Video Format Help

[sharkcellar]

Hello all,

  I'm teaching a class that, last semester, created short animations to poetry in conjunction with the Poetry Foundation. The pieces are shown on buses around the country and are also broadcast on PBS, thus the need to produce in HD format. My students will be making their pieces using Flash, Toon Boom, After Effects, and Final Cut. I've given instructions that they create their pieces at 1920x1080 and to output them at 29.97. I realize that there are going to be bottleneck issues with the production of these pieces due to large stage size. I would like to know what strategies I can adopt in order for our pipeline to flow as smoothly as possibly and what other issues I might have to consider. The students are still in storyboard/animatic phase so I want to have things as solid in regards to production now so that when I get to post I'm not slapping my head. Should they be working at 1080i or 1080p? Your help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you very much.

[sharkcellar]

Wow, not a single response? Hmm.

Adam, I imagine you have to produce things in HD now, right? What is your workflow for making high resolution animations that are destined for 1920 x 1080 output? Thanks.

Sorry for the double post.

[Markham]

The nice thing about Flash is that it is vector format, and is scalable.  You can work in Flash with a small stage at 640x360 and then export the movie to a resolution of 1920x1080 through File>Export>Export Movie.  I would suggest either QuickTime, or a PNG image sequence to import into another program like After Effects or Final Cut.

Progressive scan (the 'p' on 1080p) is easier to work with, but you should contact whoever wants the videos. 

[muzzoid]

wow, i hope you have enough hard drive space.

yep, create your flash videos at a normal size, just making sure that they have the correct ration. then as Markham said export it at that high rez. Oh and imo a png sequence would be the best.

Just a question, how much post production work is being done? Also if you are using aftereffects, i highly suggest the use of "proxies" if you want to have any hope in hell of working with some video that high resolution.
And lastly, grab one of your own flash cartoons and experiment at home you will come across problems so its best to tackle them at home instead of infront of a class.

[sharkcellar]

Thanks guys, I think I've got this under control now after tons of research and experimentation.

[Pieter]

I wouldn't mind hearing your method, the video export in CS3 is a pain in the ass, I needed to install third party software to get decent results.

[sharkcellar]

Video export for which program Rubber?

[Pieter]

I meant Flash CS3, the build in quicktime export allways gives me majour stuttering...

[sharkcellar]

Ah yes, I'm sure my recommendation would be the same as Adam's, and that's use SWF2Video Pro. But to be honest, I've been using the After Effects SWF import abilities which are stellar.

[tyokio]

I love and hate the quick time export on flash cs3 have too much going on and it just skips a load of details. swf2avi is good, just make sure not to have a screensaver on or anything..my export had half my animation and half fish floating around the screen haha.