Alpha Channel errors

Hello,
I'm working with some uncompressed Quicktimes in Final Cut 6 that have built in alpha channels, but they are not working properly when placed over other footage in my timeline. I just get a black background where the video from the track below should be appearing.
The strange thing is I've used these exact same quicktime's successfully in Final Cut 5, but now they aren't working. Also, when I view the clips alpha channel in the preview window the alpha channel displays correctly.
Does anyone know what's going on?

I'm just guessing... but in maybe it has something to do with your settings in the canvas window. Those three buttons across the top of the window- click on the one on the right (looks like a little square thingy) and make sure you have alpha + RGB selected. Maybe that'll do it.

Similar Messages

Printing swf error (no alpha channel?)

Hi,
I don't know if this has been covered before but I have tried the following:
Printing to PDF via the print menu from the swf
and
Printing to paper via the print menu from the swf
In both cases, the images that are on screen are PNGs created as a PNG sequence from After Effects. They contain alpha channels and the background of the swf is non-white. However the bounding box of the image gets printed as white, so I have a sequence of overlapping white regions, some of which occlude the image beneath. With alpha channels on the monitor, this is not apparent, but when on paper or in PDF format the occlusion is clear. I don't mind the white background; however I cannot deal with the occlusion. How can I solve this?
Sincerely,
-markerline

Eureka!! That works better than a vacuum cleaner. Only problem is I was using the AS3 reference and some of the PrintJob examples that were listed threw errors so I had to use the final example:
package
    import flash.printing.PrintJob;
    import flash.display.Sprite;
    public class BasicPrintExample extends Sprite
        var myPrintJob:PrintJob = new PrintJob();
        var mySprite:Sprite = new Sprite();
        mySprite.graphics.beginFill(0x336699);
    mySprite.graphics.drawCircle(100, 100, 50);
        public function BasicPrintExample()
            if (myPrintJob.start()) {
            try {
                myPrintJob.addPage(mySprite);
            catch(e:Error) {
                // handle error
            myPrintJob.send();
I did away with the package and the class and just called the function as a mouse event for a print-button. I'm not sure why the if(myPrintJob.start()) call works because nowhere am I declaring the print job to start. I guess that's something that happens automatically?

How can I see the alpha channel in the channels palette?

Hello, mi format plugin loads a rgba image. I see it with transparency, that's ok, but when I go to the channels tab I only see 4 items (RGB, Red, Green and Blue).
How can I see the alpha channel of my file in the channel tab?
Thanks!

