URGENT creating animation clip...

[the_shyguy]

hiya ppl... i am creating an animation with 3ds max 6 and i was told it was better to save each frame as a targa or tiff file and then use a video editing program to convert to an avi (rather then having to go through rendering each frame agian if it dont come out right)... so what program could i use for this? what would produce the best result as this is for my portfolio..?

and is codecs an issue for compression... which codec would be best?

[guns1inger]

Yes, tga stills is the better option for three reasons. The first, you can pick up the render from where it stops should anything go wrong, or simply rerender a small part should you need to. Second, you can render alpha channels more easily for compositing with live footage later. Third, no compression early on, to allow for better results when editing, compositing etc.

Any decent editor will allow you to do this. Premiere Pro, Vegas, Video Studio Pro will all do this quite happily. You could also consider After Effects or Combustion, especially if you editing needs are minimal. You can even use max 6 to do after rendering using videopost.

Finally, codec is entirelt dependent on what you want to do with the video once your finished. If it is for DVD, then mpeg-2, if it is for the web, wmv or divx/xvid would seem appropriate.

[the_shyguy]

okay cool... i need to get this done by tomorrow, but i need it to look quality... i have my 3d stuff finished so its really just putting it into an animation that i need to do... i dont need to muck around with editing... just stick my frames together and have it look clean and sharp.

is there a free video editor that will do this? and then how (guide/tutorial)?

which will be better out of tiff or tga? or is there no diff?

i am just using this to put up on my portfolio site for clients to look at... so i just want to use the codec that will give the best result...

cheers for the help...

[the_shyguy]

im in a real rush to get this finished! does anyone have any answers please?

[junkmalle]

VirtualDub is free, can read numbered sequences of TGA files, and create AVI animations with your choice of codec.

1) Start VirtualDub.

2) File -> Open Video File. Select first TGA file. The program will read the rest of the files of a numbered sequence. For example, pic0001.tga, pic0002.tga, pic0003.tga, etc.

3) Video -> Compression... Select a codec and set up the parameters.

4) File -> Save as AVI.

[the_shyguy]

brilliant! cheers for that...

virtualdubmod on my computer... is that better then virtualdub? or should i use virtualdub?

also, how would i set the settings to get the highest picture quality result?

[junkmalle]

Either program is fine for what you're doing.

Highest picture quality will of course be uncompressed AVI but it will be huge -- about the same size as all your TGA files added up. What codec to use depends on what you plan to do with the files. MPEG 2 for DVD (but VirtualDub/MPEG/Mod can't really output MPEG), Xvid or Divx for small file size with good quality, WM9 for easiest web distribution...