help: Still Image too compressed to use

[stephenharvey]

I am using VS10 and it is ok, but I am having a lot of trouble with graphics I create in other programs that I import to use as backgrounds or overlays. They all get so compressed when the video is rendered that they are unusable. I am exporting to NTSC DV, which should be the lowest compression—correct? The Video looks find, it is just the still images/graphics that look horrible. I have tried different files gif, bmp, jpg, png, psd all to the same end result.

Any ideas? I really need to be able to add graphics to my vids.

Thanks

Stephen

[Ron P.]

Hi Stephan, and welcome to the forums..

What size in pixels are your still images? They should be at least the same as your video properties. In your case (NTSC), is 720 x 480. Bitmap is the better of the formats to use, unless you are needing the transparency, (alpha) channel in the images, then try using png, or tga.

I've even used my original file size images, which can be extremely large, just to maintain quality while doing a tight zoom.

You didn't specify what you meant by the photos looking bad. Are they pixelated, blurry or what?

Ron P.

[stephenharvey]

Thanks for your response and sorry I didn’t give more details. I was tired and frustrated.

What I am doing is creating a graphic mock-up of a web page in my graphic program, exporting as an image to be a still background. I then over lay a bit video to simulate a video clip on a webpage. (Actually I make the images 720 x 540 and they seem to “resize” better.)

When rendered to DV file the video clip is fine but the still background image has become extremely pixilated. This is confusing me, because I’ve done a number of photo montages and have never had a problem with image quality before. It is driving me nuts.

--Stephen

I will try to attach a still shot to show what I am talking about. The video looks worse in the video player than it does in the still. The still just looks blury.
http://www.lighthousemediaworks.com/temp/

[Trevor Andrew]

Hi Stephen

Just another small question.

You say

What I am doing is creating a graphic mock-up of a web page in my graphic program, exporting as an image to be a still background.

Does this mean that you are saving the images from a web page

What are the Pixel sizes of the original images, before you resize/change them to 720 X 540.

Trevor

[stephenharvey]

well I did a screen cap of the browser (just the browser-cut out content so I could add the mock-up content), everything else is created in photoshop at 720 x 540 @ 72 dpi

[Ron P.]

Ok I see by your example they are pixelated. Following up on Trevor's question, what is the screen resolution you are using for your monitor?

For example my monitor display setting is 1280 x 1024, so doing a screen capture is going to yield an image of that size. Then when I resize it the quality goes out the window...

If you are going to use screen captures I would reset my monitor display down to about 1024 x 768, or even 800 x 600. Do my screen grabs, then you can reset your monitor display. That way you will have an image that is close to the size you are going to use in your video.

If you are just going to need parts of a webpage, then try using a screen capture utility like FastStone Screen Capture. That's just one example, that I use and it does a great job for me. Screen capture utilties make it easy to select how much of the screen you want to grab.

[stephenharvey]

the only thing that is captured is the frame of the browser, I really don't care if the frame comes out a bit fuzzy and I am not resizing it. It is the content that I build in photo shop that is being degraded.

Can you make VS not compress anything?

[Ron P.]

Not that I'm aware of. It has to compress or encode the data so that it will play on whatever your final destination is to be.

I dont use Photoshop, so I'm not sure what it uses when resizing. It is best to use a resampling (which I would think that PS would), something like a B-Spline Filter. Also try using the least lossless format possible, like bitmap, or tiff. If you are going to create a DVD the file sizes do not matter.

I just re-read your first post, and NTSC-DV is the least compressed. However to create a DVD it will have to be encoded to MPEG2.

I'm going to grab a couple of screen shots, and see what happens at different resolutions. I know to do the Flash tutorials I have posted on the forum, I had to reduce my monitor resolution to get the screen shots, and still have them appear readable.

[Trevor Andrew]

Hi

If I read this correctly, you are capturing the browser frame as an image.
You are intending to use this as a background in video studio.

Assuming the Browser frame saved as 1280 px wide, this relates to about 18 inch at 72 dpi

In addition, you are adding smaller images to that background, using adobe photo-shop.
Say 5 x 6 inch images dropped onto the background. These images will be 360 x 432 px

And its these images that are poor quality.(I would expect that)

The minimum image you should use in Video Studio is 720 px wide (Video Frame size)

OK

Use the background browser image only in the main video timeline.
Making sure this image is 4:3 aspect ratio, and at least 720 px

Create additional images to 720 px wide by whatever ratio you want using Photo-shop.

Drop these images into the overlay tracks.
There are 6 overlay tracks to use in VS 10.
Here you can stretch/resize or distort the images, placing them anywhere on screen.

(As an option you could make giff images for a transparent backgrounds, then use the Direction and style option.)

Using 720 px minimum images should improve your quality.
Hope this helps

Trevor

[stephenharvey]

The original images ARE of excellent quality BEFORE they go to VS and the correct resolution/size/dpi. VS seems to be compressing things. Is there a way to keep VS from doing any compression and saving the rendered video file in a non-compressed state (well no more compressed than the native DV from the camera)?

Sorry I even mentioned the browser frame, that is so not the issue.


I really do need to take the time to learn Premiere I guess.

Thanks for all the help.

--Stephen

[Trevor Andrew]

Ok

E-mail me the images

Trevor

[stephenharvey]

It was a VS compression thing

In project properties MPEG was the default setting, I changed it to windows AVI uncompressed and then when I out-put I use “same as project settings”. This way the video doesn’t keep getting compressed every time.

Thanks for your time and help.

--Stephen