codec's For DS4
Zap Z
Posts: 60
I was just wondering if their have freeware codec's that will work great with the Rendering Engine and settings built in DS4. I have heard Xvid mentioned.
Comments
In general it's best to render to an image sequence and use a separate application to turn the sequence into an avi file anyway (DS in fact does render to a sequence of PNGs anyway, then turns them into an avi at the end). Using a separate application will give you access to all the codecs it supports (and will make it easier to recover from crashes, patch the odd problem frame, and create overlays by using the embedded alpha channel in PNG files).
What Richard said is basically standard practice. There are a number of tools you can use to pull together your static png files. I use Adobe Premier, but I think you can use Avisynth? or Blender as well.
If you really want to render to AVI (I frenquently do this for low rez tests) then I highly recommend the public domain lagarith codec; works really well and I've had no crashes.
I save rendered daz movies all the time AS avi files instead of single PNG graphics . it will speeds up your work time by half
its much better not having to mess with 300 PNG graphic for a 10 seconds file in a film editor . when you can edit just the avi movie file instead..
Not to mention AVI is much easier to work with in FX programs like after effects and cinema4d than single png graphics. Plus the big boys who create animations in Maya or mudbox do not do it one png graphic at a time. it would triple their work flow time and would make their work time for large production films impossibly long. this is just one of the reasons why Disney studios stops creating animations with hand drawings. and stop motion time stamps graphics. and went to mudbox. and render-man.
so with that said. In my opinion the best codec for daz movie file is "Microsoft AVI -Uncompressed, which is what most movie editors programs work best with to get HD results , Just make sure you have your render settings for movie instead of PNG series.
Saved size for HD films either 1280 x 720 or 1920 x 1080 for hd. found under the render settings tab.
when your rendering is done choose the option "Microsoft AVI Uncompressed" codec. under the drop down menu on the save pop up dialogue box. before you save.it gives me the best results.
I hope that helps a little
Happy rendering. :)