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Format Options

The sections that follow describe the format options and available compression settings in combustion. For information on setting these options when rendering, see Choosing an Image Format.

Filmstrip

The Filmstrip format is a still image format that contains multiple frames (in one very large vertical image) lined up on top of each other like a reel of film. Use this format if you need to paint on multiple video frames in a program that does not offer direct support for this, such as Adobe Photoshop. However, since combustion is designed to paint and rotoscope on a number of sequential images as well as movie clips, you would not normally save in this format.

This format does not have any customizable settings.

ElectricImage™

The ElectricImage format uses the native file format created by the Play™ ElectricImage 3D animation program. It can handle both still images and multiple frames (like an AVI or QuickTime movie) in one file. Use this format if you want to output from combustion to ElectricImage.

This format does not have any customizable settings.

Quantel® VPB Sequence

The Quantel VPB format is a file format that can be read and written by the Quantel Paintbox and other Quantel hardware-based systems. These files cannot contain alpha channel information. They are stored using YUV color space.

This format does not have any customizable settings.

BMP Sequence

Bitmap is an image format from Microsoft that is generally used for stills. These files cannot contain alpha channel information.

This format does not have any customizable settings.

Cineon Sequence

Use the Cineon Options dialog to choose the related settings for a Cineon image sequence.

Note: If you click Process to begin rendering before setting these options, combustion will prompt you to do so before continuing.

Cineon® is intended for use with film material, but can be used elsewhere. When you render, you have a choice between three options:

For more information about Lookup Tables and the Cineon format, see Working with Bit Depth.

DPX Sequence

DPX files are similar to Cineon files. One difference is that DPX files have timecode in them. These files cannot contain alpha channel information.

JPEG Sequence

Use the JPEG Options dialog to set the Image Quality and Encoding (Baseline or Progressive) settings of the JPEG image sequence.

Note: If you click Process to begin rendering before setting these options, combustion will prompt you to do so before continuing.

JPEG generally has good image quality, and works well for "slide show" type movies with very low frame rates. These files cannot contain alpha channel information.

Photoshop Sequence

Use the Photoshop Options dialog to choose the related settings for a Photoshop image sequence.

Note: If you click Process to begin rendering before setting these options, combustion will prompt you to do so before continuing.

This is a proprietary format, and has its own compression algorithm. Compression can be set to None or PackBits. PackBits will drop the least significant bits to save space. Depending on the content of the images that you are rendering, do a test render of a few frames of None and PackBits since some footage is poorly suited for the latter.

PNG Sequence

Use the PNG Options dialog to choose the related settings for a PNG image sequence.

Note: If you click Process to begin rendering before setting these options, combustion will prompt you to do so before continuing.

The Portable Network Graphic format is intended as a replacement for JPEG and GIF for web graphics. Interlacing can be set to None or Adam7.

RLA/RPF Sequence

You can render to Rich Pixel Format (RPF) or the older RLA format. The files will not have the extra G-Buffer channels that you can render in 3ds max such as the Z Depth buffer.

This format does not have any customizable settings.

SGI Sequence

Use the SGI File Format Options dialog to choose the related settings for an SGI image sequence.

Note: If you click Process to begin rendering before setting these options, combustion will prompt you to do so before continuing.

SGI files are basic RGB files that are common on SGI computer systems. Compression can be set to None or RLE encoding.

RLE is a lossless compression method that searches for pixels that repeat in the image, and then only stores the pixel value once along with the number of times it occurs contiguously (called a "run"). For example, if you have an image with a black background, RLE stores the RGB value of only one black pixel, and another value for the number of black pixels there are in a run.

This method can reduce file sizes considerably. It works best on images with low color values (under 24 bits) or that have large areas of similar color, such as blue- and green-screen shots, black and white graphics, and images with solid backgrounds.

You can also use RLE compression on photographic images, but you may find that the results vary. Even if you only achieve a slight reduction in file size, it is recommended that you use RLE rather than None—it is a lossless compression method so you do not risk losing image data.

Discreet Systems products such as inferno and fire run on SGI computers and accept SGI (among others) as an input format.

Softimage Sequence

This is a 32-bit file format created by Softimage®. This format does not have any customizable settings.

PICT Sequence

The PICT file format is a 32-bit, lossless format supported by all graphics programs that run on Macintosh computers.

For Compressor, you select a codec and color depth. Quality can be set between Least and Best.

PICS

This format is available on Macintosh computers only. For Compressor, you select a codec and color depth. Quality can be set between Least and Best.

For better quality and more flexibility, use the QuickTime format.

TARGA Sequence

Use the Targa Options dialog to choose the related settings for a TARGA image sequence.

Note: If you click Process to begin rendering before setting these options, combustion will prompt you to do so before continuing.

Compression can be set to None or RLE encoding. For an explanation of RLE encoding, see SGI Sequence.

TIFF Sequence

Use the TIFF Options dialog to choose the related settings for a TIFF image sequence.

Note: If you click Process to begin rendering before setting these options, combustion will prompt you to do so before continuing.

Compression can be set to None or RLE encoding. For an explanation of RLE encoding, see SGI Sequence.

Byte Ordering can be set to Macintosh or PC, so the data bits can be ordered for Macintosh or PC playback.


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