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Hi
I am making a simple logo animation. The files I'm using are ai. vector files which I have imported into After Effects. I am using Full render and preview quality and the vectors are slightly pixelated. Unsure if this is due to After effects compressing things though. This image is a screenshot in AE:
Then when I export it the quality is lost even more and the end video is very pixelated. I usually use h.264 but have been trying prores also
My comp settings are
1400 x 450. (its for a web banner)
fps 25
Square Pixels
I am exporting in Encoder
When I export settings are
h.264
Preset: Custom
VBR-2 (both at 14, the max amount)
Max render is ticked
This screenshot is after export:
As you can see the quality is pixelated and the colours are different
Does anyone know what I can do? been on forums and trying different things all day!
Thanks!
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Do you have continually rasterize for the layer turned on? That Sun looking icon in the layer between shy guy and the quality setting. If not, try turning that on. That should ensure the vector file renders cleanly.
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Continuously Rasterize, read jenkmeister answer.
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hi yeh sadly I've already got this on
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I have just recreated everything as shape layers and in an older version of AE to see if that's it but the video is still pixelated. I think it's happening in the export maybe. The colours are fading too, which I can't have happening as brand colours for the logo obviously need to be the same
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show us the export settings with a screen capture.
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H264 video does not maintain your vectors as they are converted to pixels. I've seen that you are targeting your bitrate between 10 and 12Mbps, maybe too low for this kind of video. Try to change VBR to CBR and/or bitrate to at least 20mbps.
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Oh really ok. I didnt know that about h.264. Is their a better codec I could use?
I will try CBR also thanks
I did try using higher bitrates on some tests but no change, but this was with VBR
Thanks for your help
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Sure, there are better codecs than H264 but it depends what is the destination for this video. If you want a high quality codec then use Animation, Prores 422HQ, Prores4444 or Uncompressed in a Quicktime file. But this format will not be suitable for, for example, web or mobile device playback.
Also, you can do a couple of things before exporting. The first one is configuring your AE project to 16bpc (you can change this in the bottom of the project window). Also, you can check the Use Maximum Render Quality option in Adobe Media Encoder, located in the bottom right of your AME interface.
VBR is a more efficient profile encoding than CBR but sometimes can create some artifacts (degradation) when the analysis for the 2 passes establishes that there are no movement in the image. CBR maintains a constant bitrate for every single frame.
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I have tried all of these codecs and they had the same outcome. Also the destination is for web and I also need it in mp4 not mov.
I also ticked the maximum render quality (sorry I know its not ticked in the screenshot)
Ill try the 16bpc,although i think again i have tried this
Hopefully CBR is the one
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What size is your original composition in After Effects?
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I have made one in 1920x1080 and one 1400 x 450
Thinking it was the scaling though I recreated the shapes etc for the new web size
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So it turns out the video size was just too small, Ive scaled up on the same ratio to 2100 x 675 and it is much better quality
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For colour I turned Image P3 on in project settings and colours seems to be matching better also
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Did you tried making your logo like a Shape in a shape layer into After Effects? I thing you can do that with the Pen Tool because your logo is not very difficult to illustrate.