Best codec for graphics?

[newbie_geek]

Hey all,

I have just finished making a delicious sequence of images of a rotating graphic in Rhino. This has made a stark black and white series of PNG's. When i open them in QT Pro and then export them, i am a little overwhelmed by the selection of CODECS. The few that i have tried seem to have a hell of a time handling the fact that there is ONLY black and white in the image. Which codec in the pile would be best suited to this?

Cheers

[Baldrick]

It depends. What is your goal with the video clip? make a dvd? just play on your computer? or should it work on all computers? publish on the net? or?

[newbie_geek]

Well I am looking to eventually incorporate it into a Flash presentation. Wait... wait wait... i just remembered, the default QT encoding is fine, it is the Flash Video encoder that imports it that is a bastard and creates all sorts of nasty artifacts.

Anything i can do about that?

[Nelson37]

Since your goal was Flash encoding, recommendation would have been to do some testing to determine what types of video Flash will work well with and which ones it will not. Sound like you may have determined the second case.

Your options are likely to be either change the output format, or to begin your project all over again with the capabilities of your chosen format more familiar to you.

Can you just leave it in QuickTime?

[newbie_geek]

That is what i feared... and it seems that the flash video encoder simple refuses to use anything other than the built in encoder.

Ah well.

Good to confirm that.

Cheers.

[thecoalman]

and creates all sorts of nasty artifacts.

Artifacts are usually the result of too low a bitrate and can be produced by any encoder, lower the bitrate and you get a smaller file at the expense of quality. Higher bitrates give you less artifacting but larger files. I have little experience with Flash and even less experience with programs for creating them (read none :P) but there should be an option , slider or something else that allows you to adjust the quality or adjust the bitrate.

For web distribution other options include lowering the framerate which allows more bitrate per frame, 15fps for a web video is more than adequate.

[newbie_geek]

Yeah, i fear that Flash's encoder affords you FEW options in terms of bitrate levels. So i fear i am S.O.L using the flash approach.

[Nelson37]

Can you import the ORIGINAL series of images into the Flash encoder, rather that using QT as an intermediate step?

I also know next to nothing about Flash, tho I believe it is somewhat similar to GIF. Particularly that it is designed to take a series of Still images and create small filesize animated display. My understanding is that it is NOT optimal for displaying or converting conventional video.

I could be wrong on this, but I think you may have started with the best possible source for a Flash animation and converted it into the worst case, before feeding it to Flash.

Again, the most important thing is to determine the capabilities of your chosen format and then create your images to best utilize that, rather than the other way around.

[newbie_geek]

That is a good thought, and i tried that. But the series of 320 PNG's each about 41KB each, seemed to crash flash when i tried to use it to sequence them???

That is a query i need to take over to a flash forum me thinks.

Thanks all...