AE graphics look pixelated in anamorphic Premiere Pro timeline

[Dean29998137m1b2]

I'm working on an edit that is in an anamorphic aspect ratio 2:1, and I have graphics from AE dynamically linked on the timeline. The graphics look jagged and pixelated in Premiere, even when I render them out of After Effects and drop them in that way. 

I've matched the sequence settings and it still seems to be pixelated. I've also tried interpreting the linked comp, trying the different field orders and pixel aspect ratios with no success. 

System specs are Windows 11, 11th Gen i9-11900K, Nvidia RTX A5000 and 64GB RAM.

I've attached screenshots of the sequence and composition settings.

[Sumeet Kumar Choubey]

Hi Dean29998137m1b2,

Sorry to hear about this. We can get this checked. Please share a screenshot of the glitched preview that you are getting in Premiere Pro. Let us know the type of NVIDIA driver (Studio driver/Game Ready driver) that you have installed & its version number.

Thanks,

Sumeet

[Dean29998137m1b2]

Hi Sumeet,

No problem, my driver version is Nvidia RTX/Quadro Desktop and Notebook Driver Release 555 Version 555.99.

And below is the screenshoot of the issue, the playback and pause resolutions are all set to full. 

[IanB_360]

Hi Dean29998137m1b2

I see you have some concerns with your lower third graphics coming across in Premiere Pro as pixelated. Just to help me better guide you on this could you tell me a few things about your After Effects comps you are building that are dynamically linked?

For instance are you using the Type tool to create the text yourself in After Effects? And also the shape tool to give them a back drop? Or are you importing Vector art from another program such as Adobe Illustrator?

 If you are using the type tool and shape tool then you can be assured those are vector layers and they will automatically continuously rasterized as vector layers do in After Effects. This ensures you are getting the highest quality as long as your viewer resolution is set to full and 100% in After Effects. If this is how you are Dynamically linking to the graphics then you can ignore the next paragraph which describes how to take outside art and make sure it is interpreting as a vector layer in After Effects. 

 If you are importing an image that was vector art created in another program like Illustrator then After Effects will rasterize that and not treat it as a true vector layer unless you do two things. In the columns panel you will see a  little star icon that when checked on says Continuously Rasterize make sure that is on. Also  make sure the Quality Sampling column is checked to be a smooth straight line. That will make sure the art or file is being treated as a vector layer in After Effects.

 Once you are back in Premiere Pro your graphics will no longer be treated as a vector layer. Premiere will automatically rasterize the images and treat it as video as oppose to a vector layer , hence them appearing more pixelated when you zoom in to extreme levels like 500%, or as your screen shot shows a very close up of your graphic. The best way to combat this is to make a larger composition file in After effects than you are using in Premiere. So for example if you are editing in 1920x1080 you can scale your graphic comp up in After Effects at a larger resolution like 3840x2160. Once you scale the graphic in Premiere it will be treated as a video file and not vector art. So your graphics will always seem like they are more pixelated in Premiere than they do in programs that work with vector layers like After Effects does.

Another option is to make simple lower thirds or graphics in Premiere with the type tool. The type tool when used directly in Premiere does act somewhat like a vector layer and you can go to the effects controls panel with your text clip selected and see a Graphics drop down menu. Once you click the arrow down where it says Vector Motion you can scale it up or down here instead of the video scaling option. But that only works on titles made inside Premiere itself. 

 I hope this helps out some with your issue. If you want you can also send over a file you are exporting out from AE and we can look at that file. Feel free to send a screengrab of the AE comp itself and the columns so we can be sure it is being treated as a vector layer before it gets to Premiere. 

[MyerPj]

I like working the way you are doing with AE, and Ian gave you good advice. But are the AE graphics much more complicated than the screenshot you provided. If not, I would also suggest you try creating them in PP. The graphics in PP has improved alot, especially lately, so you might want to give that a look also.

[Kevin-Monahan]

Hi @Dean29998137m1b2,

Have you tried anything our team or experts have suggested? Let us know. I hope we can assist you with this problem. Sorry for the frustration.

Thanks,
Kevin

[Kevin-Monahan]

Hi @Dean29998137m1b2,

Have you tried anything our team or experts have suggested? Let us know. I hope we can assist you with this problem. Sorry for the frustration.

Thanks,
Kevin

[Dean29998137m1b2]

Hi Ian, 

Thanks a lot for your response.

To answer your question as to whay is being dynamically linked, in this particular instance, it's an AE comp that is using only the type and shape tools. I have however, double checked that the Continously Rasterize button is selected and the Quality Sampling is set to a straight line. 

I also doubled the resolution in the composition settings and scaled  the graphic up in size to see if that made a difference, with no luck unfortunately. 

You also mentioned using the type tool in Premiere if the animation is simple, however, it's not, and starts as an acronym, and then unfurls nicely into the full graphic you saw in the screenshot. So AE is the best option, and the animation was  made by one of our animators separately to my work in the edit. 

I'm convinced it has something to do with how Premiere is interpreting the pixels in the AE comp. I'm rendering the output using the following settings, which most media players seem to desqueeze natively: 

[IanB_360]

From the screen grabs provided it appears that the workflow is sound. I am looking into a few other details to be sure I am not forgetting something and I will let you know if I do think of anything else.

One other option if you are not limited to the file type you have to send out:

If the file you are exporting out of Premiere is an H264 or Mp4, then yes you are correct it's the compression out that is pixelating that graphic. If you want to see a better result in your graphics that are married to picture, what I typically do is export out an ApplePro Res 4444.

 It should improve the quality of the graphic tremendously, I know that also makes for larger file size but if you want to just do a test export of that segment and see how the lower third looks after that it could at least tell you it's not some tiny check mark box that was missed or a workflow issue. 

[IanB_360]

Hi Dean29998137m1b2,

were you able to try exporting out an Apple Pro Res 4444 with an Alpha channel from the After Effects project to see if the graphic improves in quality once in your Premiere project? Or export out an Apple Pro Res 4444 of the Premiere project with the graphic already in it and comparing the quality to what you were seeing before? 

[Dean29998137m1b2]

Thanks for the suggestion, I have tried exporting the ApplePro Res 4444 and it definitely seems to have improved the appearance of the aliasing, but there's certainly still some aliasing happening: 

What I may do, is export the masters in Pro Res 4444 and then compress them for delivery, as small file sizes are important with the client as they are hosted on a size restrictive platform. Hopefully the compression doessn't ruin the softening of the edges that Pro Res has done. 

[IanB_360]

That is typically the same process I do for all my projects that I need better quality graphics embedded into final video. I do understand the pain and time it takes to implement workarounds for something that should be easier. It appears that this at the time is not a bug in the software of Premiere but rather a limitation that we may be able to improve for future versions. I will be bringing it to the teams attention to see how we could better improve graphics output. Thank you for your patience on this matter , I will be available if you have any further questions and best of luck with your current project Dean29998137m1b2