Does Rendo have one?

I'm sure that would be another massive chunk of HD space for the servers, but I was just checking, or if there was any interest in one, or should we upload an image we particularly liked from it and then a link to something like Vimeo or YouTube?

-Lew

The Video Center has an animation category you can upload an animation to.

http://www.renderosity.com/mod/videopro/index.php

Also this link you can upload Animation to as well

http://www.renderosity.com/mod/freestuff/index.php?section_id=321

We are encouraging members to use the Video Center for their Animation uploads as we will probably make that section the main Animation Outlet

Thanks

Awesome - thank you! I have a couple of trailers at this point for a web series my partners and I have been producing for the last year. It's a free, 7 part series about a group of inept paranormal investigators.

The episodes are over 15 minutes each, so all I would upload HERE are the trailers.

Thanks StaceyG!

-Lew

Love the avatar btw:)

Thanks :-)

If I may ask, is there a reason why animation upload requirements are more restrictive, both in terms of content and in terms of format, for the animation gallery than for the other galleries? For those who don't know, some of the conditions on uploading to the animation gallery are as follows:

The Video section is for educational, instructional tutorials, Demo Reels, Animations/VFX and Renderosity advertising related to the 2D/3D industry only. No personal videos are allowed. Videos are subject to the following guidelines: No human nudity is allowed in the video tutorials. Untextured mannequins and wire meshes are allowed for instructional purposes. Violent imagery is not allowed. You should own the copyright, or have the right to use, any materials shown, including audio files. The Renderosity site Terms of Service *also applies to the Video tutorial section.

Frequently Asked Questions

• What video formats are supported? All videos should be in FLV. format
• What is the resolution of the video? 640x480
• What is the maximum file size? Max file size is 100 mb.

Why not allow a .swf file that's 800x600 but only 5 megs (i.e. like a short looping flash animation)? Also, why no violence or nudity? Is there something special about animation that requires a tighter TOS than what's allowed on the rest of the site?

I actually have no problems with any of those, and see where they could start to go very bad which is why it seems nipped in the bud from the start.

A still image is one thing - for example, violence - of a female warrior battling a dragon - to then see it die would be the further of the animation. A still image gives you the "idea of" for sure - it's a little different to see it fully "explained".

Nudity could go right into soft-core or even hard core in just a second is another example.

Hard drive space I'm sure is limited, so if everyone treated it like YouTube and uploaded every video they made of them just talking about life and last weekend's party, Rendo can kiss their hard drive space goodbye. 100MB video vs a 400KB still - how many stills can you upload before hitting the 100MB ceiling?

Even YouTube has a single format used - an H.264 variant. When you upload a Quicktime or WMV, it has to go into a cue to be re-encoded which takes time, and goes another generation down in quality. If you upload EXACTLY what they will be streaming from their servers, it's going to look exactly as you encoded it on your machine - no surprises, and no waiting.

If they have a standard template for a 640x480 viewing box, then the 800x600 video uploaded will need to be resized as well - which will affect quality even further.

Do you want the Animation Gallery to be clogged with advertising - which is my main worry about my trailer(s). Do you wanna see the HDs get taken up with ads, or keep the room for your artwork, the animation it took you so long to learn how to rig and move, and finally light so it looks like something you can present to a possible client - "Check out my Gallery to see if what I do is what you're looking for."

Yes, these are just my random thoughts associated with the TOS I read as well - they made sense to me, which is why there is no gripe whatsoever, and it helps me figure out how to re-encode my videos for how they will be displayed.

Hope this helps-

-Lew
 

Quote - Hope this helps-

-Lew

Err... not really. Aside from your point on file sizes, the same arguments could be made for the rest of the site, and yet the galleries are, as they are. I'd say that if eliminating sex and violence are the goal, do it site wide, or not at all. Start with the marketplace, there's plenty of outfits for V4 sold there that would violate the site's own rules on thumbnail displays.

As for file sizes, if that's the concern then cut the allowable file size down, and allow the use of formats that take up less space (such as .divx).

As it stands now, I can make a small 400x400 12 frame animated .gif and put it in the regular galleries with the 512kb limit, but I can't post a .swf, which can allow for larger resolutions and length for the same file size. Most importantly, a .swf loops great, so you can a lot out of 30 to 60 frames instead of making a full length clip.

