Again, what kind of avi codec is the best to work with?

Farbklecks · Post by **Farbklecks** » Mon Aug 13, 2007 7:52 am

I know, this here is asked a lot of times...
...and the search results are astronomical...
Ach du liebe Güte...

And that's why I'm asking it "again" (I personally never asked it before)

It's about avi files, what kind of codec I should use to work with?
No DivX, for an end result it's ok, but for the work I don't think it's a good choice.
First I thought Quicktime would be good, but especially the software "Particle Illusion" (Win) can't import and also can't export Quicktime.
So I need a video codec which makes no giant big files and has compressed not to low pixelated pictures.

Example, I can get files between 400 MB and 900 KB, it's just the selected codec I use.

What avi codec is the best?
(no exotic seldom stuff)
What avi codec should be the best used to give the film away to people who makes a final cut of it, yes - to give it to some professionals...
(I've got no sound studio and will never have one...)

There's a chance for me to get a job by making some animations and I want it.

As I wrote, the search functions brings a lot of results... to much results.
Just a little tip would help.

J. Baker · Post by **J. Baker** » Mon Aug 13, 2007 8:16 am

http://www.videohelp.com/tools/Lagarith ... ideo_Codec

Farbklecks · Post by **Farbklecks** » Mon Aug 13, 2007 8:38 pm

Nice codec, but the lagarith codec is not accepted by Particle Illusion.
I'd open it: just a click on it and the software is in the nirvana.
My other codecs with the same content do works.
Thank you, but sadly ...

Now, what is a most used best codec for avi?
(Again, no DivX)

Genete · Post by **Genete** » Mon Aug 13, 2007 9:23 pm

What's your priority?
Length of the file?

So I need a video codec which makes no giant big files and has compressed not to low pixelated pictures.

Solution: H264

Or compatibility with Particle Illusion?
(if not what codec can it import then? Remember Quicktime is not a codec but a container)

-G

J. Baker · Post by **J. Baker** » Mon Aug 13, 2007 9:23 pm

Farbklecks wrote:Nice codec, but the lagarith codec is not accepted by Particle Illusion.
I'd open it: just a click on it and the software is in the nirvana.
My other codecs with the same content do works.
Thank you, but sadly ...

Now, what is a most used best codec for avi?
(Again, no DivX)

That's something that the creators of Particle Illusion would have to fix. You might have a problems with finding a codec if it can't even open the lagarith codec. Your best bet is to contact the creator of that program to get your answer you need.

myles · Post by **myles** » Tue Aug 14, 2007 7:13 am

The Lagarith codec is a great intermediate codec because:
1) it is lossless (unlike most codecs)
2) it supports an alpha channel for compositing
3) it compresses reasonably well for a lossless codec

HuffYUV is similar but gets less compression in most cases.

Most other codecs, like DivX, are lossy - they trade quality for compression, and this is possibly something you will also have to consider if you want smaller files.
Many codecs are optimised for live video, where they can get away with a lot of minor flaws in quality and colour, unlike animation.

I suspect you can't, in most cases, specify "this is the one true codec for Anime Studio work" - all codecs have their advantages and disadvantages.
You might not get a codec that delivers both small file sizes and good quality for all animation.

Genete's suggestion of H264 is probably one of the better current codecs, worth trying. There are some free and commercial implementations.

There are also some nice commercial codecs for good compression/quality ratios, but your audience may not automatically have them for playback if you use them as the final codec for distribution, rather than as an intermediate working codec.

Last time I tried them, the On2 TrueMotion VP codecs were rather good in this regard. "The video format in the new Adobe® Flash® Player 8 and 9 is based on On2's revolutionary On2 TrueMotion VP6 codec."
On2 VP3.2 was made open source and is included in the Theora project.
There is a free VP7 Personal Edition, for personal non-commercial use only.

Regards, Myles.

Christopher90 · Post by **Christopher90** » Sat Nov 17, 2007 8:06 am

The three best loseless codec's are Huffyuv, Mjpeg and DV so try them.

human · Post by **human** » Sat Nov 17, 2007 5:50 pm

Christopher90 wrote:The three best loseless codec's are Huffyuv, Mjpeg and DV so try them.

Mjpeg and DV are very lossy codecs.
They use a fast fourier transform algorithm.