Alpha Channel Graphics question

OK, I'm new to KN; I've used Powerpoint for years. I just got iWork (more for pages than KN but. . . ).
Can I not re-size the picture holders on the templates?
If not, then this is rather annoying. On one template page, the picture is basically all that is there, with a text box for a title. Yet, the holder is so small that it barely fills 1/3rd of the page. Perhaps that is a design preference for someone, but I would much rather have my picture larger.
I use powerpoint in the college classroom and often show maps. I don't want to have some tiny picture with lots of empty space around it.
I did note that I can create my own object area and then resize that, but what's the point of using the cool templates then? When I tried to create my own, I assumed that the neat look (like tape on the chalkboard or push pin on the board) would just show up, and then I could resize.
Nope. In that case all I got was the picture.
Please tell me I am missing something obvious and that if I go to X place I'll find the easy way to resize the "Alpha Channel Graphics" (yes, I did go read the PDF guide to see if there was an answer there).

Carl, to stretch the hole, you will need to stretch the entire background graphic. To do this, first set the slide to the master that has the cutout. The cutout is actually a graphic that is covering the entire master, and it is "locked" so that it can't be moved or changed. Click anywhere on the master background (outside of the cutout hole) to select that graphic, and then in the Arrange menu choose "Unlock". Now the cutout image can be freely manipulated, including stretched larger in either or both directions (using either the control handles at the edges and corners of the image, or the Metrics Inspector).
The above procedure will change the master, and so will affect any slide using that master. You are better off to unlock the cutout image on the master, copy it, and then paste it on a separate blank slide. That way, changes that you make to the cutout will only affect that one slide.
I hope this is what you're looking for. As Kyn says, masks give you much more flexibility, and are much easier to use (although admittedly they won't easily give you the borders that some cutouts do).

Similar Messages

Alpha channel export question

I have an editor that keyed the green screen out of some footage but because we're having a problem settling on a background (we're in different locations) I just want him to send me the keyed footage with the black transparent background so I can do that part.
Is there a certain codec he needs to export with to keep the alpha transparent channel so I can place the background in? He's working in FCP 6 and I'm working in FCP7 but it's not going to be a project file, just a uncompressed .mov export from final cut. It was shot with HD 720p.
Thank You,
Steve

'' wrote:
Don't render the Animation codec sequence or the alpha channel
will be re-written with a black bg.
Just to clarify: Prepare your sequence with alpha, make sure it's what you want,
(which may require rendering).
Then, just before you export, do something to force FCP to require a re-render
(like deleting the render file) and +export without rendering+. That will avoid
the black background, and your transparency will be transparent.

Resolution, audio, alpha channel, and backup questions (newbie)

