Cararra resolution - make it look like a movie

laynemoore

I felt this was probably more of a new user question. I'm using Cararra 8 Pro to create and animate space scenes that are edited with live action shots. I want the resolutions of the two methods to fit each other.

So when setting up the space scenes, or any other CG that can be created in Cararra, what settings would you recommend? It's wide screen so I've been setting up the size as 720 x 320 - should it be something different? Also, what else do I adjust to make the resolution look better? I've messed with the dpi but, not sure if that makes any difference.

Any recommendations, my helpful talented friends?

wetcircuit

Start with rendering your animations in Carrara at the same pixel width and height as your video. "Wide screen" probably means 16:9 and HD. The lowest resolution you should be rendering for HD is 1280x720.... The high end for HD is 1920x1080.

Carrara defaults to 24 frames per second. If you are in the North America (or Japan) set the FPS to 30. If you are in Europe, South America, or any of the other PAL countries set the FPS to 25.

In the render room, there are a few settings that can make the image quality slightly sharper but can increase your rendertime significantly. You may need to find a compromise that works for you. I recommend you try the settings below.

You can find some more information on my website here:
http://www.3d.wetcircuit.com/editorials/what-video-resolution-should-i-use/

If you are working with another person who will be editing the footage. ask them to give you the specific resolution they will use.

3DAGE

HI :)

What Holly said,. Plus,..

Render your animation out as a numbered sequence of images.
that way you keep the highest resolution. and you can edit, on a "per frame" basis, in an image or video editor.
Rendering as Quicktime, or any other movie format will usually add compression

If you're compositing in something like After effects, you can load that saved (sequenced frames) as a single clip asset.
You can also change the frame rate of the footage to whatever frame rate you need,

Hope it helps :)

laynemoore

I know that my old video editor, Premiere Elements, does an export to frames. This is how I did my rotoscoping of sabers and things like that. I'm upgrading to Premiere Pro finally. For the CG it makes more sense to send the frames at the source per your suggestion.

3DAGE

You should also look at After Effects, since it's built specifically to work with compositing layers of footage and adding effect or processing, rather than an overall video editor like premiere which is designed more for arranging the different sequences to create the final master.

I have both AE and Premiere, but I tend to do most things in AE

Have a look at some of the free tutorials and resources available on www.Videocopilot.com

:)

laynemoore

3dage - yes, I absolutely agree. My upgrade will include the suite (premiere/after effects/photoshop extended), so I'm looking forward to learning AE. The tutorials I've been watching are great so I'll check out the link.

Thank you all for your help once again.