how to encode animation videos in keyshot

[CarlosFerreira]

Hi

Was wondering how to encode animation videos in Keyshot. Is this something that I would have to do outside of Keyshot? Below are customer specifications.

Video encoding Codec: H.264
File type: mp4 preferred or .mov (all other files will not be accepted)
Bit Rate: High Profile / Level 4.1
Frame rate: 30 fps & 24 fps? Progressive (no interlaced frame)
Audio: 320 kbps AAC

I'm not sure what a lot of this means lol. Any help would be appreciated.

Thank you!!

[mattjgerard]

Hi

Was wondering how to encode animation videos in Keyshot. Is this something that I would have to do outside of Keyshot? Below are customer specifications.

Video encoding Codec: H.264
File type: mp4 preferred or .mov (all other files will not be accepted)
Bit Rate: High Profile / Level 4.1
Frame rate: 30 fps & 24 fps? Progressive (no interlaced frame)
Audio: 320 kbps AAC

I'm not sure what a lot of this means lol. Any help would be appreciated.

Thank you!!

Mac or PC?
Access to video encoding or editing software? (Adobe Premiere, After Effects, Final Cut X, etc? )

Depending on those two, there are paths to get to where you need to be. Generally the concensus is to render out frames only out of keyshot, and compile them in a video editing program. Gives you some flexibility to make updates to changes to the frame stack at a later time. From the video software you can usually export whatever file format you need to. Although be warned that .mov is a Apple Quicktime extension, so if you go that route you will need a mac to encode it.

This is a bit of a rabbit hole that one can trip and fall into when it comes to video codecs and file extensions. These specs seem to be accurate, although it doesn't state the frame size desired, HD 2k, 4k, etc. And not all softwares will let you set the LEvel, instead they will allow you to set the bitrate. In your case level 4.1 equates to 50mb max bit rate. Which is quite high for HD,  and will hold up to 2k resolution, although some encoders don't hold you hostage when it comes to frame sizes.  Here is a chart that explains more than you need to know-

http://blog.mediacoderhq.com/h264-profiles-and-levels/

[CarlosFerreira]

Hey Mattjgerard

Thanks for replying and sharing.

I'm working on a Mac. My understanding of what you said, it might be best to render out the frames out of KeyShot and create the video in a separate video editing program. What would you recommend? 

Here are the full specs of what's being asked for by the client.

Video encoding Codec: H.264
File type: mp4 preferred or .mov (all other files will not be accepted)
Video resolution: 1920 x 1080 pixels
Aspect Ratio: 16:9
Bit Rate: High Profile / Level 4.1
Frame rate: 30 fps & 24 fps? Progressive (no interlaced frame)
Audio: 320 kbps AAC
File Size: no less than 10 MB per minute of content up to 150 MB total file size. The video will be resized to fit the player/viewer. The most important factor is the highest bitrate
Length: 15-60 seconds is preferred

[Will Gibbons]

Carlos,

Do you have the Adobe suite? If so, I'd use Premiere Pro. You can follow some very simple/basic tutorials to import your sequence, and set your encode settings. That's what I use.

[CarlosFerreira]

Thanks, Will.

I have Adobe suite, I'll definitely check it out.

[TGS808]

If you're unfamiliar with any of the above mentioned video editors, you can also put this together in Photoshop. After rendering out your frames in KeyShot, open them in PS as an image sequence. (at the bottom left of the open dialog box you'll see an "options" button. Click that and it'll reveal a check box for Image Sequence. If you check that box and then open the first image in the sequence, it'll open them all effectively compiling the video in PS as a video layer. From there all you need to do is go to File/Export/Render Video. All the settings you are looking for are in there. If you want to add an audio track to it, open the Timeline from the Window drop down menu so you can see the video in the timeline. There is a "+" button on the right side of the window that will allow you to add the audio track to the timeline.

[CarlosFerreira]

If you're unfamiliar with any of the above mentioned video editors, you can also put this together in Photoshop. After rendering out your frames in KeyShot, open them in PS as an image sequence. (at the bottom left of the open dialog box you'll see an "options" button. Click that and it'll reveal a check box for Image Sequence. If you check that box and then open the first image in the sequence, it'll open them all effectively compiling the video in PS as a video layer. From there all you need to do is go to File/Export/Render Video. All the settings you are looking for are in there. If you want to add an audio track to it, open the Timeline from the Window drop down menu so you can see the video in the timeline. There is a "+" button on the right side of the window that will allow you to add the audio track to the timeline.

Even better lol. I'll try that now.
Thank you!

[mattjgerard]

If you're unfamiliar with any of the above mentioned video editors, you can also put this together in Photoshop. After rendering out your frames in KeyShot, open them in PS as an image sequence. (at the bottom left of the open dialog box you'll see an "options" button. Click that and it'll reveal a check box for Image Sequence. If you check that box and then open the first image in the sequence, it'll open them all effectively compiling the video in PS as a video layer. From there all you need to do is go to File/Export/Render Video. All the settings you are looking for are in there. If you want to add an audio track to it, open the Timeline from the Window drop down menu so you can see the video in the timeline. There is a "+" button on the right side of the window that will allow you to add the audio track to the timeline.

Using photoshop for working with image sequences and video goes against everything I've learned for the past 20 years in the video biz, and when they introduced video layers in PS a while back my brain cringed.

But dang it if it works it works! Love to hear multiple ways of doing this sort of thing.  Nice tip!

[TGS808]

Yeah, video has come a long way in Photoshop. I don't know if you'd want to use it to cut a movie together but for something like this, it works perfectly. Especially if you're someone who's not used to the ins and outs of video editing software.

[Will Gibbons]

If you're unfamiliar with any of the above mentioned video editors, you can also put this together in Photoshop. After rendering out your frames in KeyShot, open them in PS as an image sequence. (at the bottom left of the open dialog box you'll see an "options" button. Click that and it'll reveal a check box for Image Sequence. If you check that box and then open the first image in the sequence, it'll open them all effectively compiling the video in PS as a video layer. From there all you need to do is go to File/Export/Render Video. All the settings you are looking for are in there. If you want to add an audio track to it, open the Timeline from the Window drop down menu so you can see the video in the timeline. There is a "+" button on the right side of the window that will allow you to add the audio track to the timeline.

That's right! Been a while since I've done this. Good call.

[CarlosFerreira]

Hey everyone

Used Photoshop and so far it works fine. I'll have to learn some other program for editing but for this, it works just fine. Thanks for the tip everyone.

[jasonbaldwin]

I generally output an AVI (for reference) and frames, which I assemble into a sequence in After Effects (Animation > Keyframe Assistant > Sequence Layers). It allows the flexibility of holding on the start and/or end of the sequence to adjust the video length. It works for me, because the video will end up in After Effects eventually anyway, for titles and logos and whatnot.