TOS issues aside, my frustration with the animation gallery as it stands stems from the fact that it does little to cater to short length, looping animated clips. An expansion in allowable file types (i.e. allowing .swf files), would go long way to rectifying the matter.

Okay, lemme tackle this from another angle - as far as the format and size issues.

My company just uploaded a video to blip.tv for viewing - click the banner below and you can find it/see it. It's free, and it's 16:40 long.

It HAD to be:
1 - 640x360
2 - in H.264 format ONLY with VERY specific parameters (not over x-amount-KB per second rate)
3 - keyframed no more than every 30 frames to save space and transfer speed
4 - under 1GB

That is their template viewing box - 640x360 - and yes it looks chunky when you blow it up to fullscreen.

H.264 is the ONLY format allowed as they will NOT transcode your files - they don't have an automated transcoding app like YouTube does which will MAKE it their viewing version.

1GB ceiling is to not go overboard with their servers, and also make a more manageable transfer size when YOU watch it on YOUR end - that's a lot of info to go through a PHONE LINE.

Why do I bring up a "phone line" when I myself have FIOS (the Pro version - man this setup is FAST!) and pretty much everyone I know has either FIOS or a version of cable?

The same reason we still design websites for 1024x768 max viewing even though some of us are on widescreen monitors showing 1600x1050 - there are people out there still using rabbit-ears :-)

If the viewing skin is 640x480 (the actual template your video is finally inserted into) then anything larger will crop, and anything smaller would be a smaller box inside black.

If you send in a .swf, or .mov or .mpg, etc., then they would have to transcode to their delivery format (.flv) before they can put it through their viewer. If there isn't an automated system for that...

Unlike still images, video "transmission" needs to be format specific - it costs a LOT more money to have multiple format capabilities, and even then they change here and there so one day the format you've been uploading and viewing just fine has an updated codec - doesn't work anymore with their transmission system.

There's 2 methods - have the "player" yourself (which is what Rendo and YoutTube, etc. does) or merely host the file and hope for the best - like TheForce.net and their fanfilms. ver "Save As..." and can't play it - it's a version of DivX but some variant you don't have the codec for and won't play? A couple of the animations in the Halloween Contest I wasn't able to play - couldn't find the codec, so I had to rely on the still for voting on it.

Example: Most TV stations that went digital transcode everything into a version of Mpeg4 for transmission - which is what you finally see. Shot on DV, HD, HDV, DVCHDPro, BetaCam, Cell Phone, etc. - doesn't matter. They have people who transcode ALL their footage for braodcast into Mpeg4.

And as far as the TOS content? The blunt version is that this is a privately owned site and they can make whatever rules they want. - as part of TOS they could say "no videos with the color yellow will be accepted."

If you have a fantastic action sequence you wanna show off, and it said "No Violence" well then just send it to YouTube or Vimeo. There are other avenues for whatever you wanna show.

One method I often see at CGTalk is to have a still from the animation/video, and a link below in the description sending you elsewhere to see the clip. This you canjust put in the stills galleries.

Hope this helps-

-Lew

Holy-moly that was a novel - sorry dude...

Some valid points, and you're right, it's their site and can do what they want.

So far though I don't think the powers that be around here have chimed on just what the rationale is for why things are as they are.

If the goal is to encourage use of the animation gallery, in my opinion that can only be hindered by having a double standard with regard to the TOS. As for format issues, as you mentioned money and programming headaches can be a limiting factor.

As for myself, the animations I make are usually small looping 24-48 frame poser animations. Much smaller than 100 mb, but usually too large to fit under the 500kb limit in the normal gallery when in the animated .gif format. For looping, animated gifs and .swf files run the smoothest, as no external video player I've seen loops without a bit of a pause. Swf file are also smaller than .gif files with higher quality/resolutions.

For my purposes, increasing the regular gallery limits to 2 megs or so (to allow larger .gifs) or allowing .swf files would work best. That's not to say that's what the site could or should do, but I would submit that there's a whole genre of animations (the short, looping variety) that is not well served by the site currently.

they actually allow swf files in posts here, but I suspect one reason they don't encourage it is that the coding is tricky and constitutes a form of hacking.  it may make life difficult for their techs.  obviously this is not something they wish to dwell upon.