Codec Question

I'd use ProRes 4444.

Not nearly as much as the Animation codec, which used to be your only choice for a movie that supports Alpha - what are you trying to accomplish?

ProRes 4444 is not designed as a realtime playback codec unless you are working with lower resolution clips on speedy drives - not sure Motion is the best solution for you.

Any codec capable of supporting an alpha channel is going to require more resources than one that doesn't. You're essentially exporting 4 channels instead of 3.

I'm not sure if the Avid DNxHD codec is a lower bitrate than ProRes 4x4, but I think it might be. However, it's not by much. I would still try ProRes 4x4 and see what happens.

Andy

didn't we deal with this a while ago?
What does Modula8 want as an input format? Here, let me look that up for you.

Seems your software can use Animation if the clips are small enough to be preloaded into RAM. I think but I am not sure that you will need a copy of FCS on your vj machine to get the ProRes4444 codec.

Movies
*Modul8 uses Quicktime to import movies, so Modul8 can read most of the Quicktime codecs. Flash*
*5 animation can also be read but you have to be very careful of the boundary size of your animation if you*
*want to obtain good performances.*
*Even if Modul8 can read most of the Quicktime supported formats, you will obtain completely*
*different performances depending of the codec that has been used for compressing your media. See the*
*“Performance” chapter for more information.*
Transparency
*Modul8 supports a full per pixel 8 bits channel for transparency. It allows you to create very high*
*quality transparency effects.*
*For images you have several image formats that supports per pixel transparency. We highly recommend*
*that you use the “PNG” or the “PSD” format to store your image with transparency.*
*Regarding movies, there is one codec included with Quicktime that supports per-pixel transparency:*
*the “Animation” codec. Unfortunately, this codec is very time consuming and is therefore not very efficient*
*for real-time playback. A solution is to create small loops that can be stored entirely decompressed in*
*memory, this way the decompression is not necessary and you will have very efficient per-pixel and perframe*
transparency.
*Of course, Modul8 is able also to generate on-the-fly transparency using luma-key or the layer mixer*
*too (see the “Layer” chapter) for media that do not support transparency.*
Performance
*If you have some experience with real time video, you know that using the correct codec for video*
*compression is critical in order to obtain good performance. This is especially true with Modul8. Even if*
*most of the codecs are supported, you will see huge differences in performance if you re-compress your*
*media with the appropriate codec.*
*The best codec for Modul8 today is the Photo-JPEG codec.*
*If your movie is in black and white you should use the “Graphic” codec.*
*For per-pixel transparency you can use the “Animation” codec. It is a time consuming codec, but if*
*your media can be stored decompressed in memory (in other words, if it is a short loop) you will be able to*
*use it at no speed cost and enjoy a per-pixel alpha for each frame of your movie.*
*For long movies, you may also use the DV codec especially since the V2.5 where the performances*
*have been a lot improved.*

bogiesan

Animation is a constant bitrate issue. The only thing that changes is the quality which has nothing to do with the file size for a given frame size and frame rate. You want smaller Animation files you reduce the frame size and frame rate.

You can research Animation completely on Wiki and google. The codec has been around for about 20 years. It's a standard for many excellent reasons, none of which seem to apply to ancient vj applications.

From Mark's link you should also be able to figure out if you must have FCP installed on your vj machine to have access to the ProRes collection.

bogiesan

Hi Mads Meskalin,

got the same combination here.
Content creation in Motion/FinalCut and intuitive graphic works in Modul8.
Not for VJing but for motion grafix.
I choosed M8 years ago cause of it's broadcast quality under realtime circumstances ...
(Mads, you know what I mean ;-))

For your "alpha needs" I indeed recommend
Apple's ProRes 4444 or
Bitjazz's Sheervideo (which costs!)
Sheer has a couple of lossless codecs (e.g. 4224 derivates)
that do not load too much the cpu cause its lossless/uncompressed.
But, - compared to animation or other highend codecs Sheer runs like butter.
It's like scrubbing through a dv-pal movie.
And it plays realtime over long time.
No frame dropping after 30sec (as often seen with animation...)
An additional plus for this Codec-Family is: It has a excellent behavior over generations.
So, for my work I use both families in the mix.
You should try the trial.

Peter at
http://tv.empd.info

empd, thanks for the contribution. vj is a niche market few of us, obviously, know anything about.

bogiesan