The version you upload to youtube should usually be as big/lossless as possible so when encoding it, encode it with a really high bitrate and such
That way the video will lose less quality/detail when youtube applies it's codec.
Bad news/good news: Bad news is I learned that "size matters not." (couldn't resist). I uploaded three files ranging from 177 MB at 900 pixels wide, to a file 1.13 GB at 1920 pixels wide and the result on YouTube is exactly the same every time; choppy, staggered motion from start to finish, and it goes in and out of focus––especially the speeder bike, which looks like an unrecognizable blob. This happened with every file I tried. So I don't think I will be putting this video on YouTube.
The good news is that it broke 7,000 hits on my site––7,174 hits as of this morning. Not bad, since it has only been since June that I posted the first version. July I posted the extended version. So, again, thank you all.
The reason I am doing these effects videos in After Effects is because I made a major career decision. I had been a graphic designer for many years. It was when I was between jobs in 2003 that I decided to try for the first time scratch building studio scale models (2 Star Destroyers). That immediately resulted in having one in a museum exhibit about movie-making, and the other began an adventure in actual movie-making. Whenever I had been involved in movie-making it was always a side job.
When my mother became sick with cancer, I lost my graphic design job so I could take care of her full time. She passed away in May. It's been almost a year since I lost my design job and I have been trying to get my life back on track. One of the things I did was learn After Effects to see if I could move toward a career in visual effects.
Then, to my utter surprise, I learned that while I was caring for my mom a local college here was given a government grant to start a visual effects program and an effects company right here in my "backyard"! The prerequisite is that students have to know PhotoShop and After Effects. I have 20 years of PhotoShop experience, but I learned After Effects just in time to apply and be accepted into the training program. Although they want students to have After Effects experience, they actually teach Nuke, the movie industry effects software.
The course is being taught by a former ILM effects artist. Upon graduation, students are given the opportunity to be immediately hired by the new effects company, or given assistance in getting hired by one of the big-name effects companies you see in the credits of blockbusters.
My goal is to graduate and start a new full time career as a visual effects artist. This is a natural evolution in my movie-making experience. My good friend who had many years in the movie business told me that I am a walking history of special effects and movie-making because I started as a model maker, then an art director, a digital artist, associate producer, and now a computer effects artist. I have been blessed in my aspirations, being and doing the right things at the right times. But it's all about following a passion that I once thought was the impossible dream. Every one of you who have similar dreams should go for them. It takes a long time and an enormous amount of patience, yet there's nothing like making it happen!