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SheerVideo User Manual

Adobe After Effects
Exporting: Movie


QuickTime Movie To convert an open or selected RGB[A] 8bf movie, slide show, or image sequence to a SheerVideo QuickTime movie:

  1. File > Export > QuickTime Movie… Select File > Export > QuickTime Movie… in After Effects's menu bar
  2. to bring up the Save dialog box.

    Save Dialog

  3. Save As Name the output movie file in the Save As text field at the top of the Save dialog box.
  4. Save Click the Save button at the bottom right of the Save dialog box
  5. to bring up the QuickTime Movie Settings dialog box.

    Movie Settings Dialog

  6. Video Check the Video checkbox at the top of the Movie Settings dialog box.
  7. Prepare for Internet Streaming Uncheck the Prepare for Internet Streaming checkbox near the bottom of the Movie Settings dialog box. The Internet Streaming option is tuned for distribution over very low bandwidth channels, and greatly slows down SheerVideo playback.
  8. Settings... Click the Settings… button at the top of the Movie Settings dialog box
  9. to bring up QuickTime's Standard Video Compression Settings dialog box.

    Standard Video Compression Settings Dialog

  10. Compression Type Select the desired Sheer codec in the Compression Type pop-up menu at the top of the Standard Video Compression Settings dialog box:
    • Sheer Sheer, to let SheerVideo automatically choose the appropriate Sheer pixel type according to the video pixel format that it receives from the After Effects QuickTime Export function, which is always RGB[A] 8bf. Thus, in this context, selecting the generic Sheer codec is equivalent to selecting the specific Sheer RGB[A] 8bf codec. (See immediately below.)
    • Sheer RGB[A] 8bf Sheer RGB[A] 8bf, for use in applications dealing in standard-precision scanned film and computer-generated imagery.

      details

      This codec perfectly encodes all RGB[A] 8bf source footage in real time through After Effects' QuickTime Export facility, with an average compression power of 2.2, so that the Sheer RGB[A] 8bf files take up only 45% as much space as the uncompressed RGB[A] 8bf originals, with zero loss of information.

      Sheer RGB[A] 8bf both encodes and decodes losslessly in real time from and to all RGB[A] 8bf pixel formats (ARGB, and, on PC+Windows, ABGR, RGBA, BGRA, RGB, and BGR), making it ideal for editing in those formats.

      For faster but lower-quality display, the Sheer RGB[A] 8bf codec can also decode in real time to RGB 5b pixel formats (B555, and, on PC+Windows, L555 and L565).

      This codec also losslessly decodes to RGB[A] >8bf pixel formats ('b64a', 'L64A', 'b48r', 'R10k', and 'r210'); and, using Synchromy, losslessly decodes to Y'CbCr[A] ≥10b 4:4:4[:4] pixel formats ('r4fl', 'V416', and 'v410').

      In addition, Sheer RGB[A] 8bf uses Synchromy to decode with the minimal loss theoretically possible to Y'CbCr[A] <10b pixel formats ('v408', 'VUYA', 'r408', 'v210', 'v216', 'Y216', '2vuy', '2Vuy', and 'yuvs').


    • Sheer RGB[A] 10bf Sheer RGB[A] 10bf, for use in applications dealing in high-precision scanned film and computer-generated imagery.

      details

      Like Sheer RGB[A] 8bf, this codec perfectly encodes all RGB[A] 8bf source footage in real time through After Effects' QuickTime Export facility, with an average compression power of 2.2, so that the Sheer RGB[A] 10bf files take up only 45% as much space as the uncompressed RGB[A] 8bf originals, with zero loss of information.

      Sheer RGB[A] 10bf both encodes and decodes losslessly in real time from and to all RGB[A] 10bf pixel formats (10-bit 'b64a' and 'L64A', , 10-bit 'b48r', 'R10k', and 'r210') making it ideal for editing in RGB[A] 10bf formats.

      For faster but lower-quality display, Sheer RGB[A] 10bf can decode in real time all RGB[A] 8bf pixel formats (ARGB, and, on PC+Windows, ABGR, RGBA, BGRA, RGB, and BGR), as well as RGB 5b pixel formats (B555, and, on PC+Windows, L555 and L565).

      Note that After Effects Pro only outputs RGB[A] 8bf through its QuickTime Export facility, so there isn't much point in exporting to Sheer RGB[A] 10bf instead of Sheer RGB[A] 8bf. For true RGB[A] 10bf output, use After Effects Pro's Rendering Queue instead.

