Best Codec for exporting animations with alpha channel from FCP timeline

Whats the best codec for exporting animations (hopefully using loseless compression) that will retain alpha channel, and use the current sequence settings for fps and size?
Currently Im exporting image sequences, but I'd prefer a wrapper.. I don't know much about the 'Animation' export codec.. I did notice that set to current size had some funky value of 753x450 or something.. instead of my current project size of 1920x1080...
Anyhow.. Just seeing what others are doing..
basically Im reading out some titles that I'll end up dropping over video later.. but since they render out so slowly (**** lower 3rds is slow) Im trying to get a jump on the process..
Tx..

PNG should do it. I think PNG is lossless (that's what they say, anyway). But realistically, if you use PNG, Animation, or JPG2000 set on highest quality, I'd dare you to tell a difference.
I use PNG because it's supposedly lossless, renders twice as fast as Animation in a FCP timeline, and is usually about half the size.
If you use "Export Using Quicktime Conversion", you will need to check all of the settings manually to make sure they match your sequence settings. This is always true, no matter what codec you use.
If that sounds risky, your other option is to go into your sequence settings and change the codec to the one you want to render to (this will probably turn your whole timeline red), and then choose Export -> Quicktime movie.

Similar Messages

Best codec for export from FCE?

Heya, I'm sort of a newbie, so please be patient with me
I'm trying to export a video from FCE using QT conversion. I'm going to be putting it on Youtube. What is the best codec for export? I've always heard that H.264 is the 'best', but my videos have always been pale and washed out. I tried exporting using MPEG-4 video, and it's not washed out. Is H.264 better and I should just deal with the paleness, or does it not matter too much?
Thanks

All the Web video sites re-compress your videos. So it's generally best to upload high quality files – typically determined by bit rate.
My suggestion would be to export as a Quick Time movie at current settings. (Guessing that you edited an AIC sequence,)
If you don;t have MPEG Streamclip, do a search and download it. In Streamclip, open the file you exported from FCE. Export to Quick Time. For Compression, choose H.264 from the drop down menu. Don't change Frame Size. If your movie is interlaced, check De-interlace. Check the Limit Data Rate box and type in 12,000 if the size of your movie is1080; 6,000 if your movie is 720; 3,000 if your movie is 480.
Use the YT uploader and you should be good to go.
Russ

Export PNG images with alpha channel from flash

Hi,
I have this FLA with animation and when played, the animation has alpha channel. I can’t understand why when I look in the library I see the frames without the alpha channel and also when I try to export/extract the image again the image don’t have alpha channel.
How is it that in flash this image has alpha channel and how to get it out like that into PNG?
Here is the link to download the FLA:
http://download759.mediafire.com/nb749r29220g/e0636ab0ru6ouoa/Untitled-1.fla

"when played, the animation has alpha channel"
how are you playing the animation? control/enter in Flash, Publishing to a Web page or what?
How can you tell that the animation has the alpha channel? What exactly are you seeing?
What is the aniimation? a series of images, one image moving? Are teweens imvolved?
" when I try to export/extract the image again the image don’t have alpha channel"
How are you exporting the image? is it a single image? or a series of frames that makes up an animation?
What was the file format of the original image? you brought that image into Flash and animated it? Now you want to export as a .png with transparency?
Have you ever tried to export a simple .png before so that you see and understand the dialog box that pops up during export? are you chosing "24 bit with alpha channel" in the "Colors" choice?
For those of us who may not want to download your file, please provide a more detailed describtion of everything related to this question.
Best wishes,
Adninjastrator

Why can't I see the Finder thumbnails for .mov files with alpha channels?

Ever since I upgraded to Mavericks I haven't been able to see the thumbnail for or preview using spacebar any .MOV clips that contain alpha channels in Finder. PSDs and PNGs with alpha channels are fine, and I can still see their thumbnails and previews, it's just .MOV clips with alpha. Here are a couple screenshots:
Most of these clips are using a PNG codec, but I converted on to the Animation codec and tested it in After Effects to make sure it kept the alpha channel and it did, but the same thumbnail error persists.
Any idea why this might be or how to fix it?
27" iMac late 2012
1TB Fusion
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680MX 2048 MB
16GB RAM
OS X Mavericks
Thanks.

ok, have copied the photos again from the memory card and hey presto, it all works fine. So in summary...for RW2 files from GF1 camera, I have no thumbnail images, couldn't view in Preview, and neither Quickview nor Coverview were working. Ran the bit of code provided at "https://discussions.apple.com/message/18369759#18369759" (thanks to Snoop Dogg) and then recopied the photos onto my Mac (only required for photos copied since upgrading to Lion, everything from before the upgrade is fine anyway).
Hope others find this helpful.

