Video Compression Workshop – 10 Steps to Better Compression

1.) De-interlace your video: Most video files are interlaced, which means that half of one image is blended with half of the next.  On a Television this produces smoother motion, on a computer it produces junk.

2.) Lower your audio standards: Most users are listening to computer audio on tiny speakers.  Cutting your sample rate to 22 or 11 kHz and the sample size to 8-bit will often produce unnoticeable audio changes but huge space saving.

3.) Shrink the window: While you don’t need to make video postage stamps sized.  But reducing the window to half size creates a file that is 25% the file size of the original.  That’s a BIG savings in space.

4.) Reshape the video: Most likely you are working with a video file that is sized 720 X 480 (or 486) pixels.  You need to resize this to 640 X 480 for it to properly display on the computer monitor.

5.) Restore the washed-out picture: Video signals operate between an RGB value of 16 thru 235.  Computers use an RGB value of 0 thru 255.  You will need to restore the back and white point of your image.  Many applications have this option.

6.) Improve the saturation: A video file displayed on a computer will also need the saturation turned up a bit.  This is to compensate for what I call the Wal-Mart effect.  Consumer TVs have their reds over-cranked to make skin tones appear richer on their cheap tubes.

7.) Frame Rate:  Your video file is likely recorded at approximately 30 fps.  This is needed for a television display, but not important for most web video.  Reducing your frame rate to 15 or even 10 fps will result in a 50 - 66% savings in file size.

8.) Codecs: The file architecture you pick will often have its own codec chosen.  However some file formats support a variety of codecs.  Be sure to keep compatibility and audience requirements in mind.  Newer codecs offer a significant advantage over older formats.

9.) Don’t use a Conduit: For faster compression, don’t run web compression through a conduit like Final Cut Pro to your compression utility.  Instead, save a flattened, self-contained movie and then compress.

10.) Test it: Before you compress a lot of video, create a small test file.  Try compressing 10 seconds of video with different settings.  Find the ones that work best for you.

Video Compression Workshop – An Introduction

Successfully getting a video file delivered to your audience usually means it will be compressed (heck it’s often compressed just so we can work with it in the first place).  Making the video file available to your target audience is your goal, but the challenges of hardware, connection speed, and even operating system can affect the decisions you make.  Let’s take a common sense approach to getting your video out there.

The Most Important Piece of Paperwork for Your Projects

I often preach extensively about project management at design and creative conferences around the globe.  The one piece of paperwork that I always emphasize is completing a scoping document for a project then getting the client to sign off and accept it.  This one piece of paperwork can solve all sorts of problems and is really worth the 2-5 hours it takes to write.  The outline is as follows.

Project Scoping Document
( 2 - 1 0 p a g e s )

• Project Name
• Executive Summary
• Background
• Project Scope (High Level)


• Project Objectives
• Deliverables
• Organizations
• Interfaces Required
• Assumptions
• Constraints
• Evaluation Criteria
• Risks
• Rewards
• Budgets
• Schedules (Due Dates)
• Project Team Readiness
• Key Roles


• Executive Sponsor
• Project Manager
• Business Experts
• Technical Experts
• Signature Lines - Sign Off “Charter”

3-D Objects in Photoshop Part 2 - Photoshop for Video #86

Instructor Richard Harrington how to work with 3-D objects in Photoshop CS3. Part 2 of 2.

3-D Objects in Photoshop Part 1 - Photoshop for Video #85

Instructor Richard Harrington how to work with 3-D objects in Photoshop CS3. Part 1 of 2.

Avoid Import Blues for After Effects

It’s very common to use Photoshop and Illustrator to prepare content for import into Adobe After Effects.  Here are some practical tips to avoid problems when merging the software.
Import Tips

• Double-Click in the AE Project Window
• Shift-Click Multiple Items
• Organize in Folder and Option+Drag (Alt+Drag) from Desktop
• Keep file names less than 27 characters long

Creating Panoramic Backdrops for Green Screen

Laugh at Bill & Steve – The Silicon Apartment

What would happen if you locked Bill Gates and Steve Jobs in the same apartment (like Big Brother)?

Well you get the risque comic strip – The Silicon Apartment (PG-13). The strip is really quite good and skewers both sides.

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