OK, something must be wrong... but I don't find it!
That's my whole code (resumed). I ommit some code (saving file code (not used) or main function, where I only call te "DoSomething" functions. You can see that I use layers. The DoReadContinue function is only used to show the preview.
In the DoReadStart function I set the parameters for the layers (and the preview), and I fill the "data" and "layerName" params in the DoReadLayerContinue function. I hope you can understand the code!
const int32 IMAGE_DEPTH = 32;
SPBasicSuite * sSPBasic = NULL;
SPPluginRef gPluginRef = NULL;
FormatRecord * gFormatRecord = NULL;
intptr_t * gMxiInfoHandle = NULL;
MXIInfo* gMxiInfo = NULL;
int16 * gResult = NULL;
#define gCountResources gFormatRecord->resourceProcs->countProc
#define gGetResources   gFormatRecord->resourceProcs->getProc
#define gAddResource    gFormatRecord->resourceProcs->addProc
CmaxwellMXI* cMax;
static void DoReadPrepare (void){
    gFormatRecord->maxData = 0;
static void DoReadStart(void){
    char header[2];
    ReadScriptParamsOnRead (); // override params here
if (*gResult != noErr) return;
    // Read the file header
    *gResult = SetFPos (gFormatRecord->dataFork, fsFromStart, 0);
    if (*gResult != noErr) return;
    ReadSome (sizeof( header ) * 2, &header);
    if (*gResult != noErr) return;
// Check the magic number for avoid no-mxi files
    int headerID = CheckIdentifier (header);
    if( headerID != HEADER_MXI ) *gResult = formatCannotRead;
if (*gResult != noErr) return;
// The file is OK. Let's continue to obtain the data of the image.
cMax = new CmaxwellMXI( 0 );
strlen((char*)gFormatRecord->fileSpec->name);
gMxiInfo->filename = _strdup((char *)gFormatRecord->fileSpec->name + 1);
bool res = cMax->getMXIIInfo(
                (const char*)gMxiInfo->filename,
                gMxiInfo->width, gMxiInfo->height,
                gMxiInfo->burn, gMxiInfo->monitorGamma, gMxiInfo->iso,
                gMxiInfo->shutter, gMxiInfo->fStop, gMxiInfo->intensity,
                gMxiInfo->scattering,
                gMxiInfo->nMultilightChannels, gMxiInfo->lightNamesList,
                gMxiInfo->availableBuffersMask,
                gMxiInfo->widthPreview, gMxiInfo->heightPreview,
                gMxiInfo->bufferPreview);
if(!res) return;
// Check the available extra buffers
int count = 0;
if( gMxiInfo->availableBuffersMask & CmaxwellMXI::ALPHA_BUFFER ){
    // We will use that string to obtain later the desired extra buffer.
    gMxiInfo->extraBuffersList[count] = "ALPHA";
    gMxiInfo->hasAlpha = true;
    count++;
else{
    gMxiInfo->hasAlpha = false;
gMxiInfo->nExtraBuffers = count;
switch( IMAGE_DEPTH ){
case 8:
      gMxiInfo->mode = plugInModeRGBColor;
      break;
case 16:
      gMxiInfo->mode = plugInModeRGB48;
      break;
case 32:
      gMxiInfo->mode = plugInModeRGB48; //96 gives me an error
      break;
// SET UP THE DOCUMENT BASIC PARAMETERS.
VPoint imageSize;
if( gFormatRecord->openForPreview ){
    // Preview always RGB8.
    imageSize.v = gMxiInfo->heightPreview;
    imageSize.h = gMxiInfo->widthPreview;
    gFormatRecord->depth = 8;
    gFormatRecord->imageMode = plugInModeRGBColor;
    gFormatRecord->planes = 3;
    gFormatRecord->loPlane = 0;
    gFormatRecord->hiPlane = 2;
    gFormatRecord->colBytes = 3;
    gFormatRecord->rowBytes = imageSize.h * gFormatRecord->planes;
    gFormatRecord->planeBytes = 1;
else{
    // Configure the layers. All RGBA32.
    imageSize.v = gMxiInfo->height;
    imageSize.h = gMxiInfo->width;
    gFormatRecord->depth = IMAGE_DEPTH;
    gFormatRecord->imageMode = gMxiInfo->mode;
    gFormatRecord->layerData =
        2 + gMxiInfo->nMultilightChannels + gMxiInfo->nExtraBuffers;
    gFormatRecord->planes = 4; // RGBA.
    gFormatRecord->loPlane = 0;
    gFormatRecord->hiPlane = 3;
    gFormatRecord->planeBytes = IMAGE_DEPTH >> 3;
    gFormatRecord->rowBytes = imageSize.h * gFormatRecord->planes * ( IMAGE_DEPTH >> 3 );
    gFormatRecord->colBytes = gFormatRecord->planes * ( IMAGE_DEPTH >> 3 );
    gFormatRecord->transparencyPlane = 3;
    gFormatRecord->transparencyMatting = 1;
    gFormatRecord->blendMode = PIBlendLinearDodge;
    gFormatRecord->isVisible = true;
SetFormatImageSize(imageSize);
gFormatRecord->imageHRes = FixRatio(72, 1);
gFormatRecord->imageVRes = FixRatio(72, 1);
VRect theRect;
theRect.left = 0;
theRect.right = imageSize.h;
theRect.top = 0;
theRect.bottom = imageSize.v;
SetFormatTheRect(theRect);
// No resources for now.
if (sPSHandle->New != NULL) gFormatRecord->imageRsrcData = sPSHandle->New(0);
gFormatRecord->imageRsrcSize = 0;
    return;
/// Called for prewiew only.
static void DoReadContinue (void){
    // Dispose of the image resource data if it exists.
    DisposeImageResources ();
if( gFormatRecord->openForPreview ){
    VPoint imageSize = GetFormatImageSize();
    gFormatRecord->data = gMxiInfo->bufferPreview;
      if (*gResult == noErr) *gResult = gFormatRecord->advanceState();
    if( gFormatRecord->data != NULL ){
      delete[] (Crgb8*)gMxiInfo->bufferPreview;
      gMxiInfo->bufferPreview = NULL;
