Is there a way to set resolution to percentage

Report · Oct 12, 2022

Sometimes you just get a mix of footage. Then I want to make proxies.

My footage is:

8192x4320

3840x2160

4208x3160 with pixel aspect of 2.0

4096x2160

....Well, you get the idea. There are several aspect ratios that end up in a project. I'd Like to create all of the proxies somewhere around the 1280x720 size. But right now I need to create an ingest preset for every single aspect ratio I've got? No, Adobe wouldn't be so dumb as to not give us the option to have the proxies match the aspect ratio so that they aren't stretched would they? Because that's what happens if you just use the default. I'm also trying to share proxies online, so I'm stuck with H.264 and I'm lowering the target rate to 10 Mbps. I found that was a good balance of size when sharing proxies over oneDrive, but still giving you something Relatively tolerable if you need to render out a preview and don't have the footage.

Is there a trick to making presets that will resize and keep the aspect ratio of the original? I'd be happy enough with percentage, but would probably prefer to fit within a width, height, or both. I wasn't sure if there was some way to open up the settings and just change the text or something. Like in WebM, there are options that they don't show you, and they just give a notes section where you can type additional features that don't fit in to the export settings Adobe limits us to.

Report · Oct 13, 2022

If you create the proxies in After Effects by adding each clip to a Composition (right-click > New Composition...) and then adding the Compositions to the Render Queue, you can change the "Resolution" in the "Best Settings" Render Settings Template from Full to Half, Third, or Quarter.

After Effects "Best Settings" Render Settings with the Resolution pop-up menu set to "Quarter".

The result is a 50%, 33%, or 25% frame size for the rendered file.

The modified Render Settings Template can be saved and applied quickly to multiple items in the Render Queue or set as the default Render Settings Template.

If using the After Effects public beta (version 23), you can use the H264 Output Module Template.

You'll want to be sure to append "_proxy" to the Output To filename. A custom Output To template can be created to quickly apply this as well.

If using a current version of Ater Effects (18 or 22) you'll have to use ProRes 422 Proxy.

However, Premiere Pro's Proxy Workflow requires that parameters such as fielding, frame rate, duration, and audio channels of the Proxy movie match those of the Full Resolution movie. After Effects exports stereo. If taking this approach, be sure to test it.

Also, ProRes 422 Proxy is a better format for Proxy use than H264 despite (or because of) it's larger file size by comparison.

Report · Oct 14, 2022

Well, as stated, the reason for using H264 is size. We are sharing proxies, and everything else about the project other than full footage, via cloud storage. In order to use ProRes 422 Proxy and get it anywhere near the same size, since the only way to control bitrate with that format is to adjust the size, is to cut the scale by 40%. Since I was already cutting the scale down to 1364x720 (for 17:9 size), that brings me down to roughly 720x380 to be comparable in size. But it doesn't look comparable till it's the same size, but the proxy format is nearly double (183%) in filesize. At this size, btw, I'm using a bitrate of approximately 10Mbps and using 10bit for H.264. Proxy is either 8bit or 16bit.

I also wasn't aware of the Premiere Proxy workflow requiring parameters to match. That's a Huge pain in the butt, because if your footage has an odd audio format, or No audio, then unless you make your own proxy format for that footage, it won't work. The funny thing is though, it does work....Once. Premiere will send the footage over to AME, render it, and bring it back as the proxy file. But if the path changes, it won't let you choose it as a proxy file.

I'm primarily working out of Premiere at the moment, but quickly figured out, if you have more than a few pieces of footage to make proxies for, Premiere is the place to do it. AE is Much slower, and you have to do one at a time. In Premiere I can select 100 files at once and send to make proxies. Then you just copy the footage and paste it into the AE bin and it comes over with the proxies defined. Of course, a few things break if you go back and forth, like Lumetri color Luts paths don't work so you have to repath them all.

Thanks for letting me know that AE has a way to just cut the resolution sizes by fractions. It's just too bad that AME doesn't have that because AE is MUCH slower at rendering. I'm not sure the differences in how they render, but its a shame I can't just check a box and tell AE to make whatever sacrifices premiere is making to render more quickly for previews. Something like a title block should render in real-time or faster for previews, but every time a title block, or other AE file comes up, things just Drag.

Are there some good points as why ProRes 422 Proxy is so much better than H.264? The things I've seen is, better color, and less CPU intensive. But since I'm shoving the resolution down to something close to 720x1280, it seems like even if CPU usage doubled, going from 5% to 10% of a single thread CPU usage would hardly be a concern, right?