Hello!
Well, after a few weeks of fidgeting around with FCE, I've come up with quite a few questions:
Image/Audio questions
A. What is the best still image size for import to a NTSC DV movie? Is it the 720x480 px (3:2 aspect ratio) standard of the DV image, or the 4:3 ratio of your generic CRT TV?
I know it depends on pan/zoom. This brings up the next question:
B. I have a still image - literally a blue and black two-color image - that I'd like to zoom. It will start out with a very close shot - and zoom out until it takes up around 10% of the screen. The ending frame (the DV size) will be about 10-12 times smaller than the original image. Does this mean that I should make the original 10-12 times bigger (in both directions) than a DV frame?
This clip is essentially an imitation of the opening of the movie "Home Alone", where the screen begins blue, and as it zooms out, you see it's a stylized house, which zooms out to a tiny size. That's essentially the effect I'm going for.
Audio/Video sync issue
C. Some of the clips I've imported from old iMovie projects are a little out of sync. It's not a conversion issue, but an issue with bad editing on my part . So, I have a still image that's about 1.5 seconds too short - it cuts to the next still, which is 1.5 seconds too long. I've added edit points at both ends of the out-of-sync clip, so that I have a 1.5 second clip, with its own audio and video.
The problem is that the audio is perfect, but the video is bad. So, I need to replace the video, without changing the audio. How is this done?
D. Sometimes, I'll end up with either audio or video that's not quite right after importing a movie. However, FCE locks them together. Is there a way to unlock them so that I can change either? Essentially, is there a way to change the audio and video from one clip into two seperate clips?
E. Can I export a single clip or two only? (eg - the same as the "Share selected clips only" check box the iMovie's share menu)
Alpha channel/marquee question:
In one idea I had for this short, I have a still image (and some video) where I'd like to highlight a small area in one part of the image. In one part, it's a small object in the background that I'm highlighting. If you've seen a documentary where they have a group photo, and highlight the face of one particular person, that's the effect I'm going for.
I've made some Photoshop images that can achieve this effect - using a transparent background, a black top layer (at ~40-80% opacity), and an eliptical marquee for the highlighted portion. I then import it, and fine tune the location/size. It works, but it takes a lot of time to talor each shot. Is there some way to do this IN Final Cut Express? A filter perhaps?
In addition: (alpha-video)
is there a way to turn part of a video into an alpha channel, so that it's transparent in the final movie? It's not so much a solid color (as the bluescreen/chroma key technique would need), but more of background. For example, I would like to take some footage of my family walking in front of trees, remove the background, and place an entirely different video/still in. Is that possible?
Backup: FInal question:
I have my source media organized fairly well on my external drive. However, if my drive should die, It would be incredibly tedius to re-link all the files. (I do have a fairly current backup of the external files). Not to mention finding the orignal capture files, re-timing the project, and so on. The project file itself is probably the easiest to back up.
So, how do you back up EVERYTHING? Some projects may have hundreds of files, all over my external drive. Is there some easy way to back up all the files into a single place, like a single folder or DVD, so that if my drive should fail, all the files are in one spot?
I can export them back to a miniDV tape, but I don't have that many, plus they're $5 a pop. I can do this with Toast, but I'll likely end up missing some out-of-the-way files. If only .Mac's Backup had a Final Cut preset.....
I know that's a BUNCH of stuff up there, so if you can help with any of them, i'd be appreciative.
Thanks,
Daniel
15" 1.67 Powerbook G4 (non-HiRes), Slot loading iMac DV SE Mac OS X (10.4.7) 1G RAM on PB, 384 MB iMac.

Try breaking these up into separate questions. Easier to answer and easier to be found by someone searching for answers to the same question.

Graphics, ImageIO, and 32-bit PNG images with alpha-channels

I have a series of 32-bit PNG images, all with alpha channels. I'm using ImageIO.read(File) : BufferedImage to read the PNG image into memory.
When I call graphics.drawImage( image, 0, 0, null ); I see the image drawn, however all semi-transparent pixels have a black background, only 100% transparent pixels in the source image are transparent in the drawn image.
The Graphics2D instance I'm drawing to is obtained from a BufferStrategy instance (I'm painting onto an AWT Canvas).
Here's my code:
Loading the image:
public static BufferedImage getEntityImage(String nom, String state) {
          if( _entityImages.containsKey(nom) ) return _entityImages.get( nom );
          String path = "Entities\\" + nom + "_" + state + ".png";
          try {
               BufferedImage image = read( path );
               if( image != null ) _entityImages.put( nom, image );
               return image;
          } catch(IOException iex) {
               iex.printStackTrace();
               return null;
     private static BufferedImage read(String fileName) throws IOException {
          fileName = Program.contentPath + fileName;
          File file = new File( fileName );
          if( !file.exists() ) return null;
          return ImageIO.read( new File( fileName ) );
     }Using the image:
Graphics2D g = (Graphics2D)_bs.getDrawGraphics();
g.setRenderingHint( RenderingHints.KEY_ANTIALIASING , RenderingHints.VALUE_ANTIALIAS_ON);
public @Override void render(RenderContext r) {
          Point p = r.v.translateWorldPointToViewportPoint( getLoc() );
          int rad = getRadius();
          int x = (int) p.x - (rad / 2);
          int y = (int) p.y - (rad / 2);
          BufferedImage image = Images.getEntityImage( getCls(), "F" );
          r.g.drawImage( image, x, y, null );
     }

You may want to check on you system and see what ImageReaders are available, it could be ImageIO is just not picking the best one, if not, then you can use getImageReaders to get an iterator of image readers, then choose the more appropriate one.

