Best Format for Stop-Motion work?

[3dimentia]

I'm wondering what the best format for keying a stop motion sequence would be.

I'm looking for the least amount of image degradation and I'm willing to work with rather large file sizes.

Would a .tif image sequence be the best bet?

Any direction would be appreciated.

[giantlizard]

Hi,

A question! What output device are you planning to show your sequence on (TV/Video, film)?

For TV/Video tiff or Targa would be fine, but for high-res film cineons would be my choice.

-Torper

[3dimentia]

I believe the final output will be to Digital Beta. I'm assuming it will be for film festival distribution.

It's being shot with a digital still camera. Unfortunatly that's the only info I have so far. I belive the camera takes raw TIFF files and then they can be rendered out to another format.

I'm just wondering if it would pay to work with them as straight stills for keying work or to use a large sequence.

Thanks for the reply!

[gustav777]

All 8 bit formats are roughly the same quality as long as they are lossless. If you plan on going out to Digibeta any 8 bit format should be fine. If you plan on fliming out I'd go with a 10 or 16bit format for the extra color detail. Such as Cineon, DPX, or Tiff 16.

Also, when you say keying. Do you mean key-frames for your animation or do you mean color keying your stop motion animation to composite it against a different background?

For doing keyframes. Any will work. For color keys I'd use a higher bit-depth format.

[3dimentia]

Thanks Phill,
I should have been a bit more specific. I'll be pulling a green screen from a puppet and compositing that over a still background. I'm imagining I'll have some wire removal to work with as well.
Thanks for the bit depth advice; that's a big help.

[user_deleted]

converting an 8 bit digital photo to a higher bit depth format won't help you, but if your camera has a RAW mode, it may be possible to capture a higher dynamic range than you'd normally get in an 8 bit RGB or TIFF. If you can get that dynamic range into your working files, it will be extremely useful for keying. Also, with a digital still camera, like video, you'll get a better key with a green screen.