Cd-Rom Or Dvd; Animated Gif; Streaming Or Downloaded Video - Adobe AFTER EFFECTS 7.0 Manual

If your final output will be videotape, set up your composition to match the requirements of your capture card, or, if
you use an IEEE 1394 (FireWire) port, choose the appropriate DV preset in the Composition Settings dialog box and
in the Render Queue panel. Using broadcast-safe colors and maintaining frame size and compression ratios are also
important considerations.
See also
"Specifying composition settings" on page 111
"To change render settings" on page 604

CD-ROM or DVD

When you create a movie that you plan to render for playback from a CD-ROM or DVD, you must specify import
and composition settings that take into account the wide range of hardware that your audience may be using,
possibly including older, lower-speed drives.
To make your final output compatible with older drives, try to reduce the data rate of your final output by specifying
certain settings for footage items:
•
Lower the frame rate as far as you can in the Composition Settings dialog box without making motion seem too
jerky. Start at 15 frames per second (fps).
•
When rendering your final composition, choose a file type and codec appropriate for the final media. For example,
for a cross-platform CD-ROM, you might specify a QuickTime codec or a codec designed for low data rates, such
as Sorenson Video. Regardless of which codec you select, it must be available on the system used by your intended
audience to ensure successful playback (common codecs include Sorenson, MPEG-4 video, and codecs installed
with media players such as RealPlayer and Windows Media Player). Also consider the keyframe rate of the codec
you have selected.
For more information about compression and about preparing output for DVD, search for the Adobe DV
Compression Primer (English only) on the Adobe website.

Animated GIF

When you render an animated GIF file, colors are dithered to an 8-bit palette. Before rendering your final project,
render a test composition so that you can adjust colors if the results are not what you expected. If any source footage
includes an alpha channel, be sure that you know how it affects your final project before you start rendering.

Streaming or downloaded video

Streaming video resembles a conventional television signal in that video is sent to the viewer frame by frame, instead
of by downloading a large file to the hard disk. Streaming video on the web is constrained by factors such as available
bandwidth, connection speed, and network congestion. You can export streaming QuickTime or MPEG video
directly from After Effects (see "Exporting using QuickTime" on page 622), or use the Render Queue panel to
generate streaming Real Media and Windows Media video.
For more information about streaming video and tips on reducing data rate, search for the Adobe DV Compression
Primer (English only) on the Adobe website.
If your final output will be downloaded as a file from the web, the main concern is the size of the file, which directly
affects how long it takes to download. QuickTime and Microsoft Windows Media are formats often used when
rendering final output that will be downloaded. When you render a QuickTime, Windows Media, RealMedia,
MPEG-4, or Flash movie, After Effects automatically creates a movie that can play on both Windows and Mac OS
without modification.
ADOBE AFTER EFFECTS 7.0 52
User Guide