Flash Player for FLV files with alpha channel encoded

My goal is to play the the transparent background flash video on the bottom right hand corner similar to the video on this website : http://www.dropshipblueprint.com/
I already have the FLV file with alpha channel encoded. I was made to understand I will need a special flash player that can read alpha channel in the flv file to make the background transparent? Is this correct? If yes, then how to accomplish this or where do I get that player, maybe opensourece player? If the player is not a solution then how do I accomplish my end objective taking into consideration I have the FLV file with the alpha channel encoded. Thanks for your help. Sam

Sam,
Welcome to the forum.
Where do you need to play this "sprite" (the name for such a Flash video)?
If you need to add that to a Video, then there could be a few challenges in PrE.
If you need to add it to a Web site, then Flash Player (free from Adobe) should be able to display that.
Can you please give us just a bit more info, on how you wish to use the sprite?
Good luck,
Hunt

Best visually lossless codec for cartoon prerenders with alpha

Hey guys. I've done a lot of research on this but still cannot find a satisfying solution.
I have hundreds of comps that I would like to prerender and re-use on a regular basis. These comps are simple solid colors, cartoons, for character animation. They contain LOTS of blank space, with the image only comprising a small part of the frame. This is necessary to line everything up in the end. I need to be able to decode these prerenders on Mac and Windows, but it is OK if they can only be encoded on Mac. I need it to be a fast codec for decoding, but I do not care how long it takes to encode them. I don't care what the container is, but Quicktime seems like the best container that AE supports.
After doing lots of tests, the only reasonable formats I could find were:
ProRes 4444
Animation
I have tried DnxHD, PNG (Quicktime), PNG (Image sequence), and all the other ProRes variants (with a separate movie for alpha). DnxHD doesn't work because it only works at fixed sizes and maxes out at 1920x1080. All the other ProRes variants don't work because they don't have alpha, and when I use a separate ProRes render for Alpha, there's artifacts on the edges. PNG in quicktime is far too slow to decode, and the files are bigger than Animation. Using image sequences is a pain to maintain and seems to be slower as well. I wish I could try out codecs like HuffYuv and Lagarith, but they are not supported on Mac.
ProRes 4x4 would be perfect, but I have no need for 16-bit color. Animation is the fastest codec, but produces files that are too big. At 75% quality, it produces files smaller than ProRes, but introduces some artifacts.
Wondering if there is an 8-bit codec with alpha that anyone would recommend for this.
Also, I am wondering if using a single, very long Quicktime file is faster for AE to use than lots of shorter Quicktime files.
Thanks,
Bryan

I think I found that PNG was kindof slow to render. I will give it another look.
The duration of the file question is really just about how AE manages its memory. Whether having a single file is better or many files. For game development, I am used to generating single spritesheets which contain all image data, rather than many small files. I am wondering if something similar is true with AE. I am basically trying to optimize our workflow as much as possible for maximum AE performance.
In the case of using one quicktime, it would be duplicated many times in AE, and time-remapped to break it apart into layers. Or it would simply already be broken apart as separate files. All files would be used all the time, as they are all the elements of a character's head rig (eyes, eyebrows, mouth, etc). In case you are wondering, the reason I want to prerender them is because they contain a lot of CPU-intensive effects (Mesh Warp, etc). These head rigs really slow down our workflow and also cause frequent crashes.

After-Effects to FCP - Best format to use to export clip with alpha channel ?

Hello All;
I have created a 10 second video in After-Effects that I want to use in FCP. It seems that I am unable to render out to a Quicktime movie with both the video and the alpha channel (I can only render to one or the other). Could you tell me the best method to get a short video from AE to FCP ? What is the best format to use in AE ? Thanks.
Tim

Animation codec with colors set to Millions +. The plus is your Alpha channel.
If you have FCS 2009 you can also export to Pro Res 4444.

