Anyone here using Adobe After Effects

If so, can you please explain what format you are using to render/export your footage? I figured this would be the correct section to post this question.

I am also using Sony Vegas 11. I recently got the Adobe package which includes After Effects CS5. Post Processing the footage allows more options and choices in After Effects it seems to me. So what I wanted to do is process it there, export it, then edit it all in Sony Vegas.

The only problem with rendering in After Effects is I can't figure out the correct file format. Last night I was playing around with a clip. Once it was rendered it was 1GB and it was only about 20 seconds long. It was also 1080p (1980x1080). In Sony Vegas if I export it in a MP4 or WMV file or something it would be around 100mb max for something that short... and it would be great quality.

I wanted to see what the best render settings are so it can have a good or decent file size... but while maintaing the quality without losing much.


Any tips will be greatly appreciated! cheers

I think it might depends on how or what you plan on editing that clip with after.

When I'm done doing my work in AE, I know that I will be taking those clips into Final Cut Pro X. Therefore I render in AE using the Quicktime/ProRes 422 because that is something that works really well in FCPX.

Render Settings: Best Settings
Output Module: Lossless

They will be large files but they will reduce in size depending on how you export the entire project out of Vegas.

Alright I'll to have to try that out.

I would like to the keep the best quality I possibley can when exporting from After Effects, since when I am exporting the final project in Sony Vegas it would be technically compressed again... so no need for double quality loss. So seems like that would be the best option.

I just tried exporting in H.264 and I got 8mb file for 36 second clip.
It was very poor quality though, so I put the bit rate all the way to the top... rendering it now to see how much that improves.

Animation codec, million colors+ (if you need alpha). If you want it to look good forget the file size.

I just find it hard to edit ^


If I put a huge file size into sony vegas it will be very choppy... I find it hard to edit the video and get the feel of it when I can't watch the video I'm supposed to be creating.

If I drop the original files into sony vegas its very easy to work with since I can watch it in real time.

That is the age-old problem with video editing. Some companies like Adobe have developed technology in order to improve in-program playback of massive HD files (Mercury playback engine), but I don't think Vegas has anything like that, so you're next best bet would be to just buy a faster computer.

Did the 'Adobe package' include Adobe Premier Pro? if so, why not just edit with that?

I use this format to edit and produce dslr footage.
Do whatever I need to do in after effects, add to render q, full res, guicktime file type with a photojpeg codec and render it out. This always works perfectly for me when editing and never choppy.
When uploading to youtube I alwas use wmv 1920x1080 and render at full res. I tested it against the "for you tube 1080p" setting and it wasnt any bigger and looks as good as it did when I first messed with it in after effects.

photojpeg? Are you serious?

Totally serious and for years get the result I want every time.

Many many links encouraging it like this one...

http://www.videocopilo​t.net …06/which-render-settings/

Well maybe I'm stupid. I would NEVER use a lossy codec coming out from After Effects. But do what you want.

Animation is the only correct answer.

The poster was not talking about delivery to a client but problems with editing. I have used the photo jpeg codec for a great volume of work and it has served me well with no degradation in quality. When editing in Prem Pro it has offered the smoothest workflow between After affects and PP before rendering out the final file.

Seems like my next step would be to upgrade my computer so I can work with big files in Sony Vegas (rendered AF vids).

Well I don't know where to start, this is what I currently have. This is a factory HP computer.

AMD Athlon(tm) II X4 630 Processor 2.80 GHz
6GB DDR3 ram
HP PC 64bit Windows 7
1TB hard drive... (actually shows 920gb ... I have about 80gb used total).