Bug importing alpha channels on mini-timeline?

In Motion 2, either I'm missing something or there's a bug when multiples files are imported via the mini-timeline.
Here's what's happening:
I drag 2 or more files to the mini-timeline and wait for the pop-up box to appear. From here, I choose either "Composite" or "Sequential." When I import using this method the Alpha Type is set to "none/ignore" for each of these files. (I verify this by selecting each file in the Media tab and using the Inspector to look at the setting.)
If I use ANY other method for importing media (dragging a single file to the mini-timeline, dragging single or multiple files to the canvas, importing single or multiple files using the "Import" button) the Alpha Type is set correctly to "straight."
Can anybody shed light on this subject?
Thanks!
Bryce
G5 dual 2.5 Mac OS X (10.3.5)

Thanks for the info ... and yea, I think most people don't notice the FAQ notice when first signing in to ask questions. You're not alone.
Just as a matter of course, I'd note that if that external drive isn't on an eSATA II or Thunderbolt connection, it's not gonna be the greatest connection you could have. USB 3 just doesn't have the sustained read/write throughput needed for all footage codecs as there's a LOT of read/write going on during playback.
However, that shouldn't cause the above mentioned problem. Hoping shooternz or some of the more Ae-experienced folk jump in here to help you ...
Neil

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Just searched through the forums to find this thread in the (now-Read Only) Photoshop CS6 Beta forum:
http://forums.adobe.com/message/4310886
Which is exactly the same issue I'm having. I just cropped about a 1000 images with alphas originally created in PS5 and resaved using PS6.
My client still uses CS5 and the images won't recognize the alpha channels in inDesign5.
I see in this thread that it said a fix for older versions of inDesign was being worked on, this was back in April.
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Hi Peter,
The images in question all use alpha channels to mask out the image backgrounds (usually white) in InDesign layouts.
I opened the images in PS6 to crop out excess background (to get file size down) and saved the new files.
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If I open the image in PS5 and resave, I'm then able to access the Alpha channels in ID5... but that's a lot of images to go back through to fix.
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Cheers,
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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

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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"
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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."
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bogiesan
Message was edited by: David Bogie Chq-1

Import QuickTime with Alpha channel into Flash CS3

Is it possible to import a QuickTime movie with alpha channel into an FLA and have the FLA recognize the Alpha channel? When I've done this, it just shows opaque black instead of an alpha channel. I need that black to be transparent so I can see the layers below the video layer.
Thanks in advance for any help.

I don't know the answer to your question.
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http://www.mrfilmbiz.com/
the walkon... could have had other action (like Flash artwork) going on in the background... but that may not really be what you are looking for.
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Adninjastrator

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I am not sure this a bug.
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Importing .bmp with alpha channel

Is there a difference between the way that the Windows and
Mac versions of Flash 8 Pro handle alpha channels on .bmp files? We
are working with a .fla that was created in the Windows version of
Flash 8, but we are editing it with the Mac version. When we import
the .bmp files that we made on our Mac, the alpha channels don't
show up. But the same .bmp files that were imported with the
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Use PNG-24.
Chris Georgenes
Animator
http://www.mudbubble.com
http://www.keyframer.com
Adobe Community Expert
*\^^/*
(OO)
<---->
masterys wrote:
> Is there a difference between the way that the Windows
and Mac versions of
> Flash 8 Pro handle alpha channels on .bmp files? We are
working with a .fla
> that was created in the Windows version of Flash 8, but
we are editing it with
> the Mac version. When we import the .bmp files that we
made on our Mac, the
> alpha channels don't show up. But the same .bmp files
that were imported with
> the Windows version do display their alpha channels. We
had to change the
> format to .tif in order to avoid "losing" the alpha
channel. Can anyone shed
> any light on this? Thanks!
>

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.....
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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:
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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
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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
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It appears at least that Motion is making decisions based upon the screen
size and importing or not importing the alpha channel.
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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.
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Very top right of the Motion interface, 4th icon from the right, check those settings.

Alpha channel related export/import

hello
i have a shot in animation that has a flower bouquet wiping across he screen diagonally left to right
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it was created in Maya as a shot
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bogiesan

Alpha channel from photoshop changes on import to FCP

I'm new to alpha channels. I have an image, to which I added an alpha channel in Photoshop, which now gives me a cut-out of the image. I imported the psd of this into FCP 5.0.4 (I was not allowed by FCP to import a tiff with an alpha channel.) However, the alpha channel on the clip in FCP has now become the whole rectangle of the image area, not just the mask area as it was in Photoshop, so when selected, the whole image is masked. Changing the alpha type, or reversing it, does not make any improvement. Is there a solution to this?
Many thanks
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David,
I just had a breakthrough with this. The original file was CMYK. Creating an alpha channel and importing it into FCP gave me the problem. Converting it to RGB first, then creating the alpha channel and importing it, solved the problem. Doh!
Your line "sounds like you didn't create one" gave me the clue. Many thanks.
John

LR import with alpha channel

<Lightroom novice> Can I import a tif image with a alpha channel in it? It seems as though LR will accept the image and allow development but when I export it as tif or psd it goes out as RGB only - the alpha channel is gone. I don't really "need" to do anything with this channel in LR but I can't have it disappear either. Maybe a import/export setting issue - I hope so...

TLL... wrote:
"All file "edits" are kept in LR's catalog, which should be backed up along with the unmodified "original" files."
OK, got that too. We probably won't save this once the exported images are approved and backed up.
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TLL... wrote:
"At a later date the Alpha Channel information can be applied "non-destructively" in PS using editing layers to "blend" the IR image data."
This is where I'm getting lost. Are you talking about stripping the 'original' alpha channel from the pre-LR image and inserting it into the LR processed RGB image via PS batch/script? That's my thinking as an one approach.
"These PS modified files can be re-opened in LR and will now show the applied Alpha channel editing layers. Make any further edits you desire in LR and use the most appropriate LR module to "tailor" the output for your specific usage."
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Import Image Sequence and Alpha Channel Transparency?

Hello --
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Thanks, but something is not working.
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Bug importing alpha channels on mini-timeline?

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