      Using Synchromy, this codec also losslessly decodes to Y'CbCr[A] ≥12b 4:4:4[:4] pixel formats ('r4fl'), and, for RGB[A] 8bf source footage, to Y'CbCr[A] ≥10b 4:4:4[:4] pixel formats ('r4fl', 'V416', and 'v410').

      In addition, Sheer RGB[A] 10bf uses Synchromy to decode with the minimal loss theoretically possible to Y'CbCr[A] <12b pixel formats ('v408', 'VUYA', 'r408', 'v210', 'v216', 'Y216', '2vuy', '2Vuy', and 'yuvs').


    • Sheer Y'CbCr[A] 8bv 4:4:4[:4] Sheer Y'CbCr[A] 8bv 4:4:4[:4], for use in applications for compositing standard-precision digitized video.

      details

      In Best Conversion mode, this codec lossily encodes RGB[A] 8bf source footage through After Effects' QuickTime Export facility, with an average compression power of 2.84, so that the Sheer Y'CbCr[A] 8bv 4:4:4[:4] files take up only 35% as much space as the uncompressed RGB[A] 8bf originals, using Synchromy technology to ensure the minimal loss theoretically possible.

      Sheer Y'CbCr[A] 8bv 4:4:4[:4] both encodes and decodes losslessly in real time from and to all Y'CbCr[A] 8bv 4:4:4[:4] pixel formats ('v408', 'VUYA', and 'r408'), making it ideal for editing in those formats.

      For faster but lower-quality display, the Sheer Y'CbCr[A] 8bv 4:4:4[:4] codec can also decode in real time to Y'CbCr[A] 8bv 4:2:2[:4] pixel formats ('2vuy', '2Vuy', and 'yuvs').

      This codec also losslessly decodes to Y'CbCr[A] >8b 4:4:4[:4] pixel formats ('r4fl', 'V416', and 'v410'). and, thanks to Synchromy, to RGB[A] ≥9bf pixel formats ('b64a', 'L64A', , 'R10k', and 'r210').

      In addition, Sheer Y'CbCr[A] 8bv 4:4:4[:4] uses Synchromy to decode with the minimal loss theoretically possible to RGB[A] <10bf pixel formats (ARGB, and, on PC+Windows, ABGR, RGBA, BGRA, RGB, and BGR) and to Y'CbCr[A] 4:2:2[:4] pixel formats ('v210', 'v216', 'Y216', '2vuy', '2Vuy', and 'yuvs').


    • Sheer Y'CbCr[A] 10bv 4:4:4[:4] Sheer Y'CbCr[A] 10bv 4:4:4[:4], for use in applications for compositing high-precision digitized video.

      details

      This codec perfectly encodes all RGB[A] 8bf source footage through After Effects' QuickTime Export facility, with an average compression power of 1.72, so that the Sheer Y'CbCr[A] 10bv 4:4:4[:4] files take up only 58% as much space as the uncompressed RGB[A] 8bf originals, using Synchromy technology to ensure zero loss of information.

      Sheer Y'CbCr[A] 10bv 4:4:4[:4] both encodes and decodes losslessly in real time from and to all Y'CbCr[A] 10bv 4:4:4[:4] pixel formats (10-bit 'r4fl', 10-bit 'V416', and 'v410'), making it ideal for editing in those formats.

      For faster but lower-quality display, the Sheer Y'CbCr[A] 10bv 4:4:4[:4] codec can also decode in real time to Y'CbCr[A] 8bv 4:4:4[:4] pixel formats ('v408', 'VUYA', and 'r408'), to Y'CbCr[A] 10bv 4:2:2[:4] pixel formats ('v210', 'v216', and 'Y216'), and to Y'CbCr[A] 8bv 4:2:2[:4] pixel formats ('2vuy', '2Vuy', and 'yuvs').

      This codec also losslessly decodes to RGB[A] ≥12bf pixel formats ('b64a' and 'L64A') using Synchromy.

      In addition, Sheer Y'CbCr[A] 10bv 4:4:4[:4] uses Synchromy to decode with the minimal loss theoretically possible to RGB[A] <12bf pixel formats ('R10k', 'r210', ARGB, and, on PC+Windows, ABGR, RGBA, BGRA, RGB, and BGR).