Knuckleheaded Alpha Channel Question of the Week

OK...I rarely monkey around in Motion, but I have amazingly just created about 10 different animated versions of my client's logo for use in various films (cut in SD in FCP). I need to be able to library these rascals so I can just drop them into FCP when I need them.
However, and here is where the knucklehead deal enters the picture.
I am baffled as to how to export the logos out of Motion so there is no black background! I want to create a QT file of each version that I can library and then import into FCP. I have already checked the all of the Alpha channel questions dealing with this issue and the answers are like me and algebra in the 7th grade...huh?
Can somebody give me the kindergarten version of how to get rid of the black background behind my little purple animated logo.
Thanks in advance and I promise to close Motion and step away from the keyboard as soon as one of you mavens helps me solve my little non power user dilemma.

Easiest would be not to export at all, but save a different project file for each version - then just bring the Motion project file into FCP. As long as you have set the background to be transparent (Edit > Project Properties), then the project file will have transparency.
If you want to export, you need to choose a codec that supports an alpha channel, such as Animation or PNG.

Alpha Channel / Media Encoder Question

Hello All,
I have a question that I think is just something I'm overlooking. I have a Comp with a logo. The logo is made up of various files and does not have a solid background. It's very similar to a lower third.When I render it out in AE via the Render Que I have no issues and the Alpha channel works as expected when imported into PPRO. The setting I use is QuickTime>Animation>RGB+Alpha, etc.
This morning I decided I wanted to start rendering via Media Encoder. I watched the video Colin Smith did a bout a year ago to refresh my memory.
I fired up Media Encoder, dragged my logo comp into ME and everything seemed to being going beautifully. I chose QuickTime> Animation codec>etc.
However when imported the file into PPRO the Alpha channel did not render. Where the Alpha channel is supposed to be PPRO read as black video. I went back in ME and doubled checked all of the settings. I do not see anywhere in ME where you can specify an Alpha channel as you can in AE where you can specify "RGB+Alpha".
Is there a setting in ME to activate/read the alpha channel that I'm missing? I'd really like to use ME for future AE comp renderings but unless I can get around the Alpha channel issue I won't be able to.
CS6 all up to date
Win Vista (not that I think any system specs matter in this instance).
Thank you in advance,
Shane

From AME, add the file to the render queue and click either the codec or preset to open the After Effects export settings. Under Basic Video Settings selecting a Depth of 32 bit will enable the alpha channel. If using a 10-bit or greater codec, set the Depth to 64 bit.
As an aside, have you considered creating a Dynamic Link from Premiere Pro to the After Effects file? It eliminates the need for an intermediate file and allows you to maintain a bit depth up to 32bpc.

Question: Quick Look in Finder; problems with alpha channels

Hi
"Quick look" in Finder is great for quick presentations of a folders selected contents but it only works with images that contains no alpha channels or masks. Is there any way to work around this to display say PhotoShop documents with alpha channels? Or any plug-ins/applications that can help?
thanks.

This has been broken forever in OS X, and I don't know why, because it used to work just fine. I suspect the engineers did something to QuickTime that causes this problem, but it has been borked for so long I don't remember when the ability to correctly display files went wrong. I just remember that once upon a time all sorts of things from Apple worked correctly in displaying such files, but pretty much nothing does now. This includes the Finder, Preview, QuickLook, and various third-party image browsers that use Apple's own system level image handling abilities, such as VitaminSee or CocoaViewX. When I need to actually see what's there, I browse with Adobe's Bridge.
Francine
Francine
Schwieder

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 for graphics

Hi,
I placed a 32 bit targa file with an alpha channel in my project as a drop zone but it retains a white background. Is there anywhere to specify in DVD Studio Pro to recognize the alpha channel or will it not accept an alpha channel? I swear, the manual is totally useless.

