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Hi, I am working with two .tiff stilll image sequence (1 is picture and the 2nd one are the mattes) and I was wondering if anybody had a suggestion as to which other file format I might use TGA? or something else. The tiffs are really adding up in file size and are really slow to work with. I will be staying in the video world. The current tiff files are also 16bit. Could I go with 8bit? Something that is small but will still maintain the quality and multiple alpha channels. Or is the best method is to create a new video file and then work with that. If so could I still use the matte still image sequence or should I convert that into a video file as well? Thanks again so much for all the help!!!!
For video – in the normal everyday world .. tiff 8 bit are fine.
you would expect mst stuff to be tiff or RGBA, but rarely 16 bit, unless there was some good reason for itMike
In addition to quality issues if you are doing a lot of files I would suggest you do some testing. At one point I tested file imports of different flavors to an application and found that one file type was significantly faster to import.
Jeff
hi,
8bit tiff should be fine for prettymuch most cases;
i´m not sure, what you exactly expect with “… multiple alpha channels … “, as far as i know, theres no *standard* file format with more than 1 alpha .?
i guess for additional mattes you will have to use separate images.
also i made the experience, that image sequence formats (quicktime etc) are way slower in handling by combustion compared to image (tif etc) sequences.ciao
robertif you have space problems you should consider using png sequences.
if you have speed problems you best use tgas.combustion is the fastest with tgas (my experience and of many others).
i often use png´s when working with HD. it is slower to load then tga´s but very very small. it´s also lossless and can hold alpha (only 1 though).
in heavy comps with many layers i switch to tga´s.hope this helps…
timor
Depending on your other systems and your workflow, you could consider the DPX file format. It has a 10-bit mode so you won’t waste space with 16-bit if all you need is 10-bit. Of course, there’s 16-bit DPX as well. And there’s 8-bit DPX in case you don’t need 10-bit.
And DPX works well with any FFI/FS system as well as Shake, Nuke, etc. And now with QT 7 conversion between Quicktime (uncompressed) media and DPX is fast and easy. DPX also has good meta-data handling so it can carry time-code, keycode and other parameters in the header.
Neil Sadwelkar
Mumbai, India.Wouldn’t it be awesome if you could work with Photoshop image file sequences that included multiple alphas, masks and the rest of PSD tricks
Just a late Christmas wish (I hope some at adobe is watching…) 💡
Hi guys,
Try OpenEXR…developed by ILM.
It’s a HDR image format which supports lossless compression, works with 16 float (or 32 bit float if you prefer), it can handle multiple layers of images such as multiple passes in a single image file as well as metadata. It could have camera tracking info, timecode and anyother data you want.
It seems to be a great image format that’s beign adopted by several VFX Studios.
Nuke handles OpenEXR images perfectly due to it’s core architecture which supports up to 64 channels in a single image.
DF5 is also able to read and extract multiple channels from a OpenEXR file.
Combustion 4 support OpenEXR output but I’m not sure if it’s possible to include extra layers or metadate during output.
Rgds,
Francisco Lima
We use targas a lot for after effects but only recently discovered that you can enable RLE compression (Run Length Encoding) for them which will slow renders down a bit but reduces file sizes by a huge amount. Not sure if it plays nice with Combustion but it’s worth a go.
I know a lot of 3d guys who render to JPEG but it goes against the grain for me to use any lossy format if avoidable. JPEG2000 has a lossless option which is pretty cool but I doubt combustion will play nicely with it.
Glenn Stewart
1K studios
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