    • Sheer Y'CbCr[A] 8bv 4:2:2[:4] Sheer Y'CbCr[A] 8bv 4:2:2[:4], for cutting and archiving standard-precision digitized video.

      details

      In Best Conversion mode, this codec lossily encodes RGB[A] 8bf source footage through After Effects' QuickTime Export facility, with an average compression power of 3.64, so that the Sheer Y'CbCr[A] 8bv 4:2:2[:4] files take up only 27% as much space as the uncompressed RGB[A] 8bf originals, using Synchromy color conversion to ensure the minimal loss theoretically possible.

      Sheer Y'CbCr[A] 8bv 4:2:2[:4] both encodes and decodes losslessly in real time from and to all Y'CbCr[A] 8bv 4:2:2[:4] pixel formats ('2vuy', '2Vuy', and 'yuvs'), making it ideal for processing in those formats.

      This codec also losslessly decodes to Y'CbCr[A] ≥9b 4:2:2[:4] pixel formats ('v210', 'v216', and 'Y216').

      In addition, Sheer Y'CbCr[A] 8bv 4:2:2[:4] uses Synchromy to decode with minimal loss to RGB[A] pixel formats ('b64a', 'L64A', 'R10k', 'r210', ARGB, and, on PC+Windows, ABGR, RGBA, BGRA, RGB, and BGR) and to Y'CbCr[A] 4:4:4[:4] pixel formats ('r4fl', 'V416', 'v410', 'v408', VUYA', and 'r408').


    • Sheer Y'CbCr[A] 10bv 4:2:2[:4] Sheer Y'CbCr[A] 10bv 4:2:2[:4], for cutting and archiving high-precision digitized video.

      details

      In Best Conversion mode, this codec lossily encodes RGB[A] 8bf source footage through After Effects' QuickTime Export facility, with an average compression power of 2.36, so that the Sheer Y'CbCr[A] 10bv 4:2:2[:4] files take up only 42% as much space as the uncompressed RGB[A] 8bf originals, using Synchromy color conversion to ensure the minimal loss theoretically possible.

      Sheer Y'CbCr[A] 10bv 4:2:2[:4] both encodes and decodes losslessly in real time from and to all Y'CbCr[A] 10bv 4:2:2[:4] pixel formats ('v210', 10-bit 'v216', and 10-bit 'Y216'), making it ideal for processing in those formats.

      For faster but lower-quality display, the Sheer Y'CbCr[A] 10bv 4:2:2[:4] codec can also decode in real time to Y'CbCr[A] 8bv 4:2:2[:4] pixel formats ('2vuy', '2Vuy', and 'yuvs').

      In addition, Sheer Y'CbCr[A] 10bv 4:2:2[:4] uses Synchromy to decode with minimal loss to RGB[A] pixel formats ('b64a', 'L64A', 'R10k', 'r210', ARGB, and, on PC+Windows, ABGR, RGBA, BGRA, RGB, and BGR) and to Y'CbCr[A] 4:4:4[:4] pixel formats ('r4fl', 'V416', 'v410', 'v408', 'VUYA', and 'r408').


    RGB stands for {Red, Green, Blue}, the color representation used by the human eye, scanners, and displays.

    [A] stands for an optional Alpha channel specifying opacity or coverage, used for compositing.

    Y'CbCr stands for {luma (Y), Chroma blue-yellow, Chroma red-cyan}, the color representation used by television.

    8b stands for 8 bits of information per color channel, the standard precision of digital displays.

    10b stands for 10 bits of information per color channel, the standard precision of digitized film and computer-generated imagery.

    u stands for unbiassed video-range, with headroom for filter overshoot but no footroom for undershoot, otherwise per ITU-R BT.601-4.

    v stands for video-range, with foot- and headroom for filter under- and overshoot, per ITU-R BT.601-4.

    w stands for wide-range, without foot- or headroom; obsolete.

    4:4:4 means that for every 4 luma pixels, there are 4 chroma pixels (on both even and odd lines).

    4:4:4:4 means that for every 4 luma and chroma pixels, there are 4 alpha pixels.

    4:2:2 means that for every 4 neighboring luma pixels, there are only 2 chroma pixels (on both even and odd lines), as in television.

    4:2:2:4 means that for every 4 luma pixels (and for every 2 chroma pixels), there are 4 alpha pixels.

