====== x264 ======

As per [[https://trac.ffmpeg.org/wiki/Encode/H.264|ffmpeg x264 encoding guide]], you can pass ''-tune animation'' option.

Alternatively...

Adapting the [[http://mewiki.project357.com/wiki/X264_Settings|options for x264]] suggested [[http://www.animea.net/forums/showthread.php?t=26387|here]] to mencoder results in these settings for encoding (except for the turbo thing, see below).

You can input these options directly from commandline, but for later use, you may find it more convenient to edit ~/.mplayer/mencoder.conf and add these

  [gnuanimex264p1]
  profile-desc="GNU/Anime x264 Pass 1"
  lavdopts=threads=2
  ovc=x264=yes
  x264encopts=turbo=2:bitrate=300:pass=1:frameref=5:mixed_refs=yes:fast_pskip=no:bframes=3:b_pyramid=normal:weight_b=yes:me=umh:subme=8:direct_pred=auto:trellis=2:partitions=all:8x8dct=yes:threads=auto
  oac=mp3lame=yes
  lameopts=vbr=3:mode=1:q=4
  of=lavf=yes
  lavfopts=format=avi
  sws=9
  
  [gnuanimex264p2]
  profile-desc="GNU/Anime x264 Pass 2"
  lavdopts=threads=2
  ovc=x264=yes
  x264encopts=bitrate=300:pass=2:frameref=5:mixed_refs=yes:fast_pskip=no:bframes=3:b_pyramid=normal:weight_b=yes:me=umh:subme=8:direct_pred=auto:trellis=2:partitions=all:8x8dct=yes:threads=auto
  oac=mp3lame=yes
  lameopts=vbr=3:mode=1:q=4
  of=lavf=yes
  lavfopts=format=avi
  sws=9
  
  [gnuanimex264]
  profile-desc="GNU/Anime x264"
  lavdopts=threads=2
  ovc=x264=yes
  x264encopts=crf=26:frameref=5:mixed_refs=yes:fast_pskip=no:bframes=3:b_pyramid=normal:weight_b=yes:me=umh:subme=8:direct_pred=auto:trellis=2:partitions=all:8x8dct=yes:threads=auto
  oac=mp3lame=yes
  lameopts=vbr=3:mode=1:q=4
  of=lavf=yes
  lavfopts=format=avi
  sws=9

Now you can use these profiles like this

  (2-pass, ratecontrol: bitrate)
  mencoder -profile gnuanimex264p1 $1" -o /dev/null
  mencoder -profile gnuanimex264p2 "$1" -o "$2"

  (1-pass, ratecontrol: crf)
  mencoder -profile gnuanimex264 "$1" -o "$2"

You may like to alter various parameters here. turbo might be the first thing you'd like to change (excerpt from [[http://www.mplayerhq.hu/DOCS/man/en/mplayer.1.txt|mencoder's manual page]]:
  turbo=<0-2>
    Fast first pass mode.  During the first pass of a two or more pass
    encode it is possible to gain speed by disabling some options with
    negligible or even no impact on the final pass output quality.
      0    disabled (default)
      1    Reduce subq, frameref and disable some inter-macroblock
      partition analysis modes.
      2    Reduce subq and frameref to 1, use a diamond ME search and
      disable all partition analysis modes.
    Level 1 can increase first pass speed up to 2x with no change in the
    global PSNR of the final pass compared to a full quality first pass.
    Level 2 can increase first pass speed up to 4x with about +/- 0.05dB
    change in the global PSNR of the final pass compared to a full
    quality first pass.

and the obvious parameter "threads" (of -lavdopts). "format" parameter (of -lavfopts) is another obvious one. The [[http://mewiki.project357.com/wiki/X264_Settings#bitrate|bitrate]] (for video) is 300 but you might wanna play around with [[http://git.videolan.org/?p=x264.git;a=blob_plain;f=doc/ratecontrol.txt;hb=HEAD|other ratecontrol systems]] as well. Output audio is VBR mp3lame with q=4, though Opus would be a better option for low rates (([[wp>Opus_(audio_format)#Quality_comparison_and_low_latency_performance|Opus - Quality comparison and low latency performance]])).

[[http://www.ffmpeg.org/|FFmpeg]] should be able to do the same job, albeit with [[http://sites.google.com/site/linuxencoding/x264-ffmpeg-mapping|slightly different options for x264]].

====== h264enc ====== 
You can make use of use the preset options //ani// and //anihq// from[[http://h264enc.sourceforge.net|h264enc project]].
  ani=force_cfr:frameref=8:mixed_refs:bframes=5:b_adapt=2:b_pyramid=normal:noweight_b:weightp=1:direct_pred=auto:aq_mode=2:aq_strength=0.5:me=hex:subq=10:nombtree:psy_rd=0.3,0.0:chroma_me:trellis=1:cabac:deblock:8x8dct:partitions=p8x8,b8x8,i8x8,i4x4:nofast_pskip:nodct_decimate
  anihq=force_cfr:frameref=10:mixed_refs:bframes=5:b_adapt=2:b_pyramid=normal:noweight_b:weightp=2:direct_pred=auto:aq_mode=1:aq_strength=0.5:me=umh:me_range=24:subq=7:mbtree:psy_rd=0.3,0.0:chroma_me:trellis=1:cabac:deblock:8x8dct:partitions=p8x8,b8x8,i8x8,i4x4:nofast_pskip:nodct_decimate

or use the script itself --it's a very handy one with a bunch of options, but beware, it's heavily interactive.