Impossible to tweak export settings (on a Mac at least)

[Reindeer]

I wrote about this months ago, then I dropped the issue until now, when the issue has come back to create problems.
In two words, Moho (Mac version) seems incapable of providing the usual tweaks before exporting a movie. The classical windows I used to get with other software (like Flash) simply aren't available with Moho. The attached image is an example of what I expected but what I don't' get.
I just have factory presets to work with. Even the 'QT Legacy' preset is a simple one-shot thing .
I need to export very large series of movies that are to be projected on a large theatre screen. It's for a live show and the quality must be really good.
Instead, the Mp4 files that result from Moho's presets show ugly artifacts, all 'round low quality renders.
The technicians in charge of the projection asked me to export with a higher data rate and to adjust other settings like frame rate. And here I come up against the problem again. No tweaking, no frame rate, no bit rate, no quality control whatsoever. Factory presets is all I have to work with. I opened a ticket with Support, I can sum up the answer with "Yeah", meaning apparently that's the way Moho is. How can this be? I used to be able to control the quality of my videos, even bad old Flash.

[Reindeer]

I'd like to add that even exporting PNG sequences is a Moho factory preset with no room to move. I cannot control quality of the PNG as I used to be able to do (the image here is a PNG export from Flash). The dialogue boxes simply does not show up and Support seems to think that's the way it's supposed to be. How can it be so?

[synthsin75]

Legacy Quicktime is 32bit that is no longer supported by Apple, so Moho has to use available media libraries to access those formats.

[Reindeer]

Legacy Quicktime is 32bit that is no longer supported by Apple, so Moho has to use available media libraries to access those formats.

I am not fully understanding how one gets full quality renders from Moho, my bad, sorry, but I've tried every factory setting and it all looks pretty poor...
So much that the technicians for this project, who are using Pandora's Box for the montage and projection, are asking me to install the Coolix (Pandora's Box maker) codec. But it's a Quick Time Component. What chances are there that Moho will be able to use this?

[synthsin75]

What chances are there that Moho will be able to use this?

No idea, I'm not on Mac.

[Reindeer]

I tried installing the component but of course it changed nothing in my Moho export options because it's a Quick Time component (other software like Flash can use it, though, so something is not quite right here).
I'm at a complete loss now.
If I turned the question around it would be: how do you export high quality movies from Moho? How do you control final output quality?

[synthsin75]

Try rendering to higher project dimensions = higher resolution, and resize in something like Handbrake.

[Reindeer]

The videos are now 1024x768 (it's for a live theatre show, which is why they are 4:3 and not wide)
I can try that, though I still have the problem of needing to set out with good quality. If the quality is allright at double, it will go back to bad when I resize it, I'm quite sure. Especially with gradient colours and delicate stuff like that, which now is giving rise to scaling and artifacts.

Pardon me, I know I sound really hardheaded, but I'm trying to understand if there's something wrong with my particular setup here or if this situation is normal. Can you, or others here, control the quality of your movies? I mean, if the producer or whoever it is you are working for asks you to, say, "change data rate", or, "export at best quality", what do you do? Do you actually have knobs to turn or are you like me, stuck with presets like on a smartphone app? It so weird to me not being able to do this, so I'm still wishfully-thinking it's me doing something wrong.

[synthsin75]

Wait, what? 1024x768 is far too small for projection. Project dimensions determine the resolution, and that size is only good enough for a small laptop.

[Reindeer]

Ok, that sounds correct. That size didn't scandalise the people the work is being done for so I figured it would be ok (they didn't ask for larger formats).
To be honest, the projections I've seen so far look good when the file quality is good (I'm not an expert on projection, just telling a subjective experience).
What looks bad projected, the artifacts and scalings, looks bad on a laptop too. I mean, I'm sure you are right and I will no doubt try to export at larger dimensions (double?) but the overall quality of the file is a separate problem insofar it is a constant.

[synthsin75]

Yeah, doubling it would at least bring it up to 2k resolution.

I'd have to see what kind of artifacts you're talking about for me to weigh in on that. Depending on the laptop, it may have better resolution than 1024 as well.

[slowtiger]

Here's a screenshot of the export options on my Mac:



The upper list is what you should get - it's what Mac OS comes with. ProRes codec is hghlighted because that's what you want for a video file which goes into an editor. You see there's MP4 with h.264 as well - is that what you tried?

The bottom half shows you the options you get if you choose Quicktime Movie from the top list - this is the 32bit legacy part, comes with Mac OS as well.

So is this identical with what you see when you start exporting?

[Reindeer]

Here's a screenshot of the export options on my Mac:
The upper list is what you should get - it's what Mac OS comes with. ProRes codec is hghlighted because that's what you want for a video file which goes into an editor. You see there's MP4 with h.264 as well - is that what you tried?
The bottom half shows you the options you get if you choose Quicktime Movie from the top list - this is the 32bit legacy part, comes with Mac OS as well.
So is this identical with what you see when you start exporting?

Your screenshots are exactly the situation I expect but don't get. I only seem to have the upper part, the factory presets.
If I choose QuickTime, the lower dialogue box doesn't pop up at all.
I suppose that if in your lower window you choose Animation or H264 compression from the menu then you are also able to get the next step and tweak those formats (data rate, frame rate, etc.). I can't because I never get that far, QT windows just don't appear. Moho will start exporting right away without letting me choose a single thing.
Support, which I contacted quite a while ago about this issue , seemed to imply this is normal. I can't see how this can be!

[slowtiger]

Do you happen to use OS 10.12 or higher? If so, it might be that Apple chose to remove those options.

Be aware that everything within the video framework is solely Apple's responsibility, SM could only react if they know what's changed (Apple doesn't announce in advance) and sometimes it's impossible to get an adequate replacement.

[Reindeer]

Do you happen to use OS 10.12 or higher? If so, it might be that Apple chose to remove those options.
Be aware that everything within the video framework is solely Apple's responsibility, SM could only react if they know what's changed (Apple doesn't announce in advance) and sometimes it's impossible to get an adequate replacement.

I'm running MacOs 10.11.6, the version just prior to Sierra. The thing I can't understand is why, if it doesn't depend on Moho, I can use my QT codecs and settings with Flash and Toon Boom Harmony. With these I can export as I always did, choosing quality, data rate, colour depth, all the usual stuff one was accustomed to. In two words: QT Pro and all that's attached to it works fine except with Moho. Why? I'm starting to feel like "I'm taking crazy pills!"