AD: Loss of resolution after embedding/converting vector export in i-movie

[SimonSing]

Hello Export Experts,

I am Affinity beginner. Today I have to deal with loss of resolution when exporting / embedding an af designer file to / in i-movie.

Here is information to the export journey:

- Source File: AD vector graphic (incl. Pixel Brush layers).
- Note: Test export as JPG went well: Good resolution.

Preparing export to i-movie:
- Create AD file in i-movie image dimensions (1920 x 1080 px), convert as jpg (2MB).

In i-movie:
- Add the JPG to an MP3 file (4MB).
- Note: No other image content - only the one JPG runs through the whole clip like a still image.
- Convert to MP4 (Quicktime) - in HD 1080 (1920 x 1080 p) = 300 MB (wow!)
- Export to Youtube

In Youtube:
- Test JPG (see above) as thumbnail: Good resolution.
- JPG as embedded in video - blurred

What am I doing wrong? When I select lower res than HD 1080 in i-movie it is even more blurry. How can I create a resistant export file for i-movie?

Thank you very much for your help!
Sim🙂n

[SimonSing]

Hey Guys,

is there nobody who can help?

Thank you so much

Simon

[GarryP]

Since these forums are quite busy and your requirements are somewhat specific you may need to wait until:

• Someone notices your post – posts get ‘old’ quite quickly;
• They also have the necessary skill-set(s) in relation to your question – not everyone uses iMovie and YouTube;
• They also have an answer for you – not everyone with the necessary skills has an answer;
• They also can be bothered to give you the answer – not everyone wants to get into what could be a long discussion.

Someone might come along and give you an answer but you may have to wait a while; it’s just the ‘nature of the beast’ for this sort of thing.
If you can upload an example document, and example video which uses that example document, then you might get some replies.

[Paul Mc]

Hi Simon, for an issue like this it is always good to see something that illustrates the problem.

From the workflow that you describe it looks like Affinity Designer plays no part in the issue as that creates an image of acceptable quality and then you move on to using iMovie.

Also, the file size varies a lot between compression methods and a 300Mb file means nothing if this is a long video, even if it is a still image.

Placing a still image in a video can create artefacts due to the compression algorithm used when encoding the video (probably H264 in this case). This can sometimes result in a pixelated and/or blurred image.

I'm no expert in iMovie  but I'm guessing that the problem is due to the settings that you have selected in iMovie and not Affinity Designer.

Just as an aside, whenever I do anything along these lines I always go for the highest resolution or quality of image as a starting point simply because I know that the compression algorithm will reduce that quality a little and then the web (YouTube and social media sites) where I post the video will nearly always re-encode the video and therefore it reduces in quality yet again. Sometimes it is not worth posting the video in the target resolution as it can be mangled sufficiently to make it look terrible and give a poor impression. For example, I now try to post client videos in 4K to YouTube whenever I can because this then gets resampled and re-encoded down to HD depending on the viewer's screen size and is often a better quality video than if I'd posted in HD.

So, maybe start with a  lossless image format (i.e. not JPG) - perhaps TIFF or PNG, and see if that makes any difference. From then on it will be the parameters chosen in iMovie that will affect the quality.