I figured this out. In case anyone is wondering....
The Targa with alpha channel wasn't working. But a Photoshop file with the Color Profile of NTSC and saved with a transparent alpha channel background worked.
ciao.

Photoshop file to Shake -- alpha channel question

I've been staring at my screen for an hour wondering about this, even though I know it must be simple, so any advice is greatly appreciated:
I have a short video clip of a syringe with no needle. I want to add a VFX "needle" as a composite in Shake. I drew the needle as a .tiff file in Photoshop. I added an alpha channel in Photoshop, so I have R,G,B,A channels in my .tiff file drawing. The alpha channel has a white shape that corresponds to the needle drawing and black for the background. I was thinking that my alpha channel will mask out everything except the Photoshop "needle."
I bring the Photoshop needle file into Shake and set up my Shake script as follows: "Needle" into the left hand input of an Over node and Syringe video into the right-hand input of the Over node.
I was expecting to get just the needle "floating" on top of the syringe video clip, and I would position it to connect up with the syringe. What I got was the "needle" with its square white background floating on top of the syringe clip. My alpha channel from Photoshop did not mask out the white background.
But when I load the needle into the viewer by itself and put my cursor over it and hit the "A" key, the alpha channel is plainly there -- a white area in the shape of the needle and black everywhere else.
Also, in the Node View window, when I put the cursor over the needle and hit the "A" key, the thumbnail clearly shows the alpha channel, a white area in the shape of a needle and black everywhere else.
But when I load the Over node into the viewer, the needle is surrounded by a white background. Does it work to build your mask in Photoshop and bring it into Shake? Is there a parameter in Shake that you have to set to make the Photoshop alpha channel active?
Jim

Thanks much, Zebulun. Toggling premultiply worked. In a side experiment, I later saved my Photoshop image as a .psd file rather than .tiff and when I brought that one into Shake, it came in with its clipping-path/mask working without using premultiply in the Over node. Not sure what the difference would be in how Shake treats the two file formats, but they both achieve the same end result.

BufferedImage from PNG : Alpha Channel disregaurded

I'm trying to load a PNG with an alpha channel into a BufferedImage, and
then sample the BufferedImage at various pixels for some operations.
However, the alpha channel seems to get lost upon creation of the BufferedImage.
For example, I'm using a PNG that is 100% transparent, and when I
load it into a BufferedImage and display it on a panel all I see is the panel's background color.
So far so good. Now, the problem. When I try to sample a pixel, the alpha is always 255 or 100% opaque
which is clearly not right. Also, when I print out the BufferedImage's type, I get 0 which means the image
type is "Custom". Care to shed any light as to how I can accurately sample an image with an alpha channel?
import javax.swing.*;
import java.awt.*;
import java.io.*;
import javax.imageio.*;
import java.awt.image.*;
public class PNGTest extends JFrame {
    public PNGTest() {
        setLocation(500,500);
        BufferedImage img = new BufferedImage(640,480,BufferedImage.TYPE_INT_RGB);
        try {
            img = ImageIO.read(new File("C:/folder/folder/myPNG.png"));
        } catch (Exception e) {
        setSize(img.getWidth(), img.getHeight());
        getContentPane().setBackground(Color.white);
        getContentPane().add(new JLabel(new ImageIcon(img)));
        setVisible(true);
        //Sample top left pixel of image and pass it to a new color
        Color color = new Color(img.getRGB(0,0));
        //print the alpha of the color
        System.out.println(color.getAlpha());
        //print the type of the bufferedimage
        System.out.println(img.getType());
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        new PNGTest();
}Edited by: robbie.26 on May 20, 2010 4:26 PM
Edited by: robbie.26 on May 20, 2010 4:26 PM
Edited by: robbie.26 on May 20, 2010 4:29 PM

