IDCS3: Alpha Channels and InCopy: Bug!?

We use the InDesign/InCopy CS3 workflow.
So this is what I do in InDesign: I place a psd image in my layout and use its alpha channel to wrap text. Then I manually adjust the channel's path for my preferred result.
If another user edits the attached .inca file, saves and closes ist again, the manual adjustments to the psd file's alpha channel in the InDesign file have gone!
Does that sound familiar to anyone and is there a solution out there?
Thanks in advance!
Sven

Yes, I've seen it. First make sure you're all fully patched to 5.0.4,
then check to see that text wrap only effects text beneath is disabled
in your prefs.
If none of that works, try opening the InDesign file in InCopy.
Bob

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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.

Alpha channel and imaging lingo

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

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

Alpha channel and ProRes 4444

I have a number of AE files that I would like to render in Media Encoder with their alpha channels using the ProRes 4444 codec. I cannot figure out how to make ME give me an alpha channel. If I render in AE, I get the alpha channel without a problem. How can I get ME to give me an alpha channel? I am using ME 2014 on a Mac.

Hi Remy,
Choose QuickTime. Then from the list of formats in the Video tab, choose ProRes 4444. Scroll down to "Depth" and choose 32 bit. This will allow you to export with an alpha channel.
Thanks,
Kevin

ProRes 4444 with BOTH Alpha Channel AND Timecode?

Recently did a large project of creating alpha channels from green screen footage.
Made the timelines 4444 and tried to output.
If I export as Quicktime, I get the timecode but not the Alpha channel.
If I export as Quicktime Conversion, I can get the Alpha channel, but not the timecode.
Am I doing something fundamentally wrong?
Is there a way to get both on the same output?
Like I said, this project is large -- 91 files -- and it takes more than 8 hours to export out either way even on a current 6 core machine.
What I really do NOT want to have to do is some crazy copy and paste of the timecode information from two separate exports.

You said, "'export as Quicktime' is a very vague description."
Actually, it's not.
A person only has a few choices in Final Cut Pro. If you want to get really specific;
File > Export > QuckTime Movie...
Or
File > Export > Using QuickTime Conversion...
That's it!
With the first and ONLY the first, it will export whatever is on your timeline and you can get Timecode, but I can't figure out a way to make it output the Alpha channel with it.
With the other, you can get any sort of converted output you can input, including ProRes 4444 and Alpha, but unfortunately not the Timecode track.
UNLESS some Guru out there knows some sort of trick.
I'm hoping to find somebody that knows one.

Layer Mask/Alpha Channel. Visual bug when moving or transforming

Open test file.
Add solid color Adjustment Layer.
Paint a big "X" on its Layer Mask.
Option(alt)+click on the mask icon to see its Alpha Channel.
Now select Move tool and move mask around.
Alpha channel does not display properly when moved or transformed.

Right Jeanne, should have realized.
A good workaround for this, if you want to see the mask as you move or transform, is to just hit the backslash key to see the rubylith of the alpha channel. That displays correctly.
CB

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

Imported logos with alpha channel in titler bug

Hi!
If I import this logo in Titler the small black text disappears, but if I import it to premiere then All OK.
Why?
LD_logo_3d_horizontals.png

OK, while it is a bug in the Title Designer as far as I am concerned, it is the same one from the very first Premiere Pro version.
The Title Designer does not like graphics with partial opacity. Your PNG file is partially transparent.
This is your graphic blown up in Photoshop. It is obvious to me what the problem is when I look at it.
I took your text and filled in all of the partially transparent pixels with solid black, and it worked in the Title Designer just fine. I didn't do it carefully, I just sampled the lighter pixels and filled them in. The text got a bit ragged when I did that.
I don't know what font that is and I don't have time to figure it out right this minute, but I suggest that you delete the text and type in new text. Or, very carefully fill in the light spots in the text you have.

