Animation Vs Uncompressed 10 bit

[James McLellan]

Unfortunately our workflow does not include prores and we are doing a lot of compositing. In this regard which codec is better for compositing(green screen ect) Animation or Uncompressed 10 bit?

Did some searches and didn't find that question answered.

 

[Brad Webb]

Animation is one of only a handful of codecs that carry an alpha channel. That's the one you should use.

 

[Prendi]

Yeah I'd agree, go with Animation. If you want to preserve the alpha channel in a smaller compression, PNG works fine too, just saying.

 

[Uli Plank]

Isn't animation limited to 8 bit?

 

[Cam Crowley]

Isn't animation limited to 8 bit?

Yes - Animation is 8bit.

On that point I wish Apple or whoever would revisit this codec and make 10bit, 16bit, 32bit etc variations on the theme. As has been stated it is one of the few codecs you can embed an alpha channel in. I've only stopped using it lately because of the 8bit factor. It's been a workhorse in the industry for so long, I think it would be a shame if it dies a slow death.

 

[Hans von Sonntag]

Animation is 8 bit RGBA, at least within FCP.

I would rather export the matte as an independent DPX sequence than using a crippled 8 bit codec. There are many more advantages besides bit depth for using discreet mattes.

Hans

 

[David Battistella]

Do some tests with the 10-bit uncompressed.

If you render it out of RC-X you will find that there are GAMMA issues. IE: The file will appear milky with raised blacks compared to what you see in the RC-X viewer.

David

 

[Isaac Ruiz]

10-Bit uncompressd, and process the matte on a separate clip.

 

[Jarek Zabczynski]

Yes - Animation is 8bit.

That's weird. I render 16bit projects out of After Effects in Animation and I definitely see a difference. Even the file sizes increase.

 

[James McLellan]

This gives me something to chew over. Thanks for the input everyone.