      gFormatRecord->data = NULL;
// De momento nos olvidamos de los icc profiles [TODO]
    //DoReadICCProfile ();
static void DoReadFinish (void)
    // Dispose of the image resource data if it exists.
    DisposeImageResources ();
    WriteScriptParamsOnRead (); // should be different for read/write
// write a history comment
    AddComment ();
// Clean some memory.
if( gMxiInfo->lightNamesList != NULL ){
    for( unsigned int i = 0; i < gMxiInfo->nMultilightChannels; i++){
      if( gMxiInfo->lightNamesList[i] != NULL ){
        delete[] gMxiInfo->lightNamesList[i];
        gMxiInfo->lightNamesList[i] = NULL;
    delete[] gMxiInfo->lightNamesList;
    gMxiInfo->lightNamesList = NULL;
if( gMxiInfo->bufferPreview != NULL ){
    delete[] gMxiInfo->bufferPreview;
    gMxiInfo->bufferPreview = NULL;
if( gMxiInfo->filename != NULL ){
    delete[] gMxiInfo->filename;
    gMxiInfo->filename = NULL;
if( cMax != NULL ){
    delete cMax;
    cMax = NULL;
static void DoReadLayerStart(void){
// empty
static void DoReadLayerContinue (void){
int32 done;
    int32 total;
VPoint imageSize = GetFormatImageSize();
// Set the progress bar data
done = gFormatRecord->layerData + 1;
total = gMxiInfo->nMultilightChannels + gMxiInfo->nExtraBuffers + 2;
// Dispose of the image resource data if it exists.
DisposeImageResources ();
uint32 bufferSize = imageSize.v * gFormatRecord->rowBytes;
int nPixels = gMxiInfo->width * gMxiInfo->height;
char* lightName = NULL;
// SET THE BLACK BACKGROUND
if( gFormatRecord->layerData == 0 ){
    gFormatRecord->data = (void*)new byte[bufferSize];
    for( int i = 0; i < nPixels; i++ ){
      ((float*)gFormatRecord->data)[ i * 4 ]     =
      ((float*)gFormatRecord->data)[ i * 4 + 1 ] =
      ((float*)gFormatRecord->data)[ i * 4 + 2 ] = 0.0;
      ((float*)gFormatRecord->data)[ i * 4 + 3 ] = 1.0;
    // Set the layer name.
    gFormatRecord->layerName = new uint16[64];
    gFormatRecord->layerName[0] = 'B';
    gFormatRecord->layerName[1] = 'a';
    gFormatRecord->layerName[2] = 'c';
    gFormatRecord->layerName[3] = 'k';
    gFormatRecord->layerName[4] = 'g';
    gFormatRecord->layerName[5] = 'r';
    gFormatRecord->layerName[6] = 'o';
    gFormatRecord->layerName[7] = 'u';
    gFormatRecord->layerName[8] = 'n';
    gFormatRecord->layerName[9] = 'd';
    gFormatRecord->layerName[10] = '\0';
// LOAD THE LIGHT LAYERS
else if( gFormatRecord->layerData < gMxiInfo->nMultilightChannels + 1 ){
    void* lightBuffer = NULL;
    void* alphaBuffer = NULL;
    byte foob;
    dword food;
    // Get the light buffer.
    bool res = cMax->getLightBuffer(
                           (char*)gMxiInfo->filename,
                           gFormatRecord->layerData - 1, IMAGE_DEPTH,
                           lightBuffer,
                           gMxiInfo->width, gMxiInfo->height, lightName);
    if(!res){
      *gResult = readErr;
      return;
    if( gMxiInfo->hasAlpha ){
      // Get the alpha buffer.
      res = cMax->getExtraBuffer(
                            (char*)gMxiInfo->filename,
                            "ALPHA", IMAGE_DEPTH, alphaBuffer,
                            food, food, foob);
      if(!res){
        *gResult = readErr;
        return;
    else{
      alphaBuffer = (void*)new float[ gMxiInfo->width * gMxiInfo->height * 3 ];
      for( int i = 0; i < nPixels; i++ ){
        // Only need to set the red channel.
        ((float*)alphaBuffer)[ i * 3 ] = 1.0;
    // Put them together.
    gFormatRecord->data = (void*)new byte[bufferSize];
    for( int i = 0; i < nPixels; i++ ){
      ((float*)gFormatRecord->data)[ i * 4 ]     = ((float*)lightBuffer)[ i * 3 ];
      ((float*)gFormatRecord->data)[ i * 4 + 1 ] = ((float*)lightBuffer)[ i * 3 + 1 ];
      ((float*)gFormatRecord->data)[ i * 4 + 2 ] = ((float*)lightBuffer)[ i * 3 + 2 ];
      ((float*)gFormatRecord->data)[ i * 4 + 3 ] = ((float*)alphaBuffer)[ i * 3 ];
    delete[] (float*)lightBuffer;
    delete[] (float*)alphaBuffer;
    // Set the layer name.
//LOAD THE EXTRA CHANNELS
if( ... ){
//READ THE RENDER BUFFER
if( ... ){
// User can abort.
if (gFormatRecord->abortProc()){
      *gResult = userCanceledErr;
      return;
// Commit the layer.
if (*gResult == noErr) *gResult = gFormatRecord->advanceState();
// Update the progress bar.
(*gFormatRecord->progressProc)( done, total );
// Free memory.
if( gFormatRecord->data != NULL ){
    delete[] (float*)gFormatRecord->data;
    gFormatRecord->data = NULL;
if( lightName != NULL ){
    delete[] lightName;
    lightName = NULL;
static void DoReadLayerFinish (void)
// Nothing to do.
And that's the image that I obtain loading a 8 layer image:
The layers have transparency (when I set "transparencyPlane" to -1, or 0, or 1, or 2, or 3, or 4....., I got the same result!). The blending mode is still "normal". I had set it to "linear dodge" The "isVisible" param works OK.
Alpha 1 is still black.
Is possible that I need to set something in the .r file? I had to add "FormatLayerSupport { doesSupportFormatLayers }," to manage layers, for instance.

