Can't shake the jaggies

guitarzan · Post by **guitarzan** » Sat May 09, 2009 11:38 pm

Chucky,

I downloaded a demo of DVD Architect. Do you have any recommendation for the best settings burn a DVD for NTSC? I did a search of the forum and I didn't find a post where you specifically address the settings you use with Architect, so I thought I'd ask. Thanks.

J. Baker · Post by **J. Baker** » Sun May 10, 2009 12:23 am

I just wanted to add that 1024x576 isn't widescreen for pal DVD. Pal's DVD widescreen is 720x576. It may not sound right but tv doesn't use square pixels like pc monitors do. Here's an example...

1.) Export from AnimeStudio at a 16:9 (example, 1280x720 or 1024x576 like you started off doing).
2.) In a video editing program, resize to 720x576 (it will look squashed).
3.) Edit that with your DVD authoring program.

Now when played back on tv it looks normal.

J. Baker · Post by **J. Baker** » Sun May 10, 2009 12:31 am

guitarzan wrote:Chucky,

I downloaded a demo of DVD Architect. Do you have any recommendation for the best settings burn a DVD for NTSC? I did a search of the forum and I didn't find a post where you specifically address the settings you use with Architect, so I thought I'd ask. Thanks.

If your asking about bitrates, it depends on the length of the animation and the format of the audio. Use a bitrate calculator found here.

chucky · Post by **chucky** » Sun May 10, 2009 5:05 am

DVD architect should be fairly straightforward.
look for the project settings, and set it to ntsc.
For the bit rate, I think there is a check box to maximise that in the preparation stage.
I'm at work now so can't check, but it should be easier than mowing the lawn

There is a;so good help for it also.
Have you looked at the project settings?
Press the prepare button just to see the steps it takes you through.
Good luck.

guitarzan · Post by **guitarzan** » Sun May 10, 2009 5:37 am

Well, I've never been all that good at mowing the lawn either, so I guess that's why I'm having trouble.

Seriously, I think the only video ettings you can change are 1. If you want to use the default bitrate (8.0) or if you want to adjust it yourself, and 2. Progressive (Yes, No or Auto).

The reason I asked about what setting you use is because I used the program and when I played the animation back on my tv, I still had some jagged (stair stepped) edges on some of the round images in my animation. It wasn't bad, but when I've seen similar styles of computer created bone rigged animation on tv (on shows like "Charlie and Lola" for example), I don't see those same jagged edges on round images.

I had used a bitrate of 9.0 and Progressive set to Auto.

Thanks.

J. Baker · Post by **J. Baker** » Sun May 10, 2009 5:50 am

guitarzan wrote:Well, I've never been all that good at mowing the lawn either, so I guess that's why I'm having trouble.
Seriously, I think the only video ettings you can change are 1. If you want to use the default bitrate (8.0) or if you want to adjust it yourself, and 2. Progressive (Yes, No or Auto).

The reason I asked about what setting you use is because I used the program and when I played the animation back on my tv, I still had some jagged (stair stepped) edges on some of the round images in my animation. It wasn't bad, but when I've seen similar styles of computer created bone rigged animation on tv (on shows like "Charlie and Lola" for example), I don't see those same jagged edges on round images.

I had used a bitrate of 9.0 and Progressive set to Auto.

Thanks.

Can you post a project file (*.anme) so we can test it?

mkelley · Post by **mkelley** » Sun May 10, 2009 2:18 pm

guitarzan wrote:The reason I asked about what setting you use is because I used the program and when I played the animation back on my tv, I still had some jagged (stair stepped) edges on some of the round images in my animation. It wasn't bad, but when I've seen similar styles of computer created bone rigged animation on tv (on shows like "Charlie and Lola" for example), I don't see those same jagged edges on round images.

I had used a bitrate of 9.0 and Progressive set to Auto.

Thanks.

With that bit rate it's unlikely it's the DVD conversion that's the issue. However, I'm wondering just what you were seeing -- the problem with people saying "I had some jagged edges" is that such things are relative and sometimes hard to quantify.

Look at this and tell me if you see any jagged edges (make sure you watch it full screen on your monitor:

http://vimeo.com/3077341

(I picked this one because Buzz's head is a white outline against the background and should show any artifacts). Now, this animation looks *exactly* the same on a DVD (indeed, it comes from a DVD) even when projected on a large screen. Bitrate of the MPEG compression is around 6 (which is about the highest you need to preserve quality).

If you see jagged edges, then you have the kind of critical eye that most folks do not -- nothing wrong with that per se, but it means it's unlikely you will ever get satisfaction from almost any combination of computer program and DVD.

If you *don't* see any jagged edges there has to be something fundamentally wrong with your workflow. It's actually hard to get these kind of artifacts. Project file will help because we can see what kind of output you are doing, but as long as you are not compressing your output and using a high enough resolution (at least 720 x 480) then you should be okay (BTW, you want to set it to progressive and not interlaced -- I don't know about that "auto" setting -- it should just be turned on).

guitarzan · Post by **guitarzan** » Thu May 14, 2009 6:07 pm

Thanks Mike. I really enjoyed your animation file (as well as the others you've done on your site). Very funny stuff!

I tend to think you're right, and that maybe my expectations for the final render quality are just a little too high. I'm happy with the quality I'm getting, I just wasn't sure if it was possible to get something even better. Your advice to render from Anime PRO to BMP stills, and then to make sure all compression is off in Premiere Elements, has made a huge difference in the quality I was getting before I looked at the forum. Thank you.

J Baker, As I said, from what I've learned, I doubt I will ever lose the jaggies 100% once I compress the file onto a DVD NTSC disk. Still, if you'd like to see what kind of results you can get with one of my files, here is a short clip of an educational project I'm working on. The audio is purposely low quality, used only for the purpose of syncing the animation.

http://www.etiwanda.k12.ca.us/win/animation%20test.htm

Thanks for all your help as well.

J. Baker · Post by **J. Baker** » Thu May 14, 2009 6:42 pm

Bad link to the file.