Looking for someone who can give me information on the following: 1. Specifications on animations (size, frames per second, etc) 2. Can anyone recommend software that allows me to burn DVD's of my animations that actually work? 3. Can anyone point me in the direction of a company that can get my animation TV ready after it is finished on my PC? Thank you in advance for any help....

For size, I would recommend 720 X 553. This is DVD quality and it's the aspect ratio for a TV screen (1.33). Animation software you push this through will stretch and maul it but in the end, it will come out correct if you start at the right place. U.S. TV is transmitted at 29.9something frames per second so I do 30 and it seems to work. I use Ulead studio and it works pretty well. I burn CD's using NERO. If I had a DVD-R burner, it will work (so it says). Hope this helps. -Kix

-Kix

I render my animations at 640 x 480; this is standard NTSC equivalent for square pixels. If you're using DV, Mini DV or Digital-8, they employ a rectangular pixel and things can get a bit confusing. Fortunately, Adobe Premiere is pretty much idiot-proof (and being something of an idiot, myself, I've certainly tested that theory), and will convert square and rectangular pixels without a second thought. My home system has fire-wire and all that, so it's a breeze to get my animations out to Digital-8 for viewing on a standard TV. (I've actually produced a television spot completely on my laptop using the Digital-8 as the NTSC converter.) My system at work is a Media 100, so it's geard for video in and out. (And for the M-100, it prefers 640X480.) As for frame rate, I render mine at 30 FPS. Standard NTSC frame rate is 29.97 FPS, but, again, Premiere, AfterEffects, Ulead Studio, all of those will convert your 30 FPS to 29.97 for video work. If you're looking for a service to take your animation files on a DVD-R and convert them to tape for you, that shouldn't be hard to find at all; I'd just look for a company that has a non-linear editing system advertised. They should have no problem converting AVI's or Quicktimes to regular old fashioned video tape. (But you can do it yourself if you have the gear.) You might check out www.vcdhelp.com for more information about converting stuff to DVD and VCD. Hope this helps.

If it's any help the Avid Media Composer (1000, 9000, symphony) all want 720x486. What you will want to do is find out the correct Codec for what you want to sell. Every edit system has a different standard. Notice that AzChip and I both work @ different places and we both have different standards...you will find the same anywhere...even each TV station in your town has different standards. If you can render with the correct codec in the correct format (avi,quicktime) you can save your client hours in importing....a 720x540 .psd seq thats 30sec takes 45min for my avid to import...where as the same sequence with the avid codec only takes 45sec to import. For instance if we wanted an animation for you for our Sonic DVD authoring station it would have to be 720x480...I have no ideal why even a piece of video can't be standardized :) Long and Short: Every place is different and will have alternatives for you...

Excellent comment brenthomer! -Kix

-Kix

Great Suggestions. If you own a Mac there are a couple of methods for putting them on DVD. You can do it the manual method of encoding to Mpeg2 and creating the proper structure/menus for DVD, them burn with Toast and a DVD-R drive. Or you can do it the easy way. If you have a G4 with AGP you can buy a Pioneer DVR-A03 Drive (About $300) This is the same drive Apple touts as there Superdrive. You can then spend $20 on iDVD and bammo, your own DVD. If you are in the market for a new Mac, do yourself a flavor and buy one with a superDrive included. If you have a Firewire DVD-R, then you need Apples DVD Studio Pro ($999). Too much for me, but hey you can create pro level DVD's and interaction with it., Regards, Paul