Part VII: Working with Specialized Functionality
FIGURE 33.19Saving output data for your animation
Frame Information enables you to set the quality of the finished rendering. Low frame rates result
in choppy motion. High frame rates will be much smoother, but the files may become unmanage-
ably large. High-quality animations generally fall into the 25 to 30 frames per second (fps) range.
The human eye cannot resolve faster rates, so it is usually pointless to go any higher than 30.Test animations
Depending on the length of the animation and the other settings, test animations might run in the
10 fps range. You might also consider using a specific range of time to test just a portion of the
animation.Unfortunately, many of the decisions that you make regarding animation quality settings directly
relate to the time you have to produce the final movie file. The biggest time saver is to avoid
PhotoWorks. If RealView suits your needs, you are well ahead on time.Selecting a compressor
When you go to save the animation, the software prompts you to select a video compressor
(codec). Typical options are the Microsoft Video and the Cinepak compressors. Sometimes when
you record or play back a movie with a particular compressor, you get a lot of video garbage in the
movie. If this happens, try another compressor. I used Microsoft Video for the first movie I
recorded of this animation, and there was a lot of video noise. I switched to Cinepak and it
worked perfectly.