RIDGEDANCE Nanoscience Film Festival

1. Please assist our planning by letting us know of your intention (not binding) to submit a film clip for the RIDGEDANCE Nanoscience Film Festival. Use the convenient web-fillable form.

2. To actually upload your film clip, when ready (on or before June 7th), just follow the instructions at #9 below.

Our goal is to receive 640x480 videos with stereo soundtracks that have sufficient quality to pass “listening” and “viewing” tests in a large screen venue, while maintaining reasonable file sizes for run times that may be a maximum of 10 minutes in duration, with 3-7 minutes strongly preferred. After much listening and viewing the guidelines below were developed. The only acceptable formats are MPEG-1, AVI, QuickTime, and WMV. Please see the precise descriptions of these following #12 below.

Notes and Tips

1) Have fun!

2) For the best possible results, use the highest quality A/V content while editing your video, and then render to an acceptable format using the guidelines below. Although every attempt has been made to ensure the feasibility of rendering directly to our formats from your editor, problems may occur. In this event, one can render to an intermediate format – like an uncompressed AVI (see notes 3 & 4), for example – and then pass this file through a processor like VirtualDub, TMPGEnc, QuickTime Pro, or Windows Media Encoder 9 Series using the settings below.

3) A note about AVIs – if you render them you’ve likely experienced the 2GB limit on file size. OpenDML, Type 2, or DV AVIs don’t have this limitation, and most editors should support, and be able to render to, this type of AVI – check your application’s settings. In fact, it’s the format DV cameras use. The free Panasonic DV codec below might be useful in this event, since it may allow certain tools to work with these AVIs.

4) Another note about AVIs –VirtualDub, TMPGEnc, QuickTime Pro, and Windows Media Encoder 9 Series were tested with a 12.4GB uncompressed AVI – none had a problem opening or processing the file.

5) A note about DV content: you may have to resize it if you work with tools that aren’t aware of pixel aspect ratios and instead treat everything as 1:1. Since DV pixels have an aspect ratio of ~0.9:1, and a DV frame is 720x480 pixels, one can simply resize (use bilinear or bicubic resampling) such content to 640x480 since 720 x 0.9 = 648, which is close enough to 640. You’ll note after doing so that objects in the frame no longer appear stretched.

6) Another note about DV content – you may notice it appears dark in your editor. Leave it alone if your material will be shown on a television. For display on a computer, however, one should adjust the brightness and contrast as needed.

7) Still more about DV content – it’s interlaced, and depending on how your editor handles it, it may not look well on a progressive scan device like a computer display. Smart Deinterlacer Filter, combined with VirtualDub (both below), provides an excellent method of preprocessing your DV content before dropping it into your editor. Within the filter, set Motion Processing to “Frame-and-field differencing” and “cubic interpolate” – leave the other parameters at their default.

8) Audio and video bitrates are measured in kbps (kilo bits per second), and they come in two flavors: VBR and CBR. We’ve settled on CBR (constant bitrate) for both to keep our guidelines simple.

† Quality varies with encoder – e.g., on a per frame basis, our test video looked slightly better when rendered using the Mainconcept encoder, for example, than with TMPGEnc.

10) Sites like http://www.videohelp.com/, http://www.doom9.org/, and links therein are infinitely useful for information on projects like this.

11) Large, 200-300GB, ATA100/133, 16MB cache, hard drives are equally useful for projects like this.

12) Don't be intimidated by this: keep it simple and have fun!

ACCEPTABLE FORMATS:

The following are the only acceptable formats for submission. Please note that for container formats such as AVI and QuickTime, the only acceptable video and audio codecs also are noted. The choices have been tested and made for good reason – please adhere to them.

MPEG-1:
Video: 640x480, 1:1 pixel aspect ratio, 24fps, 2000kbps CBR
Audio: MPEG-1 Audio Layer II, Stereo, 44100Hz, 320kbps CBR

¹AVI:
Video: 640x480, Microsoft MPEG-4 Video Codec V2, 24fps, Keyframe every second, “100%” compression control, 2000kbps CBR
Audio: MP3, 16 bit Stereo, 44100Hz, 160kbps CBR

²QuickTime:
Video: 640x480, Sorenson 3, 24fps, Keyframe every 24 frames, “Best” quality, 2000kbps CBR
Audio option 1: AAC, 16 bit Stereo, 44100Hz, “Best” quality, 160kbps CBR
Audio option 2: µ-Law 2:1, Stereo, 44100Hz, “Best” quality

³WMV:
Video: 640x480, Windows Media Video 9, 1:1 pixel aspect ratio, 24fps, Keyframe every second, “100%” quality, 2000kbps CBR
Audio: Windows Media Audio 9, 16 bit Stereo, 44100Hz, 160kbps

¹ If your machine lacks the “Microsoft MPEG-4 Video Codec V2” codec, it can be found in the K-Lite codec pack below. While installing the codec pack, it may ask to uninstall LAME – choose NO. Please note that although you’re free to install all the components in the pack, you really only need to check “MS MPEG-4” under “VFW video codecs.” Also note that if you lack the ability to encode to MP3, the LAME MP3 codec (ACM version) below may prove useful. To install it, unzip the download, open the folder, open the ACM folder, right-click on the LameACM.inf file, and then choose “install.” A benign warning will pop up – choose “Continue Anyway.”

