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von Jes
von Jes
Participant
September 4, 2020
Answered

Can I export other than 72 dpi movie from AE ?

Hi

 

I am supposed to deliver an mp4 movie-composition in 96 DPI resolution for mega screen – can I alter the output DPI for movies in AE render-queue ???

 

 

Best, Jes

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Martin_Ritter
Martin_RitterCorrect answer
Legend
September 4, 2020

Video in general doesn't know DPI. Video is always rasterized and the size of a pixel depends on the hardware only.

On large screens (public viewing), usual the pixels are very large, too. A higher DPI doesn't make any sense for this, even if it would be possible to set it up. *Martin

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12 replies

Jaydude-wb
Inspiring
December 7, 2020

Martin' explanation is correct - but...

I like to use After Effects for batch output of images.

And since many systems use high resolution displays today, it would be nice to add a spatial resolution number to the output images. E.g. When working for a mailing, Outlook likes to have images with 96dpi. These are displayed better than the same image (with the same amount of pixels), saved as 72 dpi. 

So, it would be a nice extra when Ae could add a 'resolution' to image sequences, since some other apps use this number to decide how to display it. The 'resolution' is a part of the metadata of an image: A print analogy: Photoshop adds the spatial resolutio to its images as well, while InDesign can scale the images to whatever size (which make it hi or lo res in the end product. When checking for output, InDesign can warn for low resolution, because the intended resolution was enclose in the image file).

 

The same may apply for future applications of old low res movies next to new high res images and movies.

 

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Community Expert
Rick GerardCommunity Expert
Community Expert
December 7, 2020

There are no inches in webpages, emails, any HTML, any GIF image, or in video. Pixels per inch only makes any difference in the output of an image when it is printed are used in an application designed to print things.

 

Low resolution images have few pixels. High resolution images have lots of pixels. The resolving power power of any printing device depends on the number of dots, not pixels, that device can print on a piece of paper.

 

Take another look at the two images I posted earlier. Download them, put them in an email, try to print them and you will see they are both exactly the same resolution and the same size unless you put them in an application that is designed to print things on paper or some other medium.

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Jaydude-wb
Inspiring
December 7, 2020

I know about all this, dear Rick. But today,  some applications (like Outlook) prefer 96dpi, can't help it.

 

Images output by Ae have a 72dpi tag, as you can verify in Phtotoshop. What I am asking for, is to be able to change that to e.g 96dpi, or whatever. Again, I know the number of pixels stays the same, but some applications interpret the images different.  

 

And when using Ae as an image manipulation tool, as explained, other values for the dpi metadata are welcome.

E.g. InDesign uses that value to base its previews and preflight on.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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von Jes
von JesAuthor
Participant
September 6, 2020

Thanks a lot guys! Very helpful. I must admit, it's the first time I supplied with this kind of odd pixel information from an outdoor media vendor. Thanks again for clarifying 🙂

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Mylenium
Mylenium
Legend
September 4, 2020

As the others already said, it's utterly irrelevant for video. Video runs in absolute pixels.

 

Mylenium

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    Community Expert
    Rick GerardCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    September 4, 2020

    I will try and make this simple. High-resolution images have a lot of pixels. The more pixels, the more data, the more data, the higher the resolution. Unfortunately, even people that teach in universities don't make this clear and use the wrong terms. Video, the web, mobile devices, all electronic devices that are capable of displaying images use pixels. You want high resolution, you supply more pixels. Here's a fun test that you can run. Download both of these images. They are exactly the same resolution - the same size. Drop them both in an app designed to print images like Word or In Design. One of them will be hard to see, the other will more than fill a page. The PPI metadata in an image file just tells the printer or the page layout program, how many pixels to print on an inch of paper.

    I hope this helps you figure things out. There is no video standard that includes pixels per inch. 

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      Roei Tzoref
      Roei Tzoref
      Legend
      September 4, 2020

      There's no such settings. After effects only knows pixels. No ppi or dpi, only resolution. 

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        Martin_Ritter
        Martin_RitterCorrect answer
        Legend
        September 4, 2020

        Video in general doesn't know DPI. Video is always rasterized and the size of a pixel depends on the hardware only.

        On large screens (public viewing), usual the pixels are very large, too. A higher DPI doesn't make any sense for this, even if it would be possible to set it up. *Martin

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