I'm downloading the beast now and I'll take a look and see what you have.

D

Thanks a ton. How much do you have left to go? If it stops on you (it has limited bandwidth) let me know and I'll post a fresh link.

Oh, and let me know what you think of the project... keep in mind I'm a junior in high school.

 

[Mr. Anderson]

wow, that's a huge animation. I do 3D animation myself and I've never done a project that needed the image size to be 1024x768, ever. Why do you need that?

And its at 30fps so knocking it down to 15 will be fine, especially for an architectural fly through like that.

I used QT pro to create a new version, at 640x480 (keeping the 4:3 aspect ratio you started with) with MPEG-4 Encoding at the highest settting with no key frames and 1000 MB/s data and I got the thing down to 4.7meg and it looks fine and very smooth, no jerking around.

My suggestion is if you don't need the 1024x768, use DV size or standard 4:3 aspect ratio so that if it goes to video tape its rendered at the size you made it for. Also, don't worry about losing the details - you can always zoom into them instead of trying to show them all at once.

Good luck,

D

 

[johnbro23]

wow, that's a huge animation. I do 3D animation myself and I've never done a project that needed the image size to be 1024x768, ever. Why do you need that?

And its at 30fps so knocking it down to 15 will be fine, especially for an architectural fly through like that.

I used QT pro to create a new version, at 640x480 (keeping the 4:3 aspect ratio you started with) with MPEG-4 Encoding at the highest settting with no key frames and 1000 MB/s data and I got the thing down to 4.7meg and it looks fine and very smooth, no jerking around.

My suggestion is if you don't need the 1024x768, use DV size or standard 4:3 aspect ratio so that if it goes to video tape its rendered at the size you made it for. Also, don't worry about losing the details - you can always zoom into them instead of trying to show them all at once.

Good luck,

D

I agree with you that the resolution is way too big. It is just what my cad teacher recommended. I'm actually rendering again tonight (24 computers rendering 150 frames each) and I set the resolution at somewhere around 700x500 keeping the 4:3 aspect ratio. Unfortunately, I bumped it down to 24 fps, so I won't be able to easly go to 15 fps. Would 12 look good too?

Could you send me the video you made with QT? My email is johnbro23@comcast.net.

With 15 fps, is it half as fast? Thats a good thing, as I was disappointed with how fast it turned out to be.

Thanks for being so helpful! I really appreciate it.

 

[johnbro23]

I have QT pro, so could you just tell me the options you selected when exporting it? I'm not real sure about what exactly I should choose.

 

[neut]

Wow ... you really should do some research into video if you plan on doing any more. How'd you get FCP and not know how to use it? Just learning i would guess? That's a pricey program to start with.

For web (email) delivery a Flash video file would be the smallest, but a quicktime video at 320x240 would be suitable (especially for email).

I haven't checked out your video yet so i don't know what your dealing with.

If you do more compressed video in the future ... check out 'Sorenson Squeeze' that thing can compress the crap out of stuff if your doing web presentations; otherwise, stick with under 640x480.

Since this is 3-D animation (as i assume from previous posts) im not sure what were dealing with here. i've usually only dealt with DV video. Sorry i can'be of mor help, but it looks like Mr. Anderson's got ya' covered.


peace | neut

 

[Mr. Anderson]

slowing it down requires you to change the speed of the camera, not the movie fps. You can fix this in qt pro by exporting the whole movie as an image sequence in a single folder (even if its 24fps) so that you just have a bunch of consecutive images. Then use QT Pro again to import an image sequence at 15fps - this will slow it down to approx 2/3s speed which should make a difference.

Once you have it in QT Pro at that rate, save it out with the following options:

Select export - select the directory and file name you want.

Select options at the bottom right of the window

In the popup window, select "Settings" and pick MPEG-4
- Put Quality on "Best"
- Under Motion
- - Frames per second = 15
- - Make sure the Key frame every field is unchecked and has no value
- - Set Limit data rate to 1000 KBytes/sec

for Filter and Size you should have to do anything and sound should be unchecked.

That should do it.

D