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Converting demos to .MOV (kkapture + Vegas + 3ivx) April 1st 2006, trace
Looks like I finally got the best solution for doing a multiplatform video. It hasn't been easy at all. My target was to do, somehow, a Quicktime movie using that super cool H.264 Codec. After doing some tests I found out that, saving the demo as .avi without compressing the frames (with kkapture), then I was able to open the file with Quicktime 7 Pro and export a .mov using my desired codec. Easy!

Well, the problem comes when you save the whole demo to .avi, and the file is 4gbytes. Looks like Quicktime doesn't believe that a video file can be that big and decides to give an error. Crap! So wasn't going that easy after all..

So, to make all the history shorter, i'll just skip all the testings I did during all the (long long long long) day. The best solution I found is using kkapture to export the demo to .bmp's and .wav. You'll probably need quite a lot of space for doing this (5GB+). Then.. using Vegas you import all the .bmp's as a image sequence (when you click the first file in the folder the program may stop for a while, as it's like checking how many frames there are (in my case there were 7053)). Having the bmp's sequence (make sure you're always using the same fps) and also the .wav in vegas you only need now the codec 3ivx, which is a MPEG4 codec for VFW and Quicktime, and it's for FREE. So using this codec, you can render the video in a nice .mov which anyone will be able to open.

Yes, I know, Quicktime Pro can open an image sequence too, but in this case I didn't have the patience to wait meanwhile adding 7053 frames into Quicktime, and also, when I did the test with less frames, I didn't know how to add an audio track to the image sequence.

The result: http://xplsv.tv/motion.php?id=550

So.. that's the end of the story.. If you know a better way for doing this and ending up with a .mov using H.264. Please, let me know.
12 comments written so far...

Sorenson Squeeze... that's the only real way... the Quicktime way to do it is just a hack from Sorenson.

Of course, it's not free :-)
April 2nd 2006, Jcl
I thought 3ivx wasn't commercial. Maybe it was just the plugin for playing it which wasn't for free. I think I remember a stupid window alert each time one tried to play a 3ivx encoded file reminding of that...
April 2nd 2006, sole
Jcl: But does Sorenson Squeeze (which I use to convert all the videos for the motiongraphicsTV) can import a series of bitmaps as an image sequence?

Does it can import a 4gbytes uncompressed frames video?

uh?
April 2nd 2006, trace
sole: 3ivx is for free, and the good news are that Quicktime plays it and also VLC does.
April 2nd 2006, trace
trace: no, it can't import bitmap series, but it can import the 4gb uncompressed AVI (so there's no need to export to bitmap sequences).

PS: "does it can"? ugh! :)
April 3rd 2006, Jcl
^^

I'll give it a try, but you'll buy me 5 beers if it doesn't load the 4gb AVI ;)
April 3rd 2006, trace
Anyway, can you choose the codec on kkapture? (Never used it). If so, there are some lossless codecs around that could help you shrink the main compression without losing any detail.

I use lossless codecs when working on video productions for intermediate files or 3D renders.
April 3rd 2006, Jcl
such as.. ?
April 3rd 2006, trace
Such as http://www.google.com/search? sourceid=mozclient& ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&q=lossless+codec :-)

I've used MSU successfully (for example)
April 4th 2006, Jcl
yeah, how did your export mov from vegas with 3ivx encoding?
April 17th 2006, overslept
install the codec, and then export as quicktime, on the configuration panel you will find the codec ready to be used.
April 17th 2006, trace
unfortunately, 3ivx codec is not listed in the config panel, and yes, i've installed the codec! ;)
April 18th 2006, overslept

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