Hello.
I'm trying to output an animation in Vue 6 Infinite. I tried to change the file output path for the avi and when software gave me a popu and asks hwich compressor to use. The defult is Microsoft RLE.  There are several others. Does anyone know which compressors produce the better video quality? If I want the best do I choose "uncompressed"? Which compressor will not hurt quality too much? My animation frames look when rendered as single frames so I don't want to loose too much.

The best is indeed avi uncompressed, but you should definitely outup to single frames and use a prgram like VirtualDub to create the video file.

Thanks bruno021.
Now, when you say "output to single frames" do you mean separate files like .jpg or .png files? If yes then where is that setting? I saw the setting for setting the range of frames to output (in my case it is 1 to 2,851) but not separate files. Where is that? I think I'm going to need this feature because Vue is estimating 47 hours to complete my render (720x480 res to avi uncompressed) and I'm already 8 hours into into it so if it bombs I'd like to do separate files if I can.

For image output you need to set the file type in the animation render options (in the file name box, see screenshot) to an image format (.jpg or .png or .tif for example). I usually use PNG or TIF. For assembling the images into a movie I use Adobe Flash or After Effects.

Ciao
TD
 

Hello thd777.
Thanks for the update. I think I'm going to stop my current render job and restart it with png output as your settings show.  Can you provide some tips on how I would assemble all the png files using Flash? I have Flash CS4 Professional. Is there something like an import in the menus that lets you specify a directory of a few thousand files that converts them to a movie? I have Sony Vegas Studio and am wondering if I can do it with that.  In the past I have always just made my movies with a single avi but this time I think my movie is going to be too big for a single file.

Hello!

I am currently running CS5, but I believe there wasn't anything different in CS4 with respect to how import worked:

In Flash open a new document (I usually use the Adobe AIR preset). In the properties, set the size to the number of pixels used in your movie images (or larger if you want to add a frame or other content). Also set the frame rate to match the one used when rendering in Vue.
Now go to "File -> Import -> Import to stage" and locate the first file in your image series. Flash will recognize that it is a series and ask if you want to import all. Answer yes and there it goes. Once it is done you can edit as usual or simply save the movie with Export -> Export Movie.

Here is one of my animations that was rendered in Vue 8.5 to PNG files and then processed with Flash as described above: Youtube

I believe that you should also be able to use Sony Vegas Studio, but I have never used that one myself.

ciao
TD

Hello thd777.
Thanks! excellent instructions.  I was able get it working using Flash and Air Presets according to your tips. I guess my Sony Vegas needs to be updated because it won't read the .avi output. I'll have to try and import it in with Microsoft Expression Encoder to output it to .wmv then into Sony Vegas or just update my vegas.  I prefer modifying my final Videos in Vegas for the sound track and other edit options.  This would probably be more streamlined if I had Adobe Premeire as I'm sure that product has no problem importing the Flash output since they are both the same company.  Thanks again!

By the way.  That's a cool video you have on youtube. How long did it take to render that video and what kind of pc are you using?

Hello thd777 and brun021.
Okay I'm back to this thread and will stay here. Both of you suggested that I use the external renderer to get render without the display as I asked.  Neat feature but does not appear to be much faster.  Although I do like it because I think maybe now I can still use Vue while that render is going on.
I wish I had the money for a faster PC because this one is going to take about 5 days to output just under 3,000 png files at 1280x720 using the Final quality setting and 30 frames per second.  I'm using a core 2 duo at 2.4 mhz with 8 gigs of ram and Western Digital Caviar Black 1 Terra Byte Drive. Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit.
 

Quote - By the way.  That's a cool video you have on youtube. How long did it take to render that video and what kind of pc are you using?

Hi zonkerman!

The video on youtube was rendered at 640480 at 24fps (720 frames) on my mini rendergarten (three PCs (2 Core2 duo and one dual xeon) with Rendercows controlled by HyperVue). The render time was ca. 26h. I have now a new system with i930 quadcore and that would probably bring the render time for the same scene down to about 12h if I add it to the farm.

The external renderer is identical to the one used inside Vue. The only time I have seen a significant speed boost was when I was operating at the memory limit of my system. Not having the interface around made more memory available and it was rendering somewhat faster. So the major advantage is stability in my mind as the external renderer has a smaller memory foot print.

But yes, rendering animations is pretty slow unless you have access to several additional systems to run a small render farm. There are other things you can do. I have converted the scene in the video to camera projection for the background model and then "baked in" the indirect lighting. That way I was able to shave about 20% off the render time. Depending on your scene you can also re-use the indirect lighting (not sure if that is available in Vue 6). Another big time saver is to convert procedural terrains into standard terrains and add the detail back via the bump map.

Ciao
TD