motion graphics

brogers wrote on 10/20/2009, 6:11 AM
I recently produced some spots for TV that had some basic text moves. When I rendered them in Vegas 8 as interlaced .mov they looked great. When I sent them to the TV station a friend of mine who works there said the text was jittery when it scaled up into place. He suggested I buy After Effects and re-do this motion... it would be smoother.

Is After Effects really necessary to do basic motion graphics for TV?

Thanks in advance.

Comments

Coursedesign wrote on 10/20/2009, 7:11 AM
The difference is that After Effects has subpixel rendering, which makes for smoother moves.

You can do OK without it, but then you need to pick only certain rates of especially vertical movement.

Now, did I understand it that your text is scaled up after you generate it?

That is an absolute no-no in any situation except for effect.
Laurence wrote on 10/20/2009, 8:21 AM
I would try rendering to 30p (29.97) with a little motion blur. Since TV went digital, the chances are almost certain that they broadcast progressive now so you may as well give them what they are putting on the air.
TheHappyFriar wrote on 10/20/2009, 8:26 AM
if you render it in vegas & it looks good on your TV, then it's the station. They either gave you the wrong format to give to them or they're doing something. I put stuff done in vegas OTA for ~3 years & had no issues, even with text moves..
Coursedesign wrote on 10/20/2009, 9:36 AM
Since TV went digital, the chances are almost certain that they broadcast progressive now

720p is used by Fox, ESPN, ABC and a few more, but the rest use 1080i.

In interlaced video, you can get interference between the frame rate and the vertical pixel movement rate.

Adam Wilt describes it well:

The problem with interlace and rolls is that as the text moves up the screen, its position with respect to each field's line structure can either change, or stay the same. If it stays the same, your text will look as good moving as it does when it's still. If it changes, the text will lose resolution and may flicker, distort, and crawl around as it rolls.