Project dimensions: How large do you animate?

[D.T. Nethery]

I am staying at 640x480 for now.

Well, it all depends on the intended format for the animation to be viewed.

If you're just working on a quick rough line test to be viewed on YouTube or an embedded movie on a website ? --- Ok, 640 x 480 is probably enough . No problem.


But what if you decide you want to show it in HD mode , blown up for video projection on a large screen , or transfer to film for theatrical projection ? 640 x 480 won't work .

I'd tend to say unless I know for sure that the project will never be shown larger than what is typically viewed on a website then I'd prefer to work larger in my original TVP project file and then scale it down if necessary.

If I work at 2K film resolution (say : 2048 x 1536 ) it's no problem to export a scaled down copy to 640 x 480 size . I can always go smaller , but it's impossible to enlarge 640 x 480 to higher resolution without the image getting "jaggy" pixel edges.

[Paul Fierlinger]

To this I would add that even if you are just at the very beginning of becoming a full blown animator, you should practice on a size closer to the real world. First, if you start with today's most common format, a 16:9 ratio, you will learn the composition challenges that shape offers. It really looks dumb when an entire film is drawn symmetrically, smack in the middle. Your lines will look better too if you draw on a 1280 x 720 picture. If you don't do this, you could teach yourself some bad habits without even being aware of it.