Alpha Channel and Blue Screen

Hi- I have an animated sequence with a transparent backround. Within this animation a window opens revealing a blue screen in which I place a picture. Behind the entire sequence I want to place a backround image, but no matter what, the background image always dissapears once the blue screen portion of the animation is present. I've tried nesting with all of the animation in its own layer and the backround in its own, but it makes no difference. What am I doing wrong?
Thanks a lot.
Robert

I'll try to break this down further. (I'm no wordsmith, so I apologize ahead of time if it's not clear enough)
In a nutshell, what I'm describing will put your window contents ON TOP of your blue screen window (instead of being visible behind the blue screen footage)
I'm going to call your footage (the animation which already has an alpha that you also need to key) Blue screen.
I'll call your window contents Foreground
I'll call the footage that is behind everything (what needs to be visible through the alpha that already is present in your blue screen footage) Background.
There will be 3 individual layers.
Layer 2
Foreground
Image Mask (inverted. Blue screen footage w/ the Keyer applied as the Image)
Layer 1
Blue screen copy
Primate RT
Blue screen
Layer
Background
That is how it will appear in the Layer List.
Steps:
Create your Project
Click the + in the Layer List 2 times to create 2 new layers (for a total of 3 layers. Layer, Layer 1, Layer 2)
Add your Background to Layer
Add your Blue screen to Layer 1
Copy the Blue screen and paste it within Layer 1
Add your Keyer to the Blue screen Copy (I used Primatte RT) and Key out your window.
Add your Foreground to Layer 2
Add an Image Mask to the Foreground (with the FG selected, CommandShiftM)
Drag the Blue screen copy in the Layer List onto the Image Mask
Invert the Image Mask by clicking the Invert Mask checkbox in it's Dashboard or Inspector.
You should now have the Window Contents sitting on top of your Blue screen and your Background all visible. Hope that helps.

Issue (aka bug): File compatibility and alpha channels

When I enable file compatibility mode on photoshop (so that previews and thumbnails show up), the thumbnail and preview will be wrong when there's an alpha channel in the channel palette. Specifically, the thumbnail will be masked by the top-most alpha channel in the channel palette. Consequently, there is sort of a work-around--if you create a plain white alpha channel and make sure it's the top-most alpha channel in the palette, then the preview and thumbnail come out fine. Luckily, this requires negligible extra memory.
If there's no alpha channel or I don't save alpha channels, the preview/thumbnail looks fine.
In spite of the work-around, a fix would be nice. It'd also be nice if there was a way to have a preview/thumbnails in Finder without the large memory penalty of compatibility mode.
Bart

Yes, everything in Bridge works great. However, the search function in Bridge is SLOW and a bit flaky (same problem on the Windows side as well) so I like to use spotlight instead for searching. Additionally, I like to use iPhoto to create collections of images that will contain photoshop files as well as others.
For now, it is workable for me to just use compatibility mode in photoshop and make sure all images with alpha channels have an all-white alpha channel at the top of the stack. The file size penalty is tolerable for now. If Apple ever fixes things on their end, then it's a simple script to convert my psd files back again.
Bart

The odd tale of Quickmask and the alpha channel

I'm posting this in hope rather than expectation - as I keep requesting this is fixed, but I seem to be a lone voice.
I understand that this code was written back in the 90's - and I get the impression (from a senior Photoshop engineer no less) that no one really understands it...
The odd tale of Quickmask and the alpha channel
Try this:
With Quickmask set to it's defaults (double click the quickmask icon and ensure it's set to 'colour indicates : masked areas'), paint in black to create a 'red' quickmask area. Hit Q to return to the selection border. You should see two selection borders - one at the edge of the image defining the outer edge of the selected area, and one defining the inner edge of the masked area that you painted.
Now hit the 'save selection as channel' button at the bottom of the channel palette to create an alpha channel.Everything's as expected - the alpha is black ('unselected') where you painted.
Now repