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MrMark1960
Inspiring
February 23, 2022
Answered

How to improve export quality?

  • February 23, 2022
  • 1 reply
  • 2411 views

Hi,

I occasionally create video bumpers and lower thirds, export them from AE, and then hand them off to our videographer who places them into his videos in Premiere Pro for YouTube.

 

I’m just a novice, self-taught AE user and have not been happy with the quality of the final output.

The image quality looks good in AE, but seems to lose some sharpness and detail after I export, then looks even worse when viewed in YouTube.

(The bumper quality looks bad, but the video looks fine, so it’s not just a YouTube compression thing or the entire video would look equally bad, right?)

 I’m probably doing something(s) wrong, so I would appreciate any advice to help improve.

 

Here’s my setup.

 

After Effects 22.1.1

Media Encoder 22.1.1

 

Comp Settings:

1920x1080

59.94 fps

 

Export > Add to Media Encoder Render Queue

H.264

Match Source

High Bitrate

VBR, 2 pass

Target Bitrate (Mbps): 10

Max Bitrate (Mbps): 12

Render at Max Depth

Performance: Software Encoding

HDR Graphics White (Nits): 100 (63% HLG, 51% PQ)

Use Maximum Render Quality

 

Lumetri Look/LUT: QT Gamma Compensation.cube

 

Thanks

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer R Neil Haugen

I wondered if the Bitrate was set too low, didn't know if I needed to keep the file size down. I'd much rather sacrific size than quality.

I've been using the LUT because my colors were coming out lighter, washed out when I exported, but the gamma compensation LUT fixed that.

I'll trying buming up the bitrate first as see how that does.

This is probably impossible to answer without knowing the details, but are there settings I should suggest to the videographer to help improve the quality when he exports from Premiere Pro (which I know nearly nothing about). Again, these mostly are for YouTube uploads.

Thanks


For producing that media for use in another project in Premiere, definitely keep the quality up. Don't worry so much about file size ... get that bitrate up. Probably the one best thing you can do to help with the quality of their YouTube uploads.

 

As to the gamma comp LUT ... that's a different question. Because what that does may "fix" it so it's not too bright on your machine outside of Premiere ... but it bakes into the file a darker, more saturated image than the actual Rec.709 image should be. So when viewed on a non-Mac screen, it will likely be too dark. May easily have crushed blacks ... and there's no recovery possible, the data's not there.

 

There isn't an easy fix ... not really a fix at all ... for the unfortunate decision of Apple to mangle video color management in ColorSync.

 

But then ... it does that to everything you view on that computer from YouTube to whatever ... have you ever thought about the fact that no file you see is shown to you like the colorist saw it when grading? Probably not ... you're used to what media looks like on that screen.

 

Neil

1 reply

nishu_kush
Community Manager
nishu_kushCommunity Manager
Community Manager
February 24, 2022

That's doesn't sound ideal, MrMark1960. Sorry for your issue and thanks for the details.

Would you mind sharing a screenshot of the composition settings and export settings? Also, screenshot of the preview of the footage in After Effects and in media player or YouTube so that we can compare.

What happens when you export using After Effects Redner Queue instead of Media Encoder?

Let us know, we're here to help.

 

Thanks,

Nishu

R Neil Haugen
R Neil Haugen
Braniac
February 25, 2022

My first comment would be your bitrate seems low for me for a 'master' quality for the other user to place in their sequence, then re-export. I would think that something over 25 would be better for a 1080 export.

 

I would also not include the gamma compensation LUT at this point. Just letting the end user decide what they need.

 

Neil

M
MrMark1960Author
Inspiring
February 25, 2022

I wondered if the Bitrate was set too low, didn't know if I needed to keep the file size down. I'd much rather sacrific size than quality.

I've been using the LUT because my colors were coming out lighter, washed out when I exported, but the gamma compensation LUT fixed that.

I'll trying buming up the bitrate first as see how that does.

This is probably impossible to answer without knowing the details, but are there settings I should suggest to the videographer to help improve the quality when he exports from Premiere Pro (which I know nearly nothing about). Again, these mostly are for YouTube uploads.

Thanks

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