Alpha channel matte

Is FCE capable of creating a composite using material that already includes an alpha channel? I have friend who is creating some computer generated models he wishes to composite into a scene. Instead of using the keyer in Final Cut to create the matte I was hoping there was a way he could include an alpha channel with his renderings and I could use that. It seems possible in a still image but can it also be achieved in a shot where the CG model moves? Thanks for any help.

Thank you for your help. I'm still banging my head against the wall over this one but I just can't seem to get it figured out. I have a grayscale Jpeg image that I wish to use as the Alpha matte. It includes a "cut out" for the foreground object which is some CG rendering. The "cut out" is black and the background is white. There is an area of gray tones meant to create a drop shadow on the video plate. This is the way I have it set up:
V3 = CG artwork - 24bit RGB JPEG file
V2 = Matte - 8 Bit grayscale JPEG file
V1 = DV footage of live action scene
V3 has its composite mode set to Travel Matte Alpha.
So all I'm seeing in the canvas is my CG art on its white background. Its as though it doesn't recognize the matte on V2. Is my thinking completly off ? If there is something very obvious that I am not understanding about alpha channels or compositing I hope the forum will understand. Thanks for any help!

Similar Messages

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.

Using video with alpha channel

I purchased a video clip from istock, the video clip is an .mov and has a alpha channel included. The video clip is santa clause over a black background and tagged at the end is a white solid of the video (I assume this is the alpha channel) How do I use the alpha channel to help key out the vidoe clip that I need. here is a link to the actual video clip I purchased. http://www.istockphoto.com/stock-video-11011749-santa-claus-with-alpha-channel-ntsc.php
Thanks Ja

As Szalam said, the b/w image can be used as a luma matte.
Also check if the actual piece of footage has an embedded alpha channel, i.e when you import it AE should know there is an alpha channel and let you know in the top of the project window when you select the element (or "interpret footage").
Alternatively just drag the footage to a comp and enable the checkerboard background to see if there is transparency. These three approaches are the same...just different ways of finding out about the alpha channel.

Copying an alpha channel from one comp to another?

I've created a green screen key using Primatte in one comp, and I want to use that same key in another comp, but where the background has since been replaced and rendered out with an effect I want to keep on the foreground subject. I bet it's something simple...
Actually I bet that explanantion's confusing.
Subject X is against green in a video in comp A.
X was extracted using a key and rendered with an effect and a new background to creat video B.
I want to extract subject X from B (and keep the new effect) using the alpha channel created in comp A.
So how do I copy and paste the alpha channel from comp A to a new comp with video B in it?
Cheers!

Pre-compose, use as a matte layer.
Mylenium

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.)

Motion 5 Alpha Channel Support

Does anyone have an answer on what is supported? I know Prores444, but I can get transparency information out of the Animation Codec, but it results in jerky vision when field based media is imported into Avid. The file does contain an alpha channel, but there is a problem, on import to Avid V6
Anyone recommend a good workflow for getting Video + Alpha out of Motion 5 and into a PC based Avid that doesn't have Prores, and surely it doesn't involve a 2 pass output with separate Matte and Fill.
John

ProRes 4444 has a playing bandwidth that can choke all but the fastest computers. FCPX uses Optimized versions of video to get the playability down to a reasonable rate. ProRes 4444 makes editing video simple, and therefore provides a better environment for frame level edits.
I didn't know you could export Animation out of Motion 5... I have the Animation codec, but it doesn't appear as an option for me...
Anywho...
You have other options.
1) you can export Alpha channel as a travel matte in any codec you like. From the Share > Export Movie dialog, in the Render section, the Color dropdown menu, select Alpha (only). You will also need to export the Color channels as a separate video.
[*I know you already stated you do not want to use this option but it means you can use any codec.]
2) you can Share > Export as Image Sequence and use PNG, PSD or TIFF
Image sequences seem messy, but if you group all the images into a dedicated folder, it's not that different from a video file. You could even import them into Avid and export a compatible video file, then delete the sequence (just assuming - I haven't tried using Avid since the 1995 Mac version so I have no real idea if that's the case.)
Any self-respecting NLE can handle travel mattes and image sequences.
HTH

No alpha channel when BCC lens flare applied

Hello
With the help of Andy Neil, I created a light sweep for a lighthouse logo. I added a BCC RT Lens Flare Adv filter to enhance the effect of the light sweeping past the viewer. I looked great.
Then I got to thinking that the lighthouse logo with light sweep would make a great lower third, so I scaled it down to logo bug size and superimposed it over a lower third background.
The problem is that the inclusion of the BCC Lens Flare filter seems to add a black layer over the entire movie so that the lower third cannot superimpose over my talking head. I know it's the BCC Lens Flare because when I deactivate the filter and export, the alpha channel is present and the lower third is superimposed over the footage.
I've tried exporting with Lossless+Movie Alpha and Animation,
My question: Can anyone tell me why this is happening and how I might be able to remedy?
Thank you,
Blake

Yes, the lens flare is the problem. The generator is rendered as a blend mode which blends only with the elements in the project. The blend doesn't export as transparency because a blend mode is only transparent when combined with another layer.
Here are your solutions:
1) Composite the lower thirds with the video in Motion. If the bkg layer is in Motion, then the ADD blend mode applied to the lens flare will work properly.
2) Create an alpha matte layer. This requires you to create a black and white image of your project that defines transparency for your lower 3rd. Export that as well, and then do a Composite Mode-Luma in FCP.
3) Apply a Luma Key to your lens flare before export. This works, but is imperfect because the filter will inevitably key out some of the not-so-bright aspects of the lens flare, leaving you with a diminished result.
4) (My Suggestion): Apply the lens flare in FCP. FCP contains the SAME lens flare generator used by Motion. This will give you the best possible result with the least amount of extra work on your part.
Andy

