I'm trying to upload a FLV video for the web, but when I upload it to my prof's video database, it shrinks the video size. I've tried increasing the height, but if I go beyond 1080pixels for the height After Effects won't render it (the frame size is out of bounds.)
Is there some other way I could increase the height, so that when it shrinks on the database it won't be too small?
Re: width & height settings by Simon Bonner on May 8, 2008 at 1:00:38 am
I can't see why it might be "shrinking", as you call it (I assume you mean it's displayed with reduced dimensions?). Take a look at the code used by the website to display the video - you may need to modify it so the specified width and height match the dimensions of your video.
Re: width & height settings by dileshni jayasinghe on May 8, 2008 at 2:23:14 am
Hey, thanks for your suggestions. Yes, actually it is displayed with reduced height dimensions. I looked at the code, and my prof has set the flash player dimensions at 350 * 392.....since I can't alter his code, I tried to make the video at that size, but then the figures of the video appear to be half the size of the flash screen.
So I tried to double the height, then the size of the figures were reduced even further!
I'm new at this video editing stuff, so is there something I'm missing? Do I need to use Adobe Flash on top of After effects to make a web video?
Re: width & height settings by Simon Bonner on May 8, 2008 at 8:46:19 am
Hi,
You don't necessarily "need" flash (I've made flv videos with AE that work fine, and have never even set eyes on flash), so that isn't the real problem here.
I would need to know more details about your problem. As I understand it, you have discovered the dimensions your video must be (350 * 392) and have resized your comp to match, so that is no longer the problem. You are now experiencing some kind of distortion in your video. I'm not sure what you mean by "figures" (people?) and by "half the size of the flash screen": are they stretched somehow, or is the video undistorted and just takes up a small space in the browser?
As I'm not sure what's going on, it's difficult to say what needs to be done. I assume you've changed the video dimensions - did you change them in the render queue somehow, or are you changing them in the comp settings (selecting the comp in the project panel and hitting cntl+k, altering the dimensions, selecting ok, then right clicking on the video in the composition panel, choosing transform from the context menu, and hitting "fit to comp width/height" to scale the video up/down to fit the new dimensions)? Also, what were the original dimensions?
Another possibility might (and I stress 'might', as I'm not an expert in how the flv format works) be that you are using composition settings with non-square pixels (the type of pixels that are used in tv). Try setting them to square pixels (the kind used in computer monitors). That may - or may not - help.
object
body
--------------------------------------------
I used the composition settings to change the height and width. The raw footage was shot with a Sony camera, so when I downloaded it to my computer the footage was something like 540 * 1080. The footage is of a person, so when I upload it to the database, the dimensions are distorted. A video that was originally 350 * 350 would appear extremely small on the browser. If I make a video that is 180 * 350....for some odd reason, the person on the video is stretched horizontally.
So I switched it around and tried 350 * 180....then it looks the same as the 350 * 350 video!
I'm going to use this video for a website...it's my final new media project.
Re: width & height settings by Simon Bonner on May 8, 2008 at 1:34:23 pm
The raw footage is 540 * 1080? That's an unusual size for a camera to output. Am I understanding correctly that the image is 540 wide by 1080 high? HDTV has a height of 1080, but the width would be 1440, 1280 or 1920. NTSC D1 square pixel would have a height of 540...
I'm wondering which it is because it may be that you are using non-square pixels in your raw footage. In your project panel, select the raw footage and take a look at the info displayed at the top of the panel. It will give the file's name, then below information on dimensions and pixel aspect ratio, e.g. 1280 x 720 (1.0). Check that AE is interpreting your footage correctly. That is, it's recognised the footage dimensions and aspect ratio and provided the correct figures. If it hasn't, select the asset and hit cntl+f to open the interpret footage dialogue box and change the necessary settings.
In your comp, did you rescale or modify your raw footage in any way? A lot of people, when they start to use AE, make a comp from a non-square pixel asset and don't understand why it looks horizontally squashed, so they stretch it until it looks right. Then when they render it, it looks bad! The reason the display looks squashed is because AE displays non-square pixels as though they were square by default. You can check what the output will look like by toggling the "toggle pixel aspect ratio correction" switch, which you can find on the bottom of the composition window, towards the right (the box with the arrow above it). I don't know if this is your problem as I don't know if / how you've modified your footage.
Anyway, as I said earlier, I imagine FLV will work best with square pixels. Even if your raw footage is non-square, you can still add it to a square pixel comp and it will work. AE will just crop the edges of the footage.
Other than that, I'm stuck. If you post a link to the vid itself, assuming it's live, that may help more.
Re: width & height settings by dileshni jayasinghe on May 8, 2008 at 1:59:38 pm
Hmm the raw footage size might be different....I left my project files at school and couldn't check it at home, and that was the size I remembered. Sorry :S
I'll try the square pixels suggestions. I didn't do that before when I was using AE, so that could possibly be the problem. I was rescaling it the footage in my composition..I was stretching it vertically so it would fit properly....so as you said that's probably the mistake I've been making.
Thank you so much for all your help. I'd be so lost without these forums.
