Can't export in 4:3 aspect ratio

[Grace5E25]

Hi there,

I'm working in Animator and I need my project to have a 4:3 aspect ratio. The canvas size is 1,440px by 1,080 px, and I'd like to export it as either a .mov or a .mp4. However, whenever I export, it always converts to 16:9 (1,920px by 1,080px), and my animation stretches. I tried making a custom setting in Media Encoder, and it did the proper aspect ratio, but kept the stretching and added the black frames. I'm getting really frustrated and need some help. If anyone can offer a solution, that would be fantastic.

[kglad]

in ame, right click the temp mov > click reveal source file > move and rename that temp file.  it should have your 4:3 aspect ratio.

[ClayUUID]

Are you saying you want to just chop off the sides of your animation?

[Warren Heaton]

Are you using a H264 preset with "Match Source" in the name?  That should match your Animate Stage width and height.

[kglad]

it doesn't.

[Warren Heaton]

Yeah... this is one big and ugly bug.

It is incorrectly getting flagged with a pixel aspect ratio (PAR) of 1.33 and to make matters worse it incorrectly letterboxes the Stage if you override it in Adobe Media Encoder (AME).

QuickTime Default which exports directly rather than using AME looked like it was going to work, but while the resulting movie appears to be 4-by-3 PAR 1.0 it still behaves like 4-by-3 PAR 1.33.  

This is a small nightmare for sure.

I was able to get to the expected results (a 4-by3 Full Frame PAR 1.0 MP4) by creating an interim file and then sending that to AME via an After Effects (AE) Composition.  I went with QuickTime Apple ProRes 422 LT (a good choice as it'll look great and not take up too much drive space), imported that into After Effects, created a New Comp from that source, changed the Composition Settings to Square Pixel, scaled the Layer Source to Fit the Comp Width (command option F, Mac), and then sent that to AME using H264 Match Source.  The correct AE PAR of 1.0 overrides the incorrect Animate PAR of 1.33. 

Phew!

[Warren Heaton]

What also seems to work:

• Use File > Export > Movie to export a SWF.  Import the resulting SWF into an AE project, create Comp and send that to AME.
• Import the FLA into an After Effects project and send that to AME.

Unfortunately, AME does not accept FLA nor SWF directly.

[kglad]

the wav is in the correct aspect ratio. again,

in ame, right click the temp mov > click reveal source file > move and rename that temp file.  it should have your 4:3 aspect ratio.

[ClayUUID]

Seems like it would have been a lot simpler to just change the FLA document setting to the resolution you want, then exporting.

[Warren Heaton]

If you mean just set the Stage to 4 x 3 and then export, that's the problem. It's getting flagged as anamorphic and causing an incorrect output.

Try it.

[ClayUUID]

I see, so there are at least two bugs here. QuickTime tagging videos of this resolution as the wrong aspect ratio, and AME failing to perform Stretch to Fit scaling correctly.

[Warren Heaton]

Yes, it's the wrong pixel aspect ratio being flagged, but it's not QuickTime doing it.  While the QuickTime movie file format is still around, QuickTime as a system driver for time-based media was purged from all Adobe applications several versions ago.  On the Mac side, AV Foundation Frameworks replaced QuickTime as a system driver back in 2013 and as of macOS 10.15 Catalina and macOS 11 Big Sure QT is gone.   (Sadly, actually.  A lot of functionality has been lost.)  As best as I can tell, this is happening with any movie format from Animate, not just QuickTime movies.

And yes, AME is not allowing the user to override the PAR.

[Warren Heaton]

I have submitted the following bug report:

Title:  1440-by-1080 Stage size incorrectly flagged as 1.33 PAR

Steps to Reproduce the Problem:1. Open sample file Bicycle
2. Change the Document size from 1920-by-1080 to 1440-by-1080.
3. Use File > Export > Video>Media....
4. Set Format to H264 Preset Default (AME) or to QuickTime Preset Default (Animate) or anything.

Results: A resulting MP4 is 1440-by-1080 PAR 1.33. Attempting to override the PAR setting in Adobe Media Encoder results in an incorrect letterbox stretched 16-by-9 inside of 4-by-3. A QuickTime Default displays correctly in QuickTime Player but does not transcode in AME (the incorrect PAR flag remains).

Expected results: Resulting movie file should be 1440-by-1080 PAR 1.0 Square Pixel.

Kglad, these get a little more attention if more than one person submits them.  You could do so as well at the following URL:

https://www.adobe.com/products/wishform.html

Add your own information or copy and paste what I wrote.

-Warren

[n. tilcheff]

Hi Grace,

Just export a PNG sequence and WAV separately and then render the video in Premiere as described here:

https://community.adobe.com/t5/animate/export-issue-stops-mid-export/td-p/10424361?page=1

Or even easier, if you don't use the camera or any of the newer 'Advanced layer' features, publish a SWF with RAW audio and use Swivel to get your MP4.

[Ibo Vis]

I am having the same problem. Exporting my 4:3 animation results in a stretched 16:9 mp4 no matter the settings in Adobe Media Encoder (AME). I tried changing the video settings to match the resolution and tried changing to a custom aspect ratio in (AME) before encoding. Does not work. I notice that AME keeps changing back thecustom aspect ratio to HD Anamorphic 1080 (1.333) as soon I close the window. Also messing with the source scaling options does not work. ADOBE please fix this issue! I am sick and tired of this BS.