Can no longer import QT files with alpha channel

I have been using these client supplied QT with alpha channel files just fine for weeks, then all of a sudden, after a crash the other day, I was unable to open sequences with these files and exoprt them, the exporter would just freeze. the clips played in the timeline, but VERY sluggish.
On the reccomendation of a few posts around here, I removed the clips from the project, and now I cannot import them back in, I get a "the importer reported a generic error" message. I am able to open in QT pro and export to a new file that will import to PPro, but I lose the alpha channel.
As always, I'm up against a deadline and any help would be greatly appreciated.
I have installed QT 7.07, no help.
I'm on a windows 7 machine running CS master collection 5.0, Quad core AMD with 8 gig RAM.
These files worked fine just days ago!!!!
BTW, I just switched over to Premiere a few months ago and to honest I can't understand how anyone would stick with this buggy software, as a professional I've never used anything this bad before.

Welcome to the forum.
Try these. Attempt to re-import after each one:
Clean the media cache database via Edit | Preferences | Media
If step 2 doesn't work, then find all the .qtindex, .mpgindex, .cfa and .pek files associated with the media that's supposed to be in your project and delete them. Then clean the media cache database again.
Launch Pr and while it's launching, hold down the Alt + Shift keys until the Welcome screen appears. Alt resets your preferences and Shift resets the plug-in cache.
To address the other issues you say you've been having with Pr, you should start a different thread (or threads). Coming from other editors, there may be a difference in the way Pr does things that produce unexpected results that may be seen as bugs. More serious issues, such as crashes, can often be caused by 3rd-party hardware like AJA, Matrox or BlackMagic and the associated drivers. Outdated or incorrect drivers for audio and video cards can also cause problems. I recommend that you start troubleshooting those areas first.
Other issues may have workarounds. If you have serious, reproducible problems that have no workaround, then please file bug reports here:
Adobe - Feature Request/Bug Report Form
-Jeff

