I have learned a few 3D programs over the years. Learning a new one has been my obsession the last weeks. Blender is an impressively powerful 3D modeling and animation program. Blender is also open sourced. This means it is free to download, use and enhance. It is also supported by a global team of friggin cool people -- accessed via wiki and googled websites -- that help Blenders learning curves slide by a bit smoother. It is in this vein that I am collecting my findings on rendering an animation for video here. Once it is complete, I hope to join the ranks of the friggin cool.
So, Things I learned Last Night about:
I. Rendering a Blender animation for use in After Effects/Premiere
D1/DV NTSC Widescreen (1.2)
SizeX: 720, SizeY: 480 - This will render the proper (or close to it for now) screen size
AspX: 12, AspY 10 - Video pixels are not square, 12 x 10 will render the proper pixel aspect ratio, however the final footage must be interpreted manually later on
Fields on - so that the interlaced fields are rendered for video
Odd on - so that the bottom field renders first for NTSC
Output to Targa files (Extensions on) - Better than AVI in case the machine crashes during render
Save the file before rendering
Render the file from the command line like so:
blender -b <path to file><filename.blend> -a
When render completes there should be a list of .tga files in the render folder (C:/temp)
Open up After Effects / Premiere Set up Composition / Project for D1/NTSC Widescreen (1.2)
File > Import > File... > Browse to list of targas
Select first .tga file
Check Targa Sequence check box, Open
Right click on the new footage > Interpret Footage > Main...
Set Pixel Aspect Ratio to: D1/NTSC Widescreen (1.2)
There you have it.