Exporting Quicktime with alpha channel

Hi,
I'm currently editing a piece full of talking heads that will eventually be converted to flash to be used on a website. The heads were shot on DVCPRO 50 on green screen and keyed using advant edge. I am using DVCPRO 50 timelines. I need to export quicktime movies including the aplha channel so that the resulting flash movies (which are to be encoded by another company) appear without the background on the website. When I look at my files on the screen they appear over the checkerboard background. I exported using animation codec set to million of colors +. Just as a test to see if that would work I encoded a flash movie from the quicktime file using the new Flash 8 "encode alpha channel" option. When I viewed the file it was over a black background. As a further check I imported the quicktime movie I had made into a new sequence set to animation millions +. It also appeared over a black background. Did I lose my alpha channel somehow? When I view the format info on the quicktime file, it lists the alpha channel as being "straight", which I assume means that an alpha channel is present. Can anyone help me out?
G5 Quad PPC Mac OS X (10.4.6) 2 GB Ram, Aja Card

OK I changed the sequence settings to animation millions + (as they were previously set to DVCPRO 50). When I did this all of the files became unrendered, which was the desired effect. I exported a 5 second piece animation millions +. It had a black background in quicktime, but when I imported the quicktime movie into flash encoder my subject appeared over the white default flash background. We have a winner! Now my only problem lies in export times. It took nearly 8 minutes on my quad to export that 5 second clip, and I have 34 clips that are at least 30 seconds apiece. I think I'm best off setting uyp a batch export to run over the weekend. Thanks again for all the help guys! I would have never figured out that the files had to remain unrendered in order for this to work.

Best Codec for Exporting 200 Gigabyte Movie?

Hey everyone. I have an uncompressed 200 gigabyte movie in Premiere Pro CS3. I was wondering, what is the best way to export the movie to MPEG-2 DVD so that it will fit on a 9 gigabyte dual layer dvd with the least amount of quality loss? Thanks.
Karizma

Two things to add to Ruud's recommendations. DVD+R disks, both single and dual layer, have something known as Booktype. It's basically a code on the burned disk that tells players what kind of disk it is. DVD-R disks have this information hard coded, but for +R disks, it happens during the burning process. The point here is that because it's user written, it can be changed.
The reason you might want to change the Booktype is that DVD+R DL disks have probably the lowest player compatibility of all burnable media out there. I've had computer drives that couldn't read these disks. The solution is to change the Booktype from +R to DVD-ROM. It's not a real ROM disk, of course, but the code fools the player into thinking it is, and so vastly increases the number of players such disks will play well on.
Make sure you burner will allow the DVD-ROM setting for DVD+R DL disks. Some do it by default, some you have to change once and you're good, some you have to change every time you reboot. Nero's free tool DiskSpeed has a way to check what the Booktype of your disks will be after they're burned.
The second recommendation is Falcon disks. They're available in the US only from Diskmakers, but in my experience they turn out with fewer errors than the pressed disks Hollywood makes.

Best codec for export?

I've always worked on short videos, less than 15 minutes, and could always export as a .mov and burn to a DVD-R. Now I am working on something that will be 40+ minutes long and know it will not fit on a standard 4.7GB DVD without compression. How, and with what settings should I export this video so I can still burn it to a 4.7GB DVD? Obviously I want to maintain the best quality I can and there seems to be 40 or choices plus options.
Thank you!

While we commonly refer to anything that can be burned on a 4.7GB DVD disk as a DVD, DVD's can be either a Data disk or a Digital Video Disk (DVD).
If you want a Digital Video Disk (something that will play in set top players), export your movie from FCP and import it into compressor. In there, select (under the DVD presets) 90 min best quality + ac3 audio. Drag those into DVDSP, build your chapter structure and burn a happy disk.
If you want a DATA disk, you need to keep the total file size under 4.5 GB, or if it is larger than that, get a Dual layer DVD disk which will give you slightly less the 9 GB of space. (and you must have a drive capable of burning dual layer disks)
fwiw - Toast 9 or higher will allow you to span disks - that is to write one data file over multiple disks. This is good for transport, but impossible to play from the disk.
x

Best codec for exporting in AVI format

Hi,
I've been using Adobe Premiere CS3 for the last couple of months and am nearing completion of a video I'm making. I intend to export my finished work as an AVI file and have been experimenting with different codecs by exporting short clips and then watching them with VLC player. So far I haven't had much luck. I've tried the following codecs:
DivX Mpeg-4 Fast Motion
DivX Mpeg-4 Low Motion
Xvid Mpeg-4
When I try to use the Xvid codec, a new window with 'XVid status' comes up and then Premiere freezes. With the DivX codecs, the video quality is bad and the picture goes all 'fuzzy', especially during transitions...
Does anybody have any suggestions?
Thanks in advance

I can only refer to PrPro 2.0, but I can Export directly to DivX on my laptop, which does not have the DivX stand-alone encoder.
This is done from Microsoft AVI, and not DV-AVI.
Hope that this helps,
Hunt

Best codec for exporting photo slideshow?

