Rotoscope file type support in AM18

[rkaneko]

Hi. I just upgraded to version 18 and I am trying to import a video to use as a rotoscope for compositing. It appears that version 18 no longer supports .mov files. Is that the case? When I try a .avi file I get an error message that the file is corrupted or not a type supported. The same files work perfectly in version 15 (which I know is a big gap as far as versions go.) Any suggestions? Thanks in advance for your help.

[itsjustme]

Quicktime should be available in the 32bit version, Apple has not updated their code for use in 64bit software. AVI is available if you use uncompressed video.

 

Hope that helps.

[Fuchur]

Quicktime should be available in the 32bit version, Apple has not updated their code for use in 64bit software. AVI is available if you use uncompressed video.

 

Hope that helps.

 

...OR if you have a codec that is available in 64bit too.

 

See you

*Fuchur*

[robcat2075]

Converting a video to an image sequence is also a useful work around.

[rkaneko]

Converting a video to an image sequence is also a useful work around.

 

Thanks. That worked. I tried a variety of codecs and setting and couldn't get any video to work reliably. Probably wrong settings on my part, but still frustrating. A targa image sequence also failed, but a jpg image sequence worked perfectly. Thanks again for the help.

[robcat2075]

Targa should work, that's what i always use. Did it crash or was it just slow?

 

 

I suppose it's remotely possible whatever you are using to export your targas is doing it in a variant that A:M isn't familiar with.

[robcat2075]

I haven't tried it recently but a simple QuickTime codec like "Photo-JPG" may work adequately for rotoscope purposes because it has no compression that depends on pre- or post- frames.

[Fuchur]

I haven't tried it recently but a simple QuickTime codec like "Photo-JPG" may work adequately for rotoscope purposes because it has no compression that depends on pre- or post- frames.

 

Have a look at this: Video Codec Output in A:M v18

I am quite sure it is true for Input too. (But I never tried it...)

 

See you

*Fuchur*

[robcat2075]

As an experiment I used QuickTime Pro to convert a JPG numbered image sequence to Quicktime movies in Animation, Photo-JPG and H264 codecs and a TGA sequence and imported those into A:M (32-bit)

 

I tried each one as a camera rotoscope in the default chor.

 

My observation is that A:M doesn't actually load all the frames of these things just because you've imported them, it waits until you need to see a frame, then extracts it from original file and stores the decompressed image in memory for later use.

 

All five formats worked as rotoscopes but the time it takes A:M to initially extract and display frames from Quicktime movies is longer than for image sequences. Scrubbing through an image sequence is fairly responsive but scrubbing through a Quicktime source is pokier until enough frames have been extracted and loaded.

 

Photo-JPG seemed to be the fastest of the Quicktime codecs and H.264 the slowest.

 

It is unlikely you will ever encounter a QuickTime in Photo-JPG, however. The only reason I can think of that you would convert a source to a Photo-JPG QuickTime rather than an image sequence for use in A:M is if you wanted to retain a soundtrack.

 

Numbered Image Sequences are probably your best solution for rotoscopes and decals in A:M