Here ya go robbie, ti seems to work for the rest of the world, but not for you:
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.image.*;
import java.net.URL;
import javax.swing.*;
import javax.imageio.*;
public class JTransPix{
JTransPix(){
    JFrame f = new JFrame("Forum Junk");
    JPanel p = new MyJPanel();
    f.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
    f.add(p);
    f.pack();
    f.setVisible(true);
public static void main(String[] args) {
    new JTransPix();
class MyJPanel extends JPanel{
    BufferedImage bi = null;
    MyJPanel(){
      try{
        bi = ImageIO.read(new URL("http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/archive/4/47/20100130232511!PNG_transparency_demonstration_1.png")); //here ya go--one liner
        this.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(bi.getWidth(), bi.getHeight()));
      }catch(java.io.IOException e){
        System.out.println(e.toString());
    public void paintComponent(Graphics g){
      super.paintComponent(g);
      g.setColor(Color.BLUE);
      g.fillRect(0, 0, bi.getWidth(), bi.getHeight());
      g.drawImage(bi,0, 0, this);
}Please notice how the BufferedImage is declared and set to NULL, then allow ImageIO to set the type--Just as I said before. If you have any question about the PNG producing an ARGB image with ImageIO, then change the color painted onto the backgroun din the paintComponent to what ever you want and you'll see it show through.
BTW: even in the short nobrainers--you still need to have VALID CATCH BLOCKS.
To get what you are looking for, you can mask off the Alpha component by dividing each getRGB by 16777216 (256^3) or do a binary shift right 24 places.

Forcing CGImageProviderCopyData() to return RGB image without alpha channel

I am using CGDataProviderCreateWithData(), CGImageCreateWindoJPEGDataProvider() and CGImageProviderCopyData() to decode a JPEG image using core graphics. However the problem is that CGImageProviderCopyData() is returning RGBA instead of RGB, and I have to manually run across the entire bitmap contents and get rid of the alpha channel, which is time consuming.
Is there any way I can force CGImageProviderCopyData() to return a RGB image without the alpha channel? Or any other way to decode where I can skip the step of having to manually delete the alpha channel?
Thanks!

It would be great if you told us what program you are talking about. And it would be even better if you posted your question in the appropriate product forum, which you may find here:
http://forums.adobe.com/index.jspa?view=discussions
This forum is only for discussions on the forums themselves.

AppleScript copy alpha channel from one document to a second document

I have two documents. One with Alpha Channels, the other with none. I am trying to copy the alpha channels from one document into the second.
When I use the following in PS 6, the action duplicates the channels in the same document, not in the second document. I am using PS 6 with both documents open in tabs. Any help appreciated.
tell application "Adobe Photoshop CS6"
set x to document 1
set y to document 2
set cc to number of channel of current document
repeat with i from 5 to cc
duplicate channel i of x to y
end repeat
end tell

I can now copy-paste text frames and linked graphics from one document to another using snippets, but embedded images still don't work.
If I embed an image from a pdf file it works but not for jpeg images. When I open the new document (for which I placed the snippet) in InDesign, there is a frame (with a dark grey background and a diagonal cross) shown, but no contents. The place() method did not throw an exception. What am I doing wrong?
Chris.