I brought some H.264 640x480 30fps 4:3 slideshow clips created by iPhoto '08 into FCP 5.1.4 to string together and added some titles. My goal is to export some sort of output file that I can then convert to some other Windows formats I can't do from within the standard Quicktime Conversion dialog. What codec should I use for export that will minimize the re-compression of the original H.264 footage? It's about 15 minutes long. I have a good deal of disk space, but perhaps not enough space (or time) to export it uncompressed?

Photo - jpeg at 75% assuming you will use QT in Windows.

Need help in choosing best codec for exporting HD for content delivery

What codec is best for a quick but manageable size for an HD video for Youtube?
And, what codec is best for that same video to be exported for DVDSP?
I am thinking for DVDSP I would just export as QT and I can go straight to DVDSP and burn from there.
But when I have tried to export for YouTube I have had problems using QT with conversion, so suggestions are gladly accepted.
Thanks!

Good advice for the SD DVD, so for the ftp upload, in Compressor, choose Quicktime > H.264 - which does a very good job of maintaining quality while reducing the size of the file dramatically. Once you drag the preset for H.264 to the file in the Compressor job, you can make adjustments to the setting by changing the frame size and or quality and even choose between stereo or mono and what sample rate. So I recommend reducing a 1920x1080 to a 1280 x 720 resolution, and changing the audio sample rate from 48k to 44.1k (unless you're already there). youtube, Vimeo, and other hosts of HD content usualy accept a 1280 x 720 clip and further encode the uploaded file to their own thing - usually flash and the settings I've given you have worked well for me on Vimeo.

No Method of Batch Export for Clips with Alpha Channels?

Good morning,
As many a flustered editor has eventually discovered, in order for FCP to export sequences with alpha channels to a 32-bit format, the timeline has to be un-rendered at the time of export, or else the transparent parts will appear black in the outputted file. This sort-of makes sense if you know how FCP and render files work, but in a perfect world I think I'd have designed the export interface a bit differently. Now that I think about it, I'm actually working in an Animation (Millions of Colors +) sequence, so converting transparent areas to black makes no logical sense at all.
Anyway, I have several sequences that I would like to export as 32-bit TGA QuickTime files, preserving their transparency. If I Export Using Compressor, the process results in pre-rendering of the sequence, turning the transparent areas black. The same problem occurs if I export QuickTime reference movies from FCP and open them directly with Compressor.
Does anyone know of a way to avoid this silly phenomenon or am I stuck individually exporting each sequence from FCP, one...at.......a................time?
Thanks,
Zap

Thanks, Andy, "Batch Export" eventually did the trick!
I forgot about that tool because I've never actually had to use it before! After playing around with it for a while, I found that as long as the sequence settings for each sequence in the batch are set to a codec with an activated alpha channel, it works just fine.
Thanks again,
Zap

Exporting a move clip with alpha channel

Hi there,
I’m trying to export a move clips with alpha channel.
I’m trying to export an animation with Premiere CS5. I made an animation of a rotating object in Maya and exported it with alpha channel as tiff images. Then they are edited with Photoshop to give them a drop shadow.
My problem is this. Can I export this tiff animation with the alpha channel?
My plane is to use move clips over backgrounds in a game – depending on the result there are different animations playing on top of several different backgrounds. There for the objects has to have a transparent/alpha channel over the backgrounds.
Again the reason for this is the complexity of the game and to make the game looking as real as possible. I’m hoping for some help here to make my plan possible
…thanks

Thanks alot for the help.
But now I’m wondering how to get the file size down?
The 32bit and alpha channel just increase the file size from about 1MB to 9,3MB, which is pretty much??
…any ides mate?

Best Codec for exporting animations with alpha channel from FCP timeline

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