Hi all, Happy New Year.

I have searched the forums and found some reference to what im asking but nothing that clearly answers my question's.

I have just bought (3 months ago) After effects, and i am trying to complete a project where the camera in after effects is moving past several videos and pictures in the shape of a train. Now the actual 28 seconds of composition is fine apart from when i render and have a preview the edges of the video and pics are jagged, when i render and make movie and export as AVI it looks worse, both of these are on the PC monitor. However when i burn the "unfinished" project to DVD and view on an LCD TV (Where it will be finally viewed) it looks even worse....

I have also viewed it on my external TV from the PC and guess what its still jagged, and the funny thing is that only when i view it on the TV is the motion of the camera and therefore the video’s and pictures jerky. You can visibly see the jerky movement, but this is not seen on the PC monitor.

Pc =
AMD 64 Athelon
2G Ram 2 x 1g PNY (Matched)
GEFORCE 256Mb 7600gt graphics
80Gig Internal HDD (Capture to)
250Gig External (Hold completed projects)


Software =
After effects 7
Photoshop CS


I am capturing from the Sony camcorder via Fire wire and the pictures are being edited in Photoshop, all pics are resized to PAL size and the video's are full ration PAL. At any one time there will be 4 video's and 4 pictures in shot.

I have tried to put a feather around the pictures in Photoshop and then bring them into after effects, i have even tried to put a slight mask over the whole shot and individual video's and pics to soften them up a bit but it makes little difference.

I know im a green hand at this After effects lark, but could someone please tell me where im going wrong, or what i should be doing to try and get rid of the jagged edges and jerky motion.

Thanks guys.


Mitch

When you RAM preview, is it slow or struggling?

I’d say pre-compose the videos and stills as a separate piece. Then bring that into a new composition to animate your camera flypast.

It’s worth a try – pre-comping makes complex animations easier by easing the effort needed to render all at once.

What version of AE are you using?

Tony A.

The RAM preview is fine although on closer inspection the edges are jagged also.

Ill try the pre comp idea and let you know how it goes.

I have just done a simple test: (Before replying)

1 x 700 x 400 picture
1 x 700 x 400 red colour solid

both in view of the camera side by side and made a camera (default settings) started at 90o looking at the pics then moved to the pictures left 45o so that the picture was closest and the red solid was furthest away and the jagged edges are still there. 15 second comp.

I didn’t think that this was particularly hard to animate, but im still getting the jagged edges. I made movie and exported to AVI and watched on the TV and it is jerky and jagged edges are prominent.


I’m using AE 6.5 with AE 7 update.

Thanks for the reply, and any help is appreciated. I’m in no rush to do this as its not due until mid July, (I’m an early starter and wanted to impress, plus im doing it for next to nowt to get my face in the door) so ill be working on the problem for a while im sure.

Thanks again

Mitch

Have you got the layers set to best quality? Are you rendering at full resolution and using the best quality setting?

Morning Skribe,

Yep everything is set to full / best quality and when I export to AVI I do it uncompressed and have no sound.

I have tried many different pictures moving in different ways with different masks or no mask. I have tried moving the picture rather than creating a camera and animating it, and they all have jagged edges, the animation is jerky.

I created 15 different comps and exported them all the same way burnt them to DVD and watched them on my home TV last night and the edges are still jagged and the animation is still jerky.

I have asked a distant friend of mine in the business (Local freelance guy) to come and have a look, he is on his way on Monday, so ill keep you all updated.
If I can upload these short clips somewhere ill post a link and let you guys see what I mean.

However has anyone got a "Best practice" way for the settings when exporting from AE.
Pal standard 4:3

The comp is to be added to another bit of footage and the black background will be keyed out later (why I export in AVI) there is no sound to the comp as this will be added later.

Ill try and get a screen-shot of my settings and post, but im away from my house today and ill try and get it done over the weekend.

Cheers all.

Mitch