ANIMATE CC: how to save files for w/o pixelation loss

[kevinp7031699]

Hello Animate user community,

Can someone please take a moment to answer the below two questions:

I’m working on my first animation short project for festival submission. I’m currently having trouble creating and saving the files with the correct settings in Illustrator to Import into Animate CC.

I need to know what are the correct step-by-step settings I’m suppose  to use to ensure vector clear quality plays back. I’ll be converting my finished Animate CC files  it into a digital file for festival submission.?

This is really stressing me out, so if anyone can resolve this, i’d appreciate it!~

Thanks in advance!

Kevin.

[Joseph Labrecque]

Hi. Can you clarify the question? Not entirely sure what is being asked.

[kevinp7031699]

Hi Joseph,

Thanks so much for responding!

1. I created a vector-based background drawing of a city skyline in Illustrator CS5.

  style="font-size:12px;font-family:Helvetica;color:rgb(69, 69, 69)"

PROBLEM: When I played it back to view, I noticed the zoom in was jerky, and there was some strobing movement on some lines.

I was told to convert the file into a bitmap file then try importing it again into AnimateCC. This time, it played back fine, but I noticed when I enlarge the image onscreen, I start to noticed some pixelation  the more I enlarge the file on my computer screen. I then tried saving the bitmap file at 1,200 resolution (which appears to have resolved the pixelation problem, but I have no idea if doing this one, makes the file size too large to save.

Please note, I must convert my finished project into a digital file for animation film festival submission, but I’m afraid when the digital file is projected on the big screen it will look pixelated, blurry, or both.

I hope this clarifies my questions.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Thanks so much for any assistance you can provide.

Sincerely,

Kevin 

[Joseph Labrecque]

I don't think it would necessarily be too large to save. Animate can handle some pretty large files. Is the final output a video file? If so, then I say bigger is always better.

[kevinp7031699]

Hi Joseph,

The final output for my project will be an Apple ProRes 422 digital file  at 1920 x 1080 resolution (shorthand 1080p). Saved as a .mov file. I was told this is most popular for festival digital file submissions.

[Colin Holgate · Accepted solution]

Here are some things that should improve quality:

Make sure you're animating in an ActionScript 3 FLA and not an HTML5 one.

In the Actions panel for frame 1, add this code:

stage.quality = "16x16";

Leave everything that is vector as vector.

Make all bitmaps in the library be Lossless and Allow Smoothing. You can select them all in one go and click the i button in the library, to change them all.

If you're using sound, only import WAV, 44.1 kHz, 16 bit (mono or stereo). In Publish Settings set event and stream audio to Raw, 44.1 kHz, 16 bit (mono or stereo).

When you do a File/Export/Export Video... you will get an Animation codec MOV. That's better quality than ProRes 422, though it is a different colorspace.

Not everyone has Apple ProRes. Although there's a good chance a competition for video entries would have, you might want to make an H.264 MP4 version, in case they don't have ProRes or don't have QuickTime.

You could use Adobe Media Encoder with the highest quality H.264 setting you can find (if you do it manually, try 20 megabits per second, the video may not need that much, so if it comes in less that's probably ok).

If you're using Mac, try opening the MOV from Animate in QuickTIme Player, and use its File/Export As/1080p. It uses GPU to do the H.264 encoding, and is quite fast. It's likely to come out at around 10 mbps, so do still try a test with media encoder.

[kevinp7031699]

O.K. I still have a ways to go with my project, but will use your recommendations as I go along.

Thank you so much Joseph for taking the time to answer my questions.

Your'e the best!

Kevin

[ClayUUID]

kevinp7031699  wrote

Thank you so much Joseph for taking the time to answer my questions.

Look again.

[Colin Holgate]

Thanks for that. Joseph did say the first couple of useful things.

[Joseph Labrecque]

Colin!