  11. Frame Rate: Current Select Current fps in the editable Frame Rate pop-up menu at the top of the Motion section in the upper left of the Standard Video Compression Settings dialog box, unless you want to resample the video at a different rate.
  12. Depth Specify whether or not you want to retain alpha in your exported movie, by selecting one of the following items in the Depth pop-menu at the top of the Compressor section in the lower left of the Standard Video Compression Settings dialog box:

    • Millions of Colors Millions of Colors, if there is no alpha channel or you want to ignore it.
    • Millions of Colors+ Millions of Colors+, if there is an alpha channel and you want to preserve it.

    Note that for 10-bit codecs, the Depth pop-up menu erroneously offers "Millions" instead of "Billions" of colors. Nevertheless, After Effects Pro and QuickTime do properly support 10-bit codecs.

    To find out whether your input movie has an alpha channel, see the Alpha instructions at the bottom of this page.

  13. Best Ignore the Quality slider, if present, in the middle of the Compressor section of the Standard Video Compression Settings dialog box. It has no effect on the compression quality of SheerVideo QuickTime movies, which is always perfect or best (Quality=Best=100). Note: this slider was removed in SheerVideo v2.3.8.
  14. Options... For advanced settings, click the Options… button at the bottom of the Compressor section of the Standard Video Compression Settings dialog box
  15. to bring up the Sheer Settings dialog box.

    Sheer Settings Dialog

  16. Specify whether or not you want to turn on SheerVideo's self-check mode to verify each compressed video frame by decompressing it to the input pixel format (which is always RGB[A] 8bf in After Effects QuickTime export) and comparing the restored frame to the input, by clicking on one of the following radio buttons at the top of the Algorithms section of the Sheer Settings dialog box:

    • One-way (faster) One-way (faster), to have SheerVideo just encode the video. This is the default value.
    • Self-check (safer) Self-check (safer), to have SheerVideo encode, decode, and compare the result, to verify that each frame is encoded with perfect fidelity.

      Self-check mode must be turned off to allow destructive conversion. You should only use self-check mode when no pixel-format conversion is required (for exporting from After Effects to Sheer RGB[A] 8bf) or when perfect pixel-format conversion is possible (for exporting from After Effects to Sheer RGB[A] 10bf or Sheer Y'CbCr 10bv 4:4:4[:4]).

      Do not use self-check mode for exporting from After Effects to Sheer Y'CbCr[A] 8bv 4:4:4[:4], Sheer Y'CbCr[A] 8bv 4:2:2[:4], or Sheer Y'CbCr[A] 10bv 4:2:2[:4]. Even with Synchromy technology, the RGB[A] 8bf output from After Effects Pro's QuickTime Export facility cannot be perfectly converted to any Y'CbCr[A] formats of precision less than 10 bits or to 4:2:2[:4] chroma-subsampled images.

    Unfortunately, QuickTime provides no way for the encoder to determine the source format, so SheerVideo does not have the information it would need to disable this choice when it is inapplicable.

    Note that SheerVideo is so fast compared to other system bottlenecks that you may not notice any slowdown in using the self-check mode, especially for frames small enough to fit in the CPU cache.

  17. Specify whether or not you want to take advantage of any vector processor in your computer by clicking on one of the following radio buttons at the bottom of the Algorithms section of the Sheer Settings dialog box:

    • Scalar Scalar (energy saver), to have SheerVideo execute a scalar code version of the codec, to save battery power on a laptop with a vector processor, such as a PowerBook G4.
    • Vectorized Vectorized (faster), to have SheerVideo execute a vectorized code version of the codec. When available, this is the default value.

    Many of SheerVideo's codecs are available in two forms: scalar code, to run on a scalar processor; and vectorized code, to run on a vector processor. The vectorized code speeds up encoding and decoding by nearly a factor of two, but increases energy consumption, which can be an important consideration on battery-powered computers. Moreover, since vector processors are much more complicated and vectorized algorithms are much more complicated, switching to a scalar algorithm can be diagnostically useful.

