Here is hopefully a helpfull note on video compression for the web. I noticed postings for 75Mb files and such and want to say- Compress that sucker… There are two easy ways to compress for the web that are free (at least one is still free the other you have to check on). I prefer Windows Media Encoder which you can Download from http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/download/default.asp here you can select the encoder form the download list and install it and compress a 45sec file (30sec Anim with credits) to 5-6 Megs at a good bitrate and save those people with slow internet connections a heck of a lot of time. 3-4Days to be exact.
Another solution that I think is still free is Real Producer. From http://www.real.com. download here http://www.realnetworks.com/products/producer/basic.html
There is other software that costs a few bucks that is even better with more control over final file and file type. Discrete’s Media Cleaner is about the best on the market http://www.discreet.com/products/cleaner/ this allows you to make MPG, WMV, ASF,RM, QT and anything else you need. But I like to point you in the direction of free solutions.
Now what you want to start off with is an uncompressed version of your file (if possible). In Windows Media Encoder use the wizard to convert an existing file (as opposed to encoding from a live source) When it asks about the output file you need to look closly at your options and experiment. It tells you the bitrate the setting is optomized for and the codec it will use. If you go to advanced setup you can customize it to be compatable with older versions of Media Player- Mpeg 4 V3 is Compatible with Media Player 6.4 (earliest streaming Win Media Player) You have limits on Audio for this Codec as well. When selecting a Codec you have to consider your audience. Many corporations still run Media Player 6.4 because its too much of a project to upgrade all their computers. Even though 7.0 and above claim to not be compatable with Win 95 and NT4.0 I ran it successfully on NT 4.0. But corporations that need to guarentee stability will not chance this. If your team is activley marketing yourselves, post your animation and team videos on your site in a manner that most corporations can access. Then will get the most usefullness out of it. You can put a video 7 or 8 compression and back it up with a mpeg4 v3 compression as well. Best thing to do is experiment. I may have time to put a more comprehensive tutorial online- till then- dont be afraid to try it. Test your final file on several computers if you can. This file can stream off you web server if you want to (though not as efficient as a streaming server) I normally create a 56k 100k and 300k file- the 300k file I stuff or Zip and upload it for people to download. This is very efficient and better than downloading a 75Mb file. Not all of you have 75 Mb of disk space on a web server. Any questions please contact me!!