H.264

hisko · Post by **hisko** » 23 Jan 2008, 14:22

Although this topic is not directly related to tvpaint, I still think there might be 1 or 2 animators on this forum who know how to deal with the H.264 quicktimecodec.

When I export with H.264, the tones of the images become way too light , and I have no idea how to adjust that. Tried to google it, but I found only confusing answers.
It should be possible to do it with the right colors, because the HD-trailers on the apple website look absolutely fantastic.

http://www.apple.com/quicktime/guide/hd/

Anyone???

ZigOtto · Post by **ZigOtto** » 23 Jan 2008, 16:24

h264 takes care of the gamma difference between PC and Mac display,
and set a gamma tag into the quicktime data,
more details, (+ a solution called QuicktimeGammaStripper.exe) here :
http://support.franticfilms.com/wb/defa ... =74&fid=14

thouth, not sure a mac version does exist ...(?)

hisko · Post by **hisko** » 23 Jan 2008, 17:00

Thanks, ZigOtto, but it doesn't work. The program says 'found no gama tag' when dragging the .mov into it.

ZigOtto · Post by **ZigOtto** » 23 Jan 2008, 19:28

hadn't tested it ...

another "trick" require to have Quicktime Pro installed, which I presume you haven't, have you ?

After you create the QuickTime/h.264 file, open it up in QuickTime Pro
Select "Show Movie Properties." Highlight the video track then click on the "Visual Settings" tab.
Towards the bottom left you should see "Transparency" with a drop-down box next to it.
Select "Blend" from the menu then move the "Transparency Level" slider to 100%.
Right after that, choose "Straight Alpha" from the same drop-down and close the properties window.
AND finally, "Save."

ps: I haven't tested it either, I haven't QT Pro here.

hisko · Post by **hisko** » 23 Jan 2008, 19:39

After you create the QuickTime/h.264 file, open it up in QuickTime Pro
Select "Show Movie Properties." Highlight the video track then click on the "Visual Settings" tab.
Towards the bottom left you should see "Transparency" with a drop-down box next to it.
Select "Blend" from the menu then move the "Transparency Level" slider to 100%.
Right after that, choose "Straight Alpha" from the same drop-down and close the properties window.
AND finally, "Save."

I have QTPro and I tested this method already (found the same source on some forum), but it doesn't work either. It becomes slightly better, but not good enough. The strange thing is that all these hd trailer-quicktimes are being made, but on the internet it doesn't seem that anybody has a clue on how to do it. Tghe animation codec that I use for myself is almost perfect (as far as imagequality goes), but the files become to big to send or post.

ZigOtto · Post by **ZigOtto** » 23 Jan 2008, 22:45

Animation is lossless, (basically uncompressed),
so it's ok for exchange/transfert datas internaly during a production,
but when it goes to output a preview or a video for the web, I use video MPEG-4 codec,
I've tried H264 about one year ago, but I've encountered too much troubles,
the most being that many addressees just couldn't play the video;
I've also tried the x264 (H264 alternative), but I wasn't more lucky ...
even giving tvpa crashes when attempting to export.

so I gave up with this fancy codecs, and staid sticked to MPEG-4 (high quality),
this old one making the job without any problem for a while now.

I will go back to a try with H264 later, when the apple/quicktime guys will have fixed all bugs and issues.

hisko · Post by **hisko** » 23 Jan 2008, 22:59

Tvpaint crashes too when I try to export an AVI-DIVX movie in 1920 x 1080. The new Divx-codec pro can do that, but tvpaint can't handle it.
My problem with MPEG-4 is that the colors are not accurate enough. They tend to become more red, and the contrast is lower (higher gamma I guess), so at this moment I'm not sure what to use.

lapprenti roi des singes · Post by **lapprenti roi des singes** » 21 Feb 2008, 02:16

What about Sorenson video 3 ?

I used it for a while back to my student's life, and although it's not perfect, I think it's one of the best compromise for quality/size if you only wish to share it on the web (not for definitive job).

hisko · Post by **hisko** » 21 Feb 2008, 09:41

I found out that the new DIVX codec can deal with HD 1920 x 1080, without any colorloss. It's fantastic! I can play fullsize, razorsharp clips full-screen on a 30 inch monitor (only if I play them with the official DIVX-player). And they are quite small (7 mb for a 12 second-clip)
I know, I sound like a secondhand cardealer, but I'm quite enthousiastic about it.
So export to AVI en use the DIVX codec in the 1080 mode. The project should have that size too, other wise it doesn't work.

oliveuk · Post by **oliveuk** » 21 Feb 2008, 18:21

i woould like to take this opportunity to thanks the developers of TV Paint for the Xvid import of videos. I have ripped most of my dvds in Xvid and being able to import them on TV Paint is just god send.

Other than that I don't think I ever encountered colour shifting using Quicktime pro when converting from uncompressed avi to H264.

I posted my settings here last week I think

Olive

oliveuk · Post by **oliveuk** » 21 Feb 2008, 18:24

ah yeah it was in the french section