Adobe After Effects CS3 - Manual (Page 618)

AFTER EFFECTS CS3
User Guide
613
See also
“Render and export a movie using the render queue” on page 590
“Work with output module settings” on page 599
About the Adobe Media Encoder
The Adobe Media Encoder is an encoding mechanism employed by programs such as Adobe Premiere Pro, After
Effects, Soundbooth, and Encore for output to certain media formats. Depending on the program, the Adobe Media
Encoder provides a specialized Export Settings dialog box that accommodates the numerous settings associated with
certain export formats, such as MPEG-2, Adobe Flash Video, and H.264. For each format, the Export Settings dialog
box includes a number of presets that are tailored for particular delivery media. You can also save custom presets,
which you can share with others or reload as needed.
Although the Export Settings dialog box’s appearance varies slightly and is accessed differently in different software,
its general form and function are consistent. The Export Settings dialog box always contains a section for general
export settings (such as Format and Preset) and one or more tabbed sections. The sections available depend on the
format and preset you specify. The tab menu also contains commands specific to the selected format.
When you export a movie file for delivery media other than full-screen, full frame-rate television, you usually need
to deinterlace the frames, crop the image, or apply certain filters. Through the Export Settings dialog box, the Adobe
Media Encoder offers these tasks as pre-encoding options, because it’s best to perform them prior to encoding the
file. You can also specify post-encoding tasks, which include generating a log file or uploading the exported file to a
specified server automatically.
About MPEG
MPEG is the name of a family of file formats specified by the ISO/IEC Moving Picture Experts Group. MPEG
formats include several compression methods. It requires significant processing power and time to generate these
keyframe-based file formats from other video formats.
MPEG-1 Generally used for the Internet and CD-ROM, providing picture quality comparable with VHS quality at
quarter-screen frame size.
MPEG-2 Delivers higher quality video than MPEG-1. A specific form of MPEG-2 was chosen as the standard for
compressing video for DVD video. This is called DVD-compliant MPEG-2. MPEG-2 compression is also used in
HDV, and supported in the HD-DVD, and Blu-ray formats.
MPEG-4 Includes many of the features of MPEG-1 and MPEG-2, and adds support for interactivity. It offers better
compression and reduces file size while maintaining the same perceptual quality level as MPEG-2. MPEG-4 part 10
(H.264, AVC) is the supported by the Blu-ray and HD-DVD formats.
After Effects and Adobe Premiere Pro offer a number of MPEG presets to optimize the output quality for various
project types. If you’re experienced with MPEG encoding, you can further fine-tune projects for specific playback
situations by customizing the presets in the Export Settings dialog box.
In After Effects, you can create MPEG-2 and MPEG-2 DVD video. In Adobe Premiere Pro, you can create various
types of MPEG video by using the File > Export > Adobe Media Encoder command or export directly to
DVD-compliant video by using the Export To Encore command (any video you export to DVD is automatically
transcoded to MPEG-2 if it isn’t already in that format).