More CS 5 - ProRes 4444 Alpha channel nonsense

Hi:
Quicktimes I render out of After Effects CS 5 using the ProRes 4444 codec are tagged as having an alpha channel even though my settings in the Output Module are RGB and Trillions of Colors. NOT RGB + Alpha and Trillions of Colors+. It doesn't matter whether my project is 8 bit or 16 bit.
When I bring such movies back into AE it shows them as having an alpha channel (Trillions of Colors+). If I do a Get Info in QT player it shows Millions of Colors+, and FCP shows them as having an alpha, too.
I just upgraded to Snow Leopard 10.6.8 (figured it was safe after two years) and in the process switched full time to CS 5 (I only used it in the past to open other's projects). I never had these issues with CS4. I have not installed any AJA codecs into this new OS (clean install over wiped HD).
This appears to be the opposite of the problem most have been having, which is AE won't generate an alpha in ProRes 4444 without moving codecs and other nonsense.
The reason this is a problem is because when I bring these Quicktimes with faux alphas into FCP for editing I can't export a reference movie. FCP rewrites the whole timeline.
Haven't these CS 5/ProRes 4444 codec/Alpha channel issues been going on for over a year? Do I have to buy CS 5.5 to get this to work correctly?
Thanks.
Shawn Marshall
Marshall Arts Motion Graphics

PR422HQ is way overkill for 99% of the video and film producers in the world. It's there for a specific elite of the entertainment biz, those who work in 4k on 64bit systems, I guess, that' ain't me! It's one of those "if you have to ask, you can't use it" sort of things. Anyone who uses the advanced features of the ProRes family knows why. That's the theory. In my practical experience over on the FCP forum at Apple, 99% of those using ProResHQ believe they are improving their original footage.
Apple ProRes 4444
The Apple ProRes 4444 codec offers the utmost possible quality for 4:4:4 sources and for workflows involving alpha channels. It includes the following features:
Full-resolution, mastering-quality 4:4:4:4 RGBA color (an online-quality codec for editing and finishing 4:4:4 material, such as that originating from Sony HDCAM SR or digital cinema cameras such as RED ONE, Thomson Viper FilmStream, and Panavision Genesis cameras). The R, G, and B channels are lightly compressed, with an emphasis on being perceptually indistinguishable from the original material.
Lossless alpha channel with real-time playback
High-quality solution for storing and exchanging motion graphics and composites
For 4:4:4 sources, a data rate that is roughly 50 percent higher than the data rate of Apple ProRes 422 (HQ)
Direct encoding of, and decoding to, RGB pixel formats
Support for any resolution, including SD, HD, 2K, 4K, and other resolutions
A Gamma Correction setting in the codec’s advanced compression settings pane, which allows you to disable the 1.8 to 2.2 gamma adjustment that can occur if RGB material at 2.2 gamma is misinterpreted as 1.8. This setting is also available with the Apple ProRes 422 codec.
Apple ProRes 422 (HQ)
The Apple ProRes 422 (HQ) codec offers the utmost possible quality for 4:2:2 or 4:2:0 sources (without an alpha channel) and provides the following:
Target data rate of approximately 220 Mbps (1920 x 1080 at 60i)
Higher quality than Apple ProRes 422
Apple ProRes 422
The Apple ProRes 422 codec provides the following:
Target data rate of approximately 145 Mbps (1920 x 1080 at 60i)
Higher quality than Apple ProRes 422 (LT)
Apple ProRes 422 (LT)
The Apple ProRes 422 (LT) codec provides the following:
Roughly 70 percent of the data rate of Apple ProRes 422 (thus, smaller file sizes than Apple ProRes 422)
Higher quality than Apple ProRes 422 (Proxy)
Apple ProRes 422 (Proxy)
The Apple ProRes 422 (Proxy) codec is intended for use in offline workflows and provides the following:
Roughly 30 percent of the data rate of Apple ProRes 422
High-quality offline editing at the original frame size, frame rate, and aspect ratio
High-quality edit proxy for Final Cut Server
The Apple ProRes family of codecs provides these advantages:
Quality indistinguishable from that of the most pristine sources: Maintains superb quality even after multiple encoding/decoding generations.
Mastering-quality 4:4:4:4 RGBA: Provides a lossless alpha channel with real-time playback (Apple ProRes 4444 only). Mastering-quality 4:4:4 Y′CBCRcolor and 4:2:2 Y′CBCR color are also available.
The quality of uncompressed HD at data and storage rates lower than those of uncompressed SD: Provides real-time editing performance comparable to or better than that of any other HD codecs in Final Cut Pro.
Apple ProRes encoding at any frame size—SD, HD, 2K, 4K, or other: Apple ProRes codecs can also be encoded into nonstandard frame sizes, but nonstandard frame sizes are not supported for real-time playback in Final Cut Pro.
Variable bit rate (VBR) encoding: “Smart” encoding analyzes the image. Efficiency is increased because excess bits are not wasted on simple frames.
10-bit sample depth: Preserves subtle gradients of 10-bit sources (sunsets, graphics, and the like) with no visible banding artifacts. When you import a file using an Apple ProRes codec, you don’t have to first determine whether the file is an 8-bit or 10-bit file. Apple ProRes codecs always preserve the bit depth of your original source files.
I-frame–only (intraframe) encoding: Ensures consistent quality in every frame, with no artifacts from complex motion, and speeds up editing.
Fast encoding and decoding: Delivers high-quality, real-time playback and faster rendering times.
Equipment affordability: Because of low bit rates, you can edit more streams with more real-time effects on slower drives, or have more users accessing the same media over shared storage devices.
Workflow options for any video format that does not have native Final Cut Pro support: The Apple ProRes format provides an effective workflow for projects involving multiple acquisition formats when you want to standardize on a single codec.
Better rendering for native editing: Can be used to render long-GOP MPEG-2 formats (such as HDV and XDCAM HD) to speed up editing and avoid MPEG-2 reencoding artifacts before output.

