PRG Mbox Studio Manual v3.6.1 - Manual (Page 26)

20 MBOX ® STUDIO USER MANUAL
MEDIA CONTENT
File Type Specifications
MBOX supports Apple QuickTime® technology for rendering and playback of images and movie files. The following
file types are supported:
Still Image Files
JPEG (.jpeg or .jpg), PNG (.png), TARGA (.tga), TIFF (.tiff or .tif) for still image files.
+ For still images not requiring transparency, JPEG is the best choice.
+ To use files with transparency, PNG is the best choice.
Movie Files
QuickTime format (.mov) for movie files. Spatial-compressed codecs will always provide better playback results than
temporarily-compressed codecs (e.g. H264 and MP4 are not recommended and MPEG2 is not supported).
+ Photo JPEG – Medium (50-60%) is the recommended codec for movie clips.
+ Apple ProRes - Light or Normal are also recommended, High Quality can be used if you make sure the bitrate is
not too high (150Mb/sec or lower).
Note: File extensions are not case-sensitive. For example, files with extension .JPG and .jpg are the same.
3D Model Files (Objects)
Custom 3D models can be added to the MBOX. The server supports the Alias Wavefront™ 3D .obj format. There are
several third-party applications that can export files to this format, including Maya®, Poser®, Bryce®, and
Cheetah3D to name a few.
File extensions for 3D object files:
+ .obj is the standard format.
Additional File Types
Scalable Vector Graphics (.svg) for digital gobo files, .aiff for audio files, and .rtf or .txt for text files.
Recommended Practices
JPEG and PNG file types are recommended for creating still image content for optimum output from MBOX. For
movie content, Photo-JPEG (50% - 60% quality) is the recommended codec for optimum video playback. MBOX will
play movies that use other QuickTime codecs, if the appropriate codec is installed on the server. However, sometimes
those movies may not load as quickly or play as smoothly as movies that use the preferred codecs. For best results,
all custom content should be created in a single, common format. The Photo-JPEG codec is strongly recommended.
(Refer to
"Creating Custom Content" on page 82 for more information.)
Note: In this manual, "preferred movie codecs" refers to Photo-JPEG, DV/DVCPro, Apple Intermediate, Animation,
Apple ProRes 422 (Proxy, Light, Normal and High Quality), and Apple ProRes 4444. All other movie codecs are
considered "non-preferred."
Typically, movie files should not have embedded audio tracks, although embedded audio tracks in movies can be
made to play. To completely remove audio tracks from movies, use your preferred application to re-render or export
the movie without its audio tracks.