Apple Event: May 7th at 7 am PT
Does anybody have a solution for this? The fixes I've read about online (adding noise, outputting uncompressed video, playing the content in VLC rather than QuickTime Player) haven't worked.
Motion 5, OS X Yosemite (10.10.2)
Make sure you have the latest updates for the Quicktime Pro codecs installed (Pro Video Formats 2.0). You should also have the latest update to Motion (5.1.2). There have been some "periods" where banding has been a problem. Haven't noticed it too much lately. [Part of my "solution" : a newer iMac (2013)—much better screen than the older 09 iMac.]
Part of the banding issue could be related to the kind of monitor you have. If it's incorrectly calibrated, it could exhibit banding problems. An older LCD type monitor that doesn't have "true color" depth will show banding. You'd be surprised. A lot of older monitors based on TN LCD technology were not 8x8x8 bits per color. Some were as low as 6x6x6 bits per color (each bit corresponding to Red, Green and Blue primitives.) If the banding is monitor related, you might not actually be having a problem with banding in your Motion output at all.
I'm using Motion 5.1.2, and I upgraded to the latest formats...and no improvement.
It's not my monitor: the output is flawless when I look at my content in Motion. It's only when I output to QuickTime when it bands: I've tried H.264, several ProRes formats, both compressed and uncompressed.
First image is my file in Motion; the second is after it's been output to uncompressed format, QuickTime.
I notice the banding happens even if I output as a PNG image sequence.
Export again and look for the ProRes 4444 XQ codec (it's the best quality of all of them.) If you don't have it, then you haven't gotten the latest update of prores codecs. Check the Motion (menu) > Download Additional Content ... If that's active, then the codecs should be waiting for you. It should NOT (edit) matter which "level" of ProRes you use, the quality should be good enough to keep the banding from occurring (even PR Proxy.)
If you do have it, then check the Render settings of the Export. In the Export dialog, there is a Render tab. Most of the options say to Use Canvas Settings, but that can be overridden. Try setting the Render Quality setting to Best.
Hope that helps.
Unfortunately, it doesn't help. I'm using the XQ codec; I'm using Best render settings, and I get identical banding to the image I uploaded earlier.
This thread (Motion 5 Banding) seems to suggest that banding is endemic to Motion 5, and has been for years. (I tried the solution they posted; it doesn't work.) If so, that's terrible. Because I'm now re-creating my entire project in After Effects to get around this problem, and I really didn't want to have to do that.
So I found a solution...sort of. If you output to Compressor and use the animation codec, the resultant file has just minimal banding. Not as good as the image in Motion itself, but way better than what I had before. I can then convert that file to H.264, and it looks fine.
It cost me $49.99 (to buy Compressor), and it's a bit of a pain, but it mostly works.
If you have FCPX, you could try saving your Motion project as a Generator (Save As, then check the Publish to Final Cut Pro checkbox.) Add the generator to a storyline and export from there. Compressor does just that: compresses. FCPX generates high bandwidth "best" video.
What are your output settings, resolution + bitrate?
Those gradients are 'hard core' for an encoder 😝
…and it looks ugly, indeed...
What file settings has the source? Is that video or a still?
I don't have FCP X, unfortunately. And I'm not certain I'm willing to buy it just to fix this.
> What file settings has the source?
Not sure I follow...this is motion graphics (video), generated in Apple Motion.
Okay, strike that: even my highlighted solution above still produces unacceptable results. (I have no idea why they seemed okay to me on Friday night.)
Still no solution for the banding.
Go into System Preference > Displays. Click the Color tab and try out some of the other profiles available. I would expect better (not saying there'll be a cure here) results with Adobe RGB, Wide Gamut RGB, or sRGB. But try them all. (Make a note of the current profile so you can reset it if necessary.) If you created a custom profile, you might have limited the monitor's depth. Also: not all monitors are created equal. Is there any chance you can check your output on a different Mac?
It looks essentially the same regardless of profile. (And, like I said: it's flawless—on this very monitor—when viewed in the Motion app. It's only when it's output—either as still images or as video—that the banding appears.)
is it still perfect if you re-import the "baked" video out of Motion back into Motion? Or "damaged".
Make sure you set the Animation codec to 'Millions of Color+ and quality to Best'.
Banding in Motion 5 output?