Better Alpha channel handling

I've asked for this a lot: alpha channel saving with PS is terrible, and could use an update. And today, I was embarrassed by a bug that caused our game engine to perform poorly as a result of the way Photoshop handles the alpha channel.
The bug: make a 1024x1024 canvas, give it an opaque alpha channel (100% white, every pixel), then Image Size it down to something smaller, like 128x128. Now look at your alpha channel: grey pixels all along the border. ARRGGGHHH!!!1!1! It interpolated, I'm sure, using black alpha outside the canvas that doesn't actually exist, changing, in a powerful, fundamental way, the nature of the alpha channel. Video cards care about this stuff: 99.9% opaque is not 100% opaque. This is terrible.
The request: That PS intelligently offer better defaults when saving an image with an alpha. Right now, it offers, "What was the last bit depth you saved an image to?" Regardless of the fact that the previous image may have no relationship to the following image being saved, the default offering is always "what I did last time". This enables very easy pruning of alpha channels that should be there, or adding opaque alpha channels that shouldn't be there, bloating the file size.
I'd like PS to determine if an alpha channel is present, and base its default choice on that. If one is present, default to 32-bits. If an alpha channel si not present, default to 24-bits. That easy.
If multiple alpha channels are present, I'd like a dropdown menu to pick which one I want. Right now, if you save a PSD with multiple alpha channels to a 32-bit TGA, it throws all alpha channels away, and saves the image with a solidly opaque alpha channel, the choice no one asked for.
For texture work, or works where the graphics card is the destination, not the printed page, this cavalier handling of alpha channels is definitely not sustainable.
I'd love to never have to ask for this again.

Generally speaking the resize of an image on a layer in which the canvas is exactly the size of the data will result in transparency peeking in around the edge (i.e., I'm agreeing with you here, just using Photoshop terms). I've always thought this was kind of poorly thought-out too. As you say, the algorithm must default to using 0 vs., say, replicating (or "clamping") to the alpha of the pixels right on the edge.
I suppose theoretically, the thinking is that if you were to EXPAND the canvas, the area around the image would be transparent anyway, and a subsequent resampling would then have the same result as the above.
Knowing this, one way to work around the problem would be to create a slightly larger image, then Canvas Size it down to your intended resolution. That way there's layer data beyond the edges with which the resizing algorithm can work. I realize that's probably not a practical solution in general, but a trick to keep up your sleeve if you really do need that 128 x 128 image with alpha solid to the edge.
-Noel

Alpha Channel Graphics question

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