Does it matter which Codec you use?

[hdjohnson]

I was wondering if it makes any difference to the speed of rendering a walkthrough if you use a certain Codec or no Codec at all?

I know if you change the settings of how good the compression is this will speed up or slow down the walkthrough. However, I would like to know if it matters which codec you use.

Does anyone have any thoughts on this.....

[GuyR]

I doubt the codec will have much effect on rendering time unless the model is extremely simple.

I always write uncompressed and post process depending on how I'm distributing the walkhrough.

Guy

[hdjohnson]

Thanks GuyR.

[beegee]

Good all purpose codecs are

"Cinepak Codec by Radius"

"Microsoft MPEG 4 Video Codecs"

As GuyR said, you need to be aware that your clients may not have the same codec on their machines, (although the two mentioned are reasonably common).

Some codecs are good at compressing the motion of the camera, while others are good at compressing images of moving objects.

Processing time is more a function of the number of frames than the codec. For architectural work, you often don't need a smooth motion avi at 30 frames per sec, you can get the information across at with a much lower rate and the AVI will process that much faster. I've seen good AVIs running as low as 1 to 2 frames per sec. They look like a slide show, but they work.

[PeterJ]

Content does become more important as you slow things down though. I have a friend who does a little of this work and he finds that the fuller an image is of entourage the more forgiving people are of a slow rendering.

[hdjohnson]

Thanks everyone for your responses. I'm using the Cinepak Codec; however, I think I should've followed Guy's message and done the rendering uncompressed. As I do some post-production work, I'm finding that there's a little bit of artifacting going on... Oh well, I guess the next one will be better.