WMV bitrate? (etc)

General discussions and questions about MULTIQUENCE
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JeffBTX
Posts: 17
Joined: Tue Jun 26, 2007 7:57 am
Location: Abilene, Texas

WMV bitrate? (etc)

Post by JeffBTX »

I am using Multiquence to create animations from Raytraced image sequences. Generally the images are "ultra photorealistic" and "clearer" with "no noise", compared to most of the video work that is probably done by Multiquence. Imagine animating a cartoon, frame by frame... so far, though I have NOT tried adding soundtracks. I imagine that I will create those with GoldWave when I get around to it.

This is done by invoking TRACK -> add image section, and selecting the images from a directory.

As I stated in my previous post, I am having a problem creating MPG files; if the images are 320x240, and I specify 320x240 MPG, it comes out as 292x320 for some reason...

But on to other formats...

Generating a CinePak AVI is no problem, and it is simple - there are no decisions to make, no settings to have to worry about tweaking. Its a little "grainy / noisy" compared to other formats that I have experimented with so far (so FAR, I am not widely experienced at this...), and the AVI file sizes are larger than the couple of WMV files that I have done.

Okay... WMV. I need suggestions as to what "bitrate" to set?

I know from experience, that if I download some video from the web and "edit" it in Multiquence (basically selecting a section of it... deleting all before and all after a selected segment)... then upon saving that segment as a WMV video, the higher the bitrate the better quality. It seems that anything less than a bitrate of 2000 severely distorts the final WMV. I realize that artifacting is probably occurring... like making a zerox copy of a xerox copy...

But is a bitrate of 2000 "overkill" for what I am doing? I am starting from scratch with a sequence of very clear raytraced images.

And what about "looping"; if you want to make an animation that "loops" well (in Windows Media Player; I know, not the best choice), I would imagine that a LOWER bitrate helps?

I could use some advice on this. ACTUALLY I could use some advice in general, from "experts". If YOU were using multiquence for this, what format, what settings, etc?

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And for later on, maybe some advice on creating soundtracks.

Conceptually, I picture loading the images into multiquence but only as a "dry run" initially, to get and make note of the "timings" on the grid; WHERE (in seconds / fractional seconds) I have to make a sound of say, breaking glass, an explosion, or any other sound effect.

And then, using GoldWave to create the soundtrack / sound effects, synchronising and coordinating the sounds with the notes that I made in the Multiquence "dry run"; including inserted silence or background noises such as wind. THEN I create the animation in multiquence, simply adding the soundtrack that I created in GoldWave.

Is there a simpler way to do this? For example, I have a raytrace animation of a glass ball bouncing back and forth between two walls and a floor. The whole "loop" is about three seconds. There are three "bounces"; left wall, floor, and right wall. I have a WAV of a kind of "glass clink sound", say about 1/5 of a second in duration. Is there a way to just insert that "clink" into the appropriate places in Multiquence, using the image track as a guide... or do I have to do as I said before, with the "dry run" and making notes, and creating one "big" soundtrack timed to last exactly as long as the animation?

Any expert advice would be appreciated.
JeffBTX
Posts: 17
Joined: Tue Jun 26, 2007 7:57 am
Location: Abilene, Texas

Post by JeffBTX »

For my question(s) on adding a soundtrack... after some experimenting, I stumbled on a methodology that works well.

After generating a series of BMP images in the ray tracer, I examine them, and make a note of exactly where I want sound effects *in relation to the frame numbers* (actually the file names).

In Multiquence, I build it using "add image section". Then add new track. Right click in the new, second track, then add section, and select a WAV. Position it wherever I want. Then I can keep adding new WAVs, or the same WAV. For example a glass ball bouncing around between two walls and a floor, I positioned a "DING.WAV" at exactly the right frames, and it worked.

This worked well for a 320x240 MPG I created. My question on 320x240 MPG = 292x320; I solved that, I have to select an aspect ratio of "Square Pels" while making the MPG.

For my question on WMV / bitrate, I will just experiment. Currently I have an animation set up, 640x480, a glass ball bouncing around between two walls and a floor; actually the same 320x240 that I used for the MPG experiment, but I regenerated the raytraced BMPs to 640x480. I will save to WMV using various bitrates... 1000, 2000... 500... 100... etc until I get a handle and a 'feeling" for the bitrate thing.
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