Photoshop CS6 using javaScript to truncate alpha channel name

Hello,
I'm a production artist and I work with PSD files that were created in Adobe Scene7 Image Authoring Tool. These PSDs contain a background layer along with 1-20 alpha channels. My script has to make a new blank layer for every alpha channel in the document. Then it fills the new layer with light gray. So far, my code accomplishes this. However, I'd like to apply the name of the alpha channel to the layer, but I need the name to be truncated. Every alpha channel starts with one or more characters followed by a backslash and then finishes with one or more characters. Here's an example:
An alpha channel might be named: Floor\floor
In this example I need my layer name to be just: floor. This means all character to the left of the backslash, including the backslash itself needs to be discarded. I was using the subSring() statement to do this. When I try to step through the code, line by line in ExtendScript, I immediately get an error that says Unterminated String Constant and Line 31 of my code is highlighted. I suspect it doesn't like the way I wrote the backslash character, although I surrounded it in double quotes to define it as a string.
Can anyone tell me why I'm getting this error?
Below is my code with lots of comments to walk you through the process. I wrote where the error occurs in red type.
I'm new to JavaScript so I'm not sure my while loop is accurate.
#target photoshop
// The #target photoshop makes the script run in PS.
// declare variable to contain the active document
var myDoc=app.activeDocument;
// declare variable to contain the number of alpha channels, excluding the RGB channels
var alphaChan = myDoc.channels.length - 3;
alert(alphaChan + " alpha channels exist");
// create loop to make new layers based on number of alpha channels, fill layer with gray and apply alpha channel name to new layer
for (a=0 ; a<alphaChan ; a+=1){
// make new blank layer
myDoc.artLayers.add();
// fill blank layer with gray
var color = new SolidColor();
color.rgb.red = 161;
color.rgb.green = 161;
color.rgb.blue= 161;
myDoc.selection.fill(color);
//variable stores alpha channel name
var alphaName = myDoc.channels[3+a];
// variable stores lenght of alpha channel name
var lz = alphaName.length;
// declare index variable to initialize position of 1st character of alpha channel name
var x= 0 ;
// truncate alpha channel name by removing all characters preceding the "\" symbol
while (alphaName.subString(x) != "\"){          (ExtendScript gives an error for this line and highlights the backslash and surrounding quotation marks)
    alphaName = alphaName.subString((x+1),z);
    x+=1;
    z-=1;
return alphaName;
// remove the backslash from alpha channel name
alphaName = alphaName.subString((x+1),z);
// apply truncated alpha channel name to corresponding layer
myDoc.artLayers[a].name = alphaName;

while (alphaName.subString(x) != "\"){
should be
while (alphaName.subString(x) != "\\"){

Alpha channel videos problem on AIR 3.8 beta Android

Hi, I've found a strange behavior on the beta 3.8 SDK. When I load and play a FLV video with alpha channel it becomes completely black, but if I re-load it, it shows well. This does not happen on applications created with the release, 3.7 version of the SDK.

I think I am encountering the same issue with Air 3.8. Although I am not using the alpha channel and the video is a quicktime (.mov),
the video appears black (I can hear the audio playing).
I cannot switch back to 3.7 because that gave a error uploading the apk to the new google play console because of signing issues,
the upload issues were fixed in 3.8.

Alpha channel data with layered format plugin

I have a layered format plugin and I am trying to write the alpha channel information separately. I have set up channelPortProcs and I am attempting to read the pixel data with readPixelsProc. The issue is that even though the readPixelsProc function doesn't return any errors the rectangle that is supposed to store the rectangle that was actually read is a 0x0 rectangle. I can't seem to find why this would be or what I might be doing wrong. Here's what I have so far:
// set up the pixel buffer
int32 bufferSize = imSize.h*imSize.v;
Ptr pixelData = sPSBuffer->New( &bufferSize, bufferSize );
if (pixelData == NULL)
     *gResult = memFullErr;
     return;
// Define the source and destination rectangles
ReadChannelDesc *alphaChannel = gFormatRecord->documentInfo->alphaChannels;
PIChannelPort port = alphaChannel->port;
PSScaling scale;
scale.sourceRect = scale.destinationRect = alphaChannel->bounds;
VRect destRect = scale.sourceRect;
// Set up the descriptor for reading pixel data
VRect wroteRect = {0};
PixelMemoryDesc dest = {0};
dest.rowBits = imSize.h*alphaChannel->depth;
dest.colBits = alphaChannel->depth;
dest.depth = alphaChannel->depth;
dest.data = pixelData;
// Put the pixel data into the buffer
*gResult = gFormatRecord->channelPortProcs->readPixelsProc(port,&scale, &destRect, &dest, &wroteRect);
if(*gResult != noErr)
     return;
The alpha channel gives me the proper name, but I just can't get the data associated with it. Thanks.

I am still trying to find a solution to this. The propChannelName is read only and the documentInfo structure is NULL when reading. Any suggestions?

NSBitmapImageRep - how can I remove or reverse an alpha channel from tiff?

