smooth running...

[beenyweenies]

every time I use after effects 6.5 to render out a final product it always seems to be glitchy in the sound and the video also runs a bit choppy. does anyone know a great way to set the settings in the "make movie" option so it runs as smoothly as possible (both sound and video)?
thanks for reading...
The bitrate of uncompressed and lossless codecs is extremely high, and even top of the line computers have a tough time playing these back smoothly in Quicktime/WMP. I can only assume this is why you are experiencing the glitches, but if you are rendering to a compressed format and still getting these issues let us know.

If you just want to preview the render, open your uncompressed animation in Quicktime Pro and export it as MPEG-4 with a bitrate around 1200-1600kbps. If you don't have Quicktime Pro (highly recommended since it is only $30) you can find a lot of other free encoders. I personally like Super (http://www.erightsoft.net/S6Kg1.html) (scroll to bottom of page for download link) because it is fast, accurate and encodes to a very wide array of codecs and formats.

Using this method is better than rendering compressed out of AE, see the sticky at the top of the AE thread.

[madmotor]

what I do is render it as a quick time movie with sorenson video 3. would you recommend using something else? I see you said mpeg 4...I'll give it a try and see if its better. Thanks for your help.

[beenyweenies]

what I do is render it as a quick time movie with sorenson video 3. would you recommend using something else? I see you said mpeg 4...I'll give it a try and see if its better. Thanks for your help.

The stuttering problem is probably not due to your codec choice, since Sorenson is low enough bitrate to play back smoothly without issue. There is probably a mismatch in frame rates somewhere either IN your project, or between the project and the framerate you told it to render to. I would double check to make sure all of your frame rate settings are uniform throughout.

As for compression options, Sorenson 3 used to be a great option because, despite its faults, it was one of the few low-bandwidth, good quality options. These days it is pretty outdated (based on pretty old compression scheme) AND it suffers from color shifts and milky blacks, making it a poor choice for accurate viewing.

MPEG-4, FLV (Flash Video) and h.264 are much better, more modern options. Bitrates for all three of around 1200-1600kbps seem to be a good starting point, and I usually do "Automatic Keyframes."

[madmotor]

are mp3s bad to use 'cause it's my only thing that is skipping at this point. What's the best compressor for the audio (mp3s)? my video is fine now...its just this one mp3 that wont stop skipping...

[beenyweenies]

are mp3s bad to use 'cause it's my only thing that is skipping at this point. What's the best compressor for the audio (mp3s)? my video is fine now...its just this one mp3 that wont stop skipping...
Never use MP3s in After Effects, it simply does not like them. Convert them to 48khz .wav or .aiff files using iTunes or something before importing to AE.

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