Graphics Reference
In-Depth Information
animation formats and which might
work well for your target audience.
When adding audio, it makes the choices
even harder. Blender allows you to
include audio with your video in the
following formats: PCM, Vorbis, AAC,
AC3, MP3, and MP2. PCM is uncom-
pressed and can send your file size
through the roof. Most people's systems
will be able to decode MP3 and MP2
audio. The best way to do it is to do a
short test with your target system. PCM
will almost always work. AC3 is the
format used by almost all commercial
DVDs, as it supports both regular stereo
and Dolby Digital surround channels. So,
if your target is DVD, use AC3. If you'll
be uploading to YouTube or Vimeo, it
really doesn't matter. Their conversion
tools are robust and will be able to handle
just about anything you throw at them.
What We Missed
The Sequencer can do a lot more than
compile stills into animation and stick some audio on top of it. It can function as a full-fledged nonlinear
video editor. By splitting and arranging different video tracks, you can edit an entire production in Blender,
and in fact, people have done so! You can keyframe the opacity of different video tracks to have them
fade in and out, dynamically adjust the color space of high-end video, and add more effects than the simple
crossfade.
Figure 14.8   The Effects  Strip menu.
Next Up …
Nothing. That's the end. But obviously, it's not. You're familiar with Blender now. You should be able
to go back to one of the sections of the example production and start poking around in the menus. Hope-
fully the knowledge and experience you've gained while working through these exercises will provide you
with just the right set of fundamentals so that browsing the function menus will give you some ideas. Be
adventurous. Choose a different option or pathway than the ones we've taken here. Don't worry. You
won't break anything, and you just might create something amazing.
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