Below is some code I cobbled together to save a square preview of an image. I am looking to figure out how to remove or inverse an alpha channel mask from a tiff image, and could really use some help....
// I have been using 256.0 and 0.4 for the last 2 arguments, though feel free test with whatever.
- (NSString *)savePreview: (NSString *)filePath: (NSString *)saveFilePath: (NSString *)previewSize: (NSString *)compressionRatio {
NS_DURING
NSAutoreleasePool *memoryPool = [[NSAutoreleasePool alloc] init];
NSImage *myImage = [[NSImage alloc] initWithContentsOfFile: filePath];
if (myImage == nil) {
[myImage release];
NSLog(@"! Error loading image");
return @"! Error loading image";
NSImageRep *myRep = [[myImage representations] objectAtIndex: 0];
float hres = [myRep pixelsWide]/[myImage size].width;
float vres = [myRep pixelsHigh]/[myImage size].height;
float newWidth = [previewSize floatValue];
float newHeight = newWidth;
NSImage *thumbImage = [[NSImage alloc] initWithSize: NSMakeSize(newWidth, newHeight)];
NSAffineTransform *at = [NSAffineTransform transform];
[myImage setScalesWhenResized: YES];
float heightFactor = newHeight/[myImage size].height;
float widthFactor = newWidth/[myImage size].width;
float scale;
if(heightFactor > widthFactor) {
scale = widthFactor;
} else {
scale = heightFactor;
[at scaleBy: scale];
[thumbImage lockFocus];
[[NSGraphicsContext currentContext] setImageInterpolation: NSImageInterpolationHigh]; // NSImageInterpolationNone, NSImageInterpolationLow, NSImageInterpolationHigh
[myImage setSize: [at transformSize: [myImage size]]];
[myImage compositeToPoint: NSMakePoint((newWidth-[myImage size].width)/2 , (newHeight-[myImage size].height)/2) operation: NSCompositeCopy];
NSBitmapImageRep *bitmapImageRep = [[NSBitmapImageRep alloc] initWithFocusedViewRect: NSMakeRect(0, 0, [thumbImage size].width, [thumbImage size].height)];
[thumbImage unlockFocus];
[myImage release];
[thumbImage release];
NSData *bitmapData = nil;
NSNumber *factor = [NSNumber numberWithFloat: [compressionRatio floatValue]]; // The compression factor. Used only for JPEG files. The value is a float between 0.0 and 1.0, with 0.0 being the lowest and 1.0 being the highest. It’s set when reading in and used when writing out.
NSDictionary *props = [NSDictionary dictionaryWithObject: factor forKey: NSImageCompressionFactor];
bitmapData = [bitmapImageRep representationUsingType: NSJPEGFileType properties: props];
[bitmapData writeToFile: saveFilePath atomically: YES];
[bitmapImageRep release];
[memoryPool release];
return @"YES";
NS_HANDLER
NSLog(@"Exception occured : %@", localException);
return @"NO";
NS_ENDHANDLER
}

<bump>

Can't export with alpha channel - Again!!!,

So, I have an intro that is designed as an overlay of the incoming video. The objects move out the way to reveal the video underneath. BUT, when I export the sequence the resulting movie has black in the background.
Now, I had this issue several months ago, and after tons of research and trial and error, all of a sudden it worked when I came back to Motion on another project. No explanation. It just worked.
Usually, I have the background set to Transparent and then export using Lossless and Alpha. Works fine. Well, not today. I've changed every export setting under the sun trying variations of Lossless with Alpha and also tried the Animation codec. No luck.
So, what is going on? Any thoughts?

Thanks for your help Patrick. I tell ya, I can't believe what's going on. As I said, this project until today has not caused me any issues what-so-ever. The other six sessions are totally fine. I also created a quick project with the same settings added text - then exported using the same settings I've used before, and it exports with the proper alpha channel.
Yet, I rebooted the Mac, made sure to delete old versions in the trash can and everything. Still, no alpha.
To keep moving forward, I literally had to use a color key in FCP to cut out the background color.
Crazy!

ImageIO.read stripping alpha channel

I've been chasing this one for the last few hours and haven't gotten anywhere.
I've been trying to load a 32 bit bitmap (I'm using photoshop and I put a gradient on the alpha channel), and no matter what I do, I keep getting a 24 bit image from the api. I could really use some help on this one. This is the toString() of what should be a 32 bit image: BufferedImage@1f44f8a: type = 1 DirectColorModel: rmask=ff0000 gmask=ff00 bmask=ff amask=0 IntegerInterleavedRaster: width = 72 height = 72 #Bands = 3 xOff = 0 yOff = 0 dataOffset[0] 0
And here's the code I'm using to load the image:
public Image Fetch(String path) throws CommonException
     BufferedImage image = null;
     try
         image = ImageIO.read(new File(path));
         System.out.println(image.toString());
     catch(IOException ex)
         Error(ex.getMessage());
        return image;
    }Thanks in advance.
EDIT
Here's the image I'm using: [http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v461/vaine0/thebitmap.jpg]
Edited by: Ax.Xaein on Aug 1, 2009 2:03 AM

I can probably help you, but you need to save the actual 32-bit bmp image on an image hosting sight so I can take a look at it.
If the image data contained 4 channels of information, but the BMPImageReader used a destination image of only 3 channels, then you would get an IOException complaining that the source bands doesn't match the destination bands.
And I'm pretty sure the BMPImageReader can read version 4 and version 5 bmp's (the ones that support an alpha channel).
Are you absolutely sure you have a bmp with an alpha channel? Not many applications support writing v4 and v5 BMP's.

