Comments

abelenky wrote on 5/1/2009, 1:37 PM
No.

Rendering is the process of compressing video. (Raw, uncompressed video is hundreds of times larger than compressed video).

Because the file is already well compressed, programs like ZIP will only be able to compress it a tiny-fraction further. It is already near the theoretical limits of compression.

Instead, you can re-render it to a lower resolution, lower frame-rate, lower data-rate, etc. That will make it smaller.

Otherwise, you'll have to find a mechanism other than email for sharing your video (YouTube, RapidShare, Web-hosting, FTP host, Postal-service a flash-drive or CD ROM, etc...)
avalier wrote on 5/1/2009, 2:29 PM
RE: Instead, you can re-render it to a lower resolution, lower frame-rate, lower data-rate, etc. That will make it smaller.

How do you lower resolution. Where do I find that?
abelenky wrote on 5/1/2009, 2:43 PM
Start by changing your project settings,
(by memory, since I don't have VMS in front of me), go to Project/Settings. There you should see the resolution. It probably defaulted to 640x480 or 720x480.

Also, when you go to "Make Movie", and choose a codec, look for buttons for Customize and other settings. Go through each tab, and double-check the template you picked has the resolution and other settings you want.

Experiment to find the lowest settings that still give you quality video.
(hint on experimenting: no need to render the entire movie everytime. Just select a region of your movie and choose the "Render Loop Region Only" option. Then you can watch the results of rendering a small portion of the movie with different settings.)
Ivan Lietaert wrote on 5/1/2009, 3:16 PM
People don't usually email video to one another: the reason is the files are simply too big. Instead, upload your video to a service like youtube or vimeo (which allows download as well) and share it with your audience. Good luck. A 123mb upload is pretty normal. Make sure you keep the bitrate at around 2000.
Chienworks wrote on 5/1/2009, 3:28 PM
Note that changing the resolution in itself will have no effect on the final size of the file. All that determines the file size are the duration and the bitrate*. So contrary to what seems common sense, a 172MB 640x480 file re-rendered at 320x240 will still be 172MB. You would have to lower the bitrate from, say, 3600kbps to 1800kbps in order to halve the size of the file, and this will be true whether you switch to 320x240 or stay in 640x480.

The reason for advising lower resolution is that when the bit rate is lowered enough, often a smaller frame size looks better because there are less artifacts.


*Well, this is true of compressed delivery formats like WMV, MPEG, QuickTime, DivX, etc. It doesn't apply to relatively uncompressed editing formats like DV or Cineform.
avalier wrote on 5/1/2009, 4:03 PM
How do I change the bit rate? Also where do I find the current bit rate?
abelenky wrote on 5/1/2009, 4:46 PM
What codec / format are you using?
Likely candidates are WMV / MOV / MPG....
avalier wrote on 5/1/2009, 4:54 PM
Windows Media 11
Chienworks wrote on 5/1/2009, 6:27 PM
Use advanced render (File / Render As), choose the output format, click on the [Custom] button. Under the Video tab you can set all sorts of options.
musicvid10 wrote on 5/1/2009, 8:00 PM
WMV, 1Mbs VBR, 320x240 works pretty well for emailing short videos.