To e-mail autodesk or not to e-mail autodesk...

[Specialagentjim]

Well, here we go, I posted this in reference to a couple of my other posts on here about the codecs. What do you all think, should I e-mail them asking for a standard to be set (so we don't get DQed for having an animation thats not viewable) or do we all just wing it by sending in the Divx (and getting away with higher quality than the cinepak they'll PROBOBLY declare the offical codec)? Should I e-mail first.entries@autodesk about what codec we're using? Yai or nai?

[Jeremy_Mc]

standard...yes. limitation...no.

they need to choose a format that's portable, compact, but doesn't look like crap and offer features of the same calibur.

i'm leaning towards quicktime or divx...but i prefer divx (so we can play it on the pocket pc :d )

*jeremy

[Specialagentjim]

)

Originally posted by Jeremy_Mc
standard...yes. limitation...no.

they need to choose a format that's portable, compact, but doesn't look like crap and offer features of the same calibur.

i'm leaning towards quicktime or divx...but i prefer divx (so we can play it on the pocket pc :d )

*jeremy

Believe me man, I'm with you. Quicktime's a lil more standardized so it would be NICE to submit on quicktime. However, like anyone who's anyone in A/V right now, DIVX RULES!

But remember, if you render to Numbered Targas, and use Premiere to import the frames, you can export as quicktime, divx, or whatever else you want (awesome way of doing it, also gets u uncomrpessed nice images for later braggin rights ). So if you do it like that, you'll be able to export yours to divx for your PocketPC.

Again, anyone need help dont hesitate to IM me @ S/N: Specialagentjim

[Soukup]

send to question to autodesk. They haven't been clear and having a bunch of teams use an 'illegal' codec would suck. So send the question and then tell us what you find. I've found that it takes a while to get a reply back from autodesk however.

[Specialagentjim]

Yeah, they aren't exactly known for their speed sometimes...

(For example: Anyone remember the mixup called VKOP last year... well, autodesk never told anyone much about it [except I found out later that our team contact gets info that I dont...] and then, after kickoff, they stated that you needed to request it BEFORE dec. 22. I was BEYOND confused....

General Consensus is I ask, so I guess we ask!

[Tyler Olds]

I think that there should be a standard, especially because if you make it to really high res, that makes you have a dvd, which means that other teams will have an advantage over the others teams that don't have dvd players.

[Chris Nowak]

I dunno...I mean, autodesk should have all the codecs needed to run anything thats not really obscure, so I think the standardizing isnt really necessary. I think that restricting it to cd makes it so it cant be really super high quality. Think of it as another part of the animation award!

[VanWEric]

Why bother with premier? I have mine encoding to divx out of the box. Maybe i installed the codec for something else, and max took advantage?

[LBK Rules]

They need a standard.

DivX and RAD Rule!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Specialagentjim]

Originally posted by VanWEric
Why bother with premier? I have mine encoding to divx out of the box. Maybe i installed the codec for something else, and max took advantage?

Well, the nice thing about using premiere, is later when you wanna brag about your hi-res modeling... (Oops, forgot the sarcasm tag...yes..my modeling isnt very good) You can export it to a higher res in another format unsupported by autodesk. For instance, I render to numbered targas. When I wanna do a web graphic, I juss open my targa file and I've got a High-res still frame to use for whatever I want. No trying to find a nice frame in the video, I can pick exactly which of the 900 frames I want. Targas are nice...very very nice. lol

[Specialagentjim]

Here's the e-mail I've sent them, just so you all know I really did and we have documentation that we asked if something further happens:

Subj: Codec Issue
Date: 1/29/2003 9:57:14 AM Eastern Standard Time
From: Specialagentjim
To: First.Entries@Autodesk.com




I've been speaking with the Animation community on Chiefdelphi.com and I've noticed that we're lacking an official ruling on compression/codec usage. We've all been hoping to use something a little more High-res then the previous year's cinepak encoding, but are afriad of a DQ simply based on lack of a proper codec. If you could make an offical ruling and include it with a team update, it would be most appreciated. Thanks!

Jimmy Martz, Team 108: Animation Division

[LBK Rules]

They will probably post a team update in the next couple of days.