Inconsistant alpha channel import on .mov files

I am creating a movie using animation I create in Maya which is then composed in Shake with some alpha masks and exported using the animation codec to a .mov file into Motion. In reviewing my workflow (I'm about midway through things) I recognized I had an error in my screen sizes from one tool to the next and while it was not too noticeable, I thought it best to correct. This is where I should have left dead dogs lie.....
Anyway, this is best described with the flow I show below:
Motion Project Setup on ALL file types
720x480, 8bit, NTSC D1/DV
Lower First (Even)
29.97 Fps
Background Color - Black
Background - Transparent
Case 1:
Maya__->_Shake___->Anim Codec_________>Motion 720x480
720x486->720x486-->_Mil+_Col-->foo.mov-->File squished 6 pixels in Y
but alpha is present
Case 2:
720x480->720x480-->_Mil+_Col-->foo2.mov->File is 8 pixels narrow in X
alpha channel is not preset
I open foo.mov and foo2.mov in shake and look at the files and the
size is as follows:
foo.mov - 720x486
foo2.mov - 720x480
BOTH .mov files have the alpha channel present and the data is correct.
Just for grins, I output a file sequence of .tif files from shake of the
foo2.mov files and verified that the alpha channel was present in
photoshop and then did an import into motion with the same results of
foo2.mov. Size is shrunk by 8 pixels in X and no alpha channel.
It appears at least that Motion is making decisions based upon the screen
size and importing or not importing the alpha channel.
Any thoughts would be very much appreciated.

Well, it is strange. Shake says it is 720 and for that matter so does Motion in the Media tab. Motion says it is 720x480 as does shake but when the clip is overlayed against the black background you can see 4 pixels on each side of the clip. The motion project file says it is 720x480 too.
UPDATE....
I just checked the motion file and deleted all of the media clips, but when I went to the media tab there was still one copy of the old 720x486 clip there. Every time and method I tried to delete it, it would crash motion. So, I copied all of the other text data I was using motion to generate, created a new motion project and pasted the text in. When I import the 720x480 file into the new project it lines up perfect. This must be a "feature mode" I must have gotten motion into.
Anyway, problem solved. Thanks much for your help Andy. I kept looking at this and not seeing the forest for the trees.
Much appreciated.

Alpha Channel Question

Hello,
I have an animation with a white drop shadow on it that I animated in Aftereffects. I export the file from Aftereffects and no matter what I try the white drop shadow shows up as a dark shadow every time in Premiere as if it's matted with black. So I'm wondering if there is a setting I'm missing or something I need to do differently when importing to Premiere, or even when exporting from aftereffects, although I've exporting it several different way so far to no avail.
So here is what I have,
I'm using Adobe CS4 for AE and Premiere, on Windows 7
When I export from AE I'm using the color setting for unmatted (and I've tried it matted with black too just for fun, clearly that didn't work out for me:)
I've tried it as an avi and as a mov file too.
Sooo, in case your answer is for me to use Dynamic Link, I can't get that to work either. And I'm sure that is just user error since I've never used it before. I can get the aftereffects sequence to show up in my project files in Premiere, I can even get the animation to show up and play in the preview monitor, but when I put it on my Premiere sequence over the background it doesn't show up, just seems like a blank layer.
Any ideas?
Nina

Thanks for your replies! So I'm not very good at explaining myself. I did export (and by export i mean, make movie by adding it to the render queue) the file as both of you are recommending. As a movie file, with an alpha channel, all one file. The reason I was trying to do it separate next was because it wasn't displaying properly that way.
Finally, what I did as a work around, is just export the background I was using from premiere, import it into aftereffects, Put everything together in aftereffects and then render the finished file without using an alpha at all. In pic #1 so you can see how premiere cs4 won't properly display an animation with a white shadow behind it if it's imported with an alpha channel and placed on top of a background. #2 shows how it was supposed to look.. how it looked once I put everything together in Aftereffects instead. I just thought there should be a way to fix my problem without the extra step of exporting the background. But I don't think there is.
However,
THANK YOU for your replies and trys!!
(Oh yeah I should also mention that I did try, PSD sequence, Quicktime rgb+alpha, Lossless with alpha etc.. none of which seemed to work for what I was trying to do.)