² If you choose to render a movie using QuickTime Pro, DO NOT simply use "Save As..." to create your final product. Instead, use "Export," which provides options for choosing video and audio encoding standards (skip the next two sentences, and proceed with "Choose..."). If creating a movie with iMovie, however, choose "File," "Share," and then press "QuickTime." In the drop down list, choose "Expert settings," and then click the "Share" button. Choose an export type of "Movie to QuickTime Movie," and then click the "Options" button. Click the "Settings" button under "Video," and adjust the encoding parameters as noted in the "QuickTime" section of the "Acceptable Format" portion of this page. If your movie includes video from a DV camera, click the "Size" button and make sure the "Deinterlace Source Video" is checked. Lastly, click the "Settings" button under "Sound," and adjust the encoding parameters as noted in the "QuickTime" section of the "Acceptable Format" portion of this page. Click "Ok" and then "Save" to start rendering your movie.

³ If creating a WMV with Windows Movie Maker, choose “other settings”, “video for local playback (2.1Mbps)” when you save your movie. Greater control over WMV creation can be found in “Windows Media Encoder 9 Series” below, and likely in editors that support WMV export. The key to using WME9 effectively is to start with a custom session. Under the “Sources” Tab, select the “File” radio button. Click the “Browse” button to choose a file for conversion. Under the “Output” tab, uncheck “Pull from encoder...” and check “Encode to file.” Click the “Browse” button to create an output file. Under the “Compression” tab, click the “Edit” button, then the “New” button. Enter a name in the “Name” box, click the “Add” button, type in 2169K, and then choose “160 kbps, 44 kHz, stereo CBR” for audio format. Set the video parameters to 640 x 480, 24 fps, 1 sec keyframe interval, 2000Kbps video bit rate, 5 second buffer, 100% smoothness, and Auto complexity. Click “OK”, “Apply”, and then “Start Encoding” to render your video. If you should close the session properties window, press ALT-Enter to activate it at any time. Note that the “Statistics” tab is very useful to check the A/V encode parameters while the file is being processed.

Some (relatively inexpensive or free) nonlinear video editors:

Final Cut Express (Mac)
QuickTime Pro (Mac/PC)
Sony Vegas Movie Studio (Win)
Adobe Premier Elements (Win)
ULead VideoStudio (Win)
Pinnacle Systems Studio Plus (Win)
iMovie (Mac)
Windows Movie Maker (Win)

Free stuff, with descriptions taken from their respective sites:

K-LITE codec pack FULL:
http://www.free-codecs.com/download_soft.php?d=1748&s=95

K-Lite Codec Pack is a collection of codecs and related tools. Codecs are required to encode and/or decode (play) audio and video. The pack is designed as a user-friendly solution for playing most of your movies. With it you should be able to play 99% of all the movies that you come across. This pack is especially useful if you plan on providing us with an AVI, since compressing the video content is a must. VirtualDub will benefit as well.

LAME MP3 codec:
http://www.free-codecs.com/download_soft.php?d=1663&s=22

LAME MP3 Encoder is one of the best free mp3 encoders available. Once the ACM version is installed, it’s especially useful if you plan on providing us with an AVI, since compressing the audio content is a must. VirtualDub will benefit as well.

Panasonic DV-codec:
http://www.free-codecs.com/download_soft.php?d=646&s=59

Play and import DV video with virtually any tool (e.g., VirtualDub) that uses video for windows (VFW). A codec that one might need to process DV clips before dropping them into an editor. To install it, unzip the download, open the folder, right-click on the PANADV.INF file, and then choose “install.” A benign warning will pop up – choose “Continue Anyway.”

VIRTUALDUB 1.6.14:
http://internap.dl.sourceforge.net/sourceforge/virtualdub/VirtualDub-1.6.14.zip

VirtualDub is a video capture/processing utility for Windows. It lacks the editing power of a general-purpose editor such as Adobe Premiere, but is streamlined for fast linear operations involving video. It has batch-processing capabilities for processing a large number of files, and can be extended with third-party video filters. VirtualDub is mainly geared toward processing AVI files, although it can read (not write) MPEG-1, and also handles sets of bitmap images.

Smart Deinterlacer Filter:
http://neuron2.net/smart/smart28b1.zip

The Smart Deinterlacer Filter is an external filter for use with VirtualDub. This filter provides a smart, motion-based deinterlacing capability. In static picture areas, interlacing artifacts do not appear, so data from both fields is used to provide full detail. In moving areas, deinterlacing is performed using field interpolation. To install, unzip the download into the “Plugins” folder found within the folder where VirtualDub is contained.

TMPGEnc 2.524 Free:
http://download1.pegasys-inc.com/download_files/TMPGEnc-2.524.63.181-Free.zip

TMPGEnc converts AVIs (or MPEG-1) to MPEG-1, and is one of the best free MPEG-1 encoders out there. Unlike container formats like AVI and QuicktTime, which use codecs, MPEG-1 is for all practical purposes, universally playable, and requires relatively little CPU processing power. Using a variety of options, TMPGEnc allows you to compress your AVI (or MPEG-1) to MPEG-1 with high quality. It allows you to adjust bitrate, quantize matrix, GOP structure, interlacing, and many other parameters, so you can get the most appropriate movie for your purpose.

Windows Media Encoder 9 Series:
http://www.soft32.com/Download/Free/Windows_Media_Encoder_90/4-980-1.html

Windows Media Encoder 9 Series is a powerful tool for content producers who want to take advantage of the many innovations in Windows Media 9 Series, including high-quality multichannel sound, high-definition video quality, new support for mixed-mode voice and music content, and more