At FreezeByte Graphics we accept files in PICT, PICS, Electric Image Movie, MacroMind Director and QuickTime format. You can send your files on 44 megabyte SyQuest or 1 gigabyte Tahiti cartridges. We also take files that have been backed up, with a program like Retrospect, on 8mm Exabyte tape and 4mm DAT tape.
A word about compression. If space allows, don’t compress your files. This will avoid loss of image quality. If you have to, our experience shows that JPEG compression is very reliable, providing the files are not compressed more than 10:1.
The size of your graphics and renderings should be 640 x 480 pixels, if possible. We can, however, output files rendered at 320 x 240 pixels. As we all know, the Macintosh is not the fastest rendering machine. Programs such as Infini-D and Strata 3-D lack the rendering speed of Electric Image Animation System. Therefore, if you are using these programs, it may not be a wise use of your time to render your files at 640 x 480 pixels. Rendering them at 320 x 240 pixels will drastically reduce your rendering time. When we output files rendered at 320 x 240 pixels, we do not use the hardware zoom of a video card, which would only double the pixel size. Instead, we enlarge the picture to full video screen by using the zoom capability of our scan down converter, which employs image enhancing circuitry (real-time interpolation and anti-aliasing).
We recorded an animated music video of 3 1/2 minutes in length, which was rendered at 320 x 240 pixels in MacroMind 3-D. It was shown on national and cable television.
Single files (PICT) can be output one frame at a time, or the frame-by-frame controller can be set to output each file over 2, 3, or any desired amount of frames.
For example, if your movie starts with a title you would like to have displayed for 5 seconds before the animation begins, you don’t have to include 150 PICT files of your title. The controller can be set to record your title for 5 seconds and then start frame-by-frame recording. Different recording lengths can be assigned to any frame of an animation as long as the animation is in PICT format. PICS, QuickTime, or Electric Image Movie files are considered one file and can only be set to record at one desired length for all frames. For example, one frame at a time or each picture over 2 frames, 3 frames, etc.