  18. Select which coding method you want SheerVideo to use, by clicking on one of the following radio buttons in the Coding section of the Sheer Settings dialog box:

    • Progressive Progressive, if you want to encode the frame in progressive-scan mode. Progressive coding usually compresses better for content having little or no interfield motion.
    • Interlaced Interlaced, if you want to encode the even and odd fields of the frame independently. Interlaced coding usually compresses better for content having large interfield motion, and is often slightly faster.
    • Automatic Automatic, if you want the coding method to be determined by the images' Field Info image description extension. This is the default value. Note, however, that as of QuickTime 7.0, there is still no mechanism for QuickTime encoders to access the image description extensions of the source.
  19. Select whether or not to have the Sheer encoder accept only pixel formats that can be encoded perfectly, by clicking on one of the following radio buttons in the Pixel Format Conversion section of the Sheer Settings dialog box:

    • Perfect Perfect, to accept only pixel formats that permit perfect encoding. Do not use this for exporting from After Effects to Sheer Y'CbCr[A] 8bv 4:4:4[:4], Sheer Y'CbCr[A] 8bv 4:2:2[:4], or Sheer Y'CbCr[A] 10bv 4:2:2[:4], since converting to any of these formats from the RGB[A] 8bf pixel format provided by the QuickTime Export Facility in After Effects Standard or After Effects Professional is inherently destructive, even with Synchromy, because of precision reduction or chroma subsampling.
    • Best Best, to encode using the best possible method even if the pixel format cannot be converted without information loss. This is the default.

    Note: If you restrict SheerVideo to Perfect pixel-format conversion for a case which Synchromy does not guarantee to be lossless, then if any actual information loss occurs, self-check will fail. So self-check mode must also be turned off to permit imperfect conversion.

  20. Select the video color standard of the Y'CbCr target for Sheer Y'CbCr[A] codecs, and of the Y'CbCr source for Sheer RGB[A] codecs, by clicking on one of the following radio buttons in the Video Source Default section of the Sheer Settings dialog box:

    • NTSC NTSC, for composite NTSC (SMPTE 170-M-1994), digital 525 (SMPTE 125-M-1995, SMPTE 267-M-1995, SMPTE 259-M-1997), or 720x483 progressive 16:9 (SMPTE 293-M-1996)
      This is the default value.
    • PAL PAL, for composite PAL or SECAM (ITU-R BT.470-4), or for digital 625 (ITU-R BT.656-3).
    • HD HD, for all current HD formats (ITU-R BT.709-2), including 1920x1080 HDTV (SMPTE 274-M-1995) and 1280x720 HDTV (SMPTE 296-M-1997).
    • HD 1035 HD 1035, for 1920x1035 HDTV (SMPTE 240-M-1995, SMPTE 260-M-1992) as well as the obsolete interim color implementation of 1920x1080 HDTV (SMPTE 274-M-1995).

    When exporting to Sheer RGB codecs from any Y'CbCr source footage in After Effects Professional, you should use the Rendering Queue rather than the QuickTime export facility, because the latter only exports RGB[A] 8bf, even if the project is set to 16 bits/pixel.

  21. OK Click the OK button at the bottom of the Sheer Settings dialog box to confirm the Sheer options settings and dismiss the Sheer Settings dialog box.
  22. OK Click the OK button at the bottom of the Standard Video Compression Settings dialog box to confirm the compression settings and dismiss the Standard Video Compression Settings dialog box.
  23. OK Click the OK button at the bottom of the Movie Settings dialog box to confirm the movie settings, dismiss the Movie Settings dialog box, and export the movie as a SheerVideo QuickTime movie.

After Effects remembers all these settings, so if you want to export the next movie the same way, all you need to do is select File > Export > Movie…, name the output movie file, and click the Save button.

If you save a video track in SheerVideo format in a QuickTime Movie file, then that video track will be openable by any video application that can open QuickTime Movie files, which includes essentially all video applications.

QuickTime movie files have the file type 'MooV', and the filename extension ".mov".

 

Alpha

To determine if a movie or image in After Effects has an alpha channel,

  1. Project Window Select the movie or image in the After Effects Project Window

  2. Project Alpha Look at the Color Depth description next to the thumbnail at the top of the Project Window. If it says Millions of Colors+ or Trillions of Colors+, then the source file has an alpha channel. If there's no +, then the source file has no alpha channel.

or

  1. Project Window Select the movie or image in the After Effects Project Window

  2. File > Interpret Footage > Main… Select File > Interpret Footage > Main… in After Effects's menu bar
  3. to bring up the Interpret Footage dialog box.

    Interpret Footage Dialog

  4. Look at the Alpha section at the top of the Interpret Footage dialog. If the controls are operable, then the source file has an alpha channel. If they're grayed out and inoperable, then the source file has no alpha channel.
  5. OK Click the OK button at the bottom of the Interpret Footage dialog box to dismiss the dialog box.


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