Texture problem with alpha channel

[code]
on createMySphere
sr= p3d.newModelResource("mySphere01", #sphere)
s = p3d.newModel("s", sr)
s.transform.position = vector (0,0,0)
s.shader = p3d.newShader("sShdr2", #standard)
txS= p3d.newTexture("txS", #fromcastmember, member("image"))
s.shader.textureList[1] = txS
sr.radius = 100
sr.resolution =60
end
[code]
im using png image format for textures, because i want to
make user to its alpha channel. The problem comes when the image
has the alpha, The sphere disappears no matter how the alpha is
painted.
how do i make use of the alpha channel, it doesn't even have
to be in the same image.

thanks i used #both on my sphere it shows up but i dont see
the image only black the other side.
i used it on my plane and the texture is gone.
on createPlane
planeR = p3d.newModelResource("plane01", #plane)
planeO = p3d.newModel("planeO", planeR)
planeO.transform.position = vector (0,0,0)
p3d.model("planeO").visibility = #both
planeO.shader = p3d.newShader("pShdr", #standard)
txPlaneO = p3d.newTexture("txPlaneO", #fromcastmember,
member("Asphalt10"))
planeO.shader.textureList[1] = txPlaneO
planeR.width = 5000.0
planeR.length = 5000.0
planeO.rotate (90, 90, 0)
end createPlane

Alpha channel loss at export

Hey guys,
HELP!! I can't figure out why I get a blinking effect (when I say blinking, it might blink 2-3 frames of black throughout a 60 second sequence)when I try to export my alpha channel animation sequence. It plays back just fine in FCP until I export it and open it up into motion. Everything looks great in motion except for the 2-3 frames the background blinks to black. I'm trying to get this project done ASAP, but this tiny problem is holding me up!! Any ideas??
Also, just FYI: as far as filters that I'm using on the clip: Chromo keyer, 3-way color correction, 8-point garbage matte, and I'm using a slight drop shadow with the motion tab. THANKS

Zoom in on the timeline in whatever program you created the sequence in. Zoom in to the trouble area and make sure you don't have a very small gap between the clips. Unless you are all the way or at least almost all the way zoomed in, you would not be able to see a small 2-3 frame gap.

Getting alpha channel to export from AFX to Photoshop

I have an image in After Effects CS4 with some text on it and a transparent background. I need to export this as a png (retaining the background transparency). I've tried to do this in many ways (as single frame or as png sequence after reducing work area to my single frame, and as prematted or straight alpha (both with RGB 16million Plus) . . . but I keep getting a black matte in background. Tried exporting both as png and as photoshop file.
Can someone explain the correct way of doing this? (The alpha channel does transfer to photoshop, so if there's a simple way to use that to mask out the background (or mask in the part of the picture I need) I guess that would suffice. It was just mean I need to make my text brilliant green or something in AFX and then convert to black in photoshop.
Is this some kind of bug or am I just missing the simple way to do this?
Thanks for any help.

Thanks Mylenium.
Can you explainyour method in more detail.
I double clicked the later title to create a floatin layer.
Then I went into Channels and CTRL clicked no the alpha layer which makes a selection of the correct portions of the image.
Clicking delete (or inverting selection and then clicking delete) doesn't get rid of everything.
Can you spell out what else I have to click on first - do I go back to the regular image in layers and then hit delete or apply my selection as a mask?
I did manage to fumble through things once, but if you don't mind spelling out the right method, I'd like to learn the right way.
Thanks

How to export a video with an alpha channel that can be switched off

Hi!
I'm stuck with something that I think might have a simple solution:
I need my video to have an alpha channel while still keeping all the RGB information in place too. This is for Syntheyes, which can take the alpha channel for a video and use it as a garbage matte while tracking.
The problem is that if I draw a mask around my video and then export as a PNG (with alpha), the RGB information seems to be gone even when I choose to ignore the alpha channel. I know how to edit the alpha channel in Photoshop while still keeping the RGB elements untouched, but how should I do that in AE?
Any help will be appreciated!

Okay I will answer my own question:
This worked as soon as I did a proper export as a PNG image sequence. I did my tests with only single frames by using the "save frame as file" -function, which did not work properly (the rbg information was gone).
So the simple solution to this question was:
Draw a mask on the video layer and export with alpha. The RGB will be there, even though the mask hides it in AE.

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.

Exporting with alpha channel and edges are ragged

I've got a short animation that is mainly a PSD of a map of NC with some animated push pins on it. I've got a local cable provider wanting an export of the animation with an alpha channel. He's using Premiere on a Mac, I'm on PC. No matter what codec I use that supports an alpha channel, the outer edge of the graphic of the State comes out ragged. Zooming in to the PSD in PhotoShop shows that the edge is antialiased, so I would imagine that this is what is causing the ragged edge on export.
Here's grab of the export. This is with QT Animation codec-quality 100, but the same results occur with DNxHD, Cineform, PNG, etc.

I think you are just seeing the extra areas of the fill.
If the output files works correctly in the editor, you should be good to go.
MtD

Alpha channel matte

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