Alpha channel and imaging lingo

I have a 32 bit image with an alpha channel. When placed on
the stage only
the black anti-aliased text shows and no background shows
(using the copy
ink)
I'm scrolling this image with imaging lingo where I take a
sliding portion
of the original image in one direction or the other. When I
do this the
background of the portion on the stage is white instead of
transparent.
I'm creating an image and assign a portion of the text image
to it. I tried
pImage.useAlpha = TRUE but I get an error saying the property
can't be set
which is rediculous I know. pImage is definitely an image, I
checked it
with the debugger.
useAlpha might not be the correct solution but it brought up
a second
question. First, how can I maintain the alpha channel with
imaging Lingo
and second why do I get the error telling me that the
useAlpha property
can't be set?
Craig
Craig Wollman
Lingo Specialist
Word of Mouth Productions
212-928-9581
www.wordofmouthpros.com

Thanks. You're right, I did need to create the image in 32
bits but
otherwise I only needed to set useAlpha to TRUE and the alpha
was maintained
perfectly without any other changes.
Craig Wollman
Lingo Specialist
Word of Mouth Productions
212-928-9581
www.wordofmouthpros.com
"Lukewig" <[email protected]> wrote in
message
news:ek0ibj$c9k$[email protected]..
> Hi Craig,
>
> If "pImage.useAlpha = TRUE" gives a 'cannot set this
property" error, then
> pImage.depth is less than 32. Change your code to
something like this to
> confirm:
>
> if pImage.depth < 32 then put "oops, no alpha to use"
> else pImage.useAlpha = TRUE
>
> As how to "maintain the alpha channel with imaging
Lingo", I gotta scratch
> my
> head each time (its kind of counter-intuitive). Basic
rule of thumb is
> turn off
> alphas for copypixel operations, extract your alphas and
copypixel them
> separately, and then reset the alpha of the final
composite image (of
> course,
> the details depend on whether your are wanting to
combine your alphas or
> not).
>
> -- Luke
>
>

Sudden problem with importing tiff files with alpha channel (CS5)

OK this is driving me nuts. For years I have been importing image files that have an alpha channel into FCP as.tiff files. I use Photoshop files only when I want to use the layers as they are too cumbersome otherwise). I have recent upgraded Photoshop, etc. to CS5 and now FCP won't import them anymore. I get a message saying: "File error: 1 file(s) recognized, 0 access denied, 1 unknown"
I am not doing anything different and tiff files created in just the same way in an earlier version of Photoshop import and work just fine. Is this a CS5 bug? Does anyone know of a work around. I want to keep using tiff files as they seem to work best for me with alpha channel work (and I don't see why I need to reinvent the wheel).
Thanks
A

I've had a similar issue recently. Same TIFF files downloaded from the same server, different FCP project, new error. I either see"File error: 1 file(s) recognized, 0 access denied, 1 unknown" or I get the even stranger, "Unrecognized file type."
I can open them in PS and save them again as TIF, same results. I know these are not CMYK files but even if resave the TIF as RGB, I get the same results, they are not recognized by FCP.
But if I open them in PS and save them as PNG with alpha, they improt fine.
I have no idea what's going on.
bogiesan
Message was edited by: David Bogie Chq-1

Alpha channel showing black background

Hello... I'm importing a logo from Photoshop that is on a transparent alpha channel. It looks fine in Photoshop... no background (other than the checkerboard). When I bring it into Final Cut there is a black box around the logo image. I have tried reverse alpha, switching between straight, black, white, none, etc. with no result. Does anyone know a solution? I am, of course, on deadline.
Thanks
Adrian s

There is a huge section of the manual and hlp system devoted to successfully moving stuff from PS or CS2 to FCP. Depending on how well you can drive PS, there are many ways to lose the alpha information or to just fail to export it properly. You're going to find it is a simple user error but it's impossible to even begin suggesting stuff from here. The first thing to check is that your file is RGB, not CMYK. Are you exporting a format that supports alpha? If you open the file you exported back into POS, what does the alpha do?
Stick with it, you'll figure it out. Try another route , try another file.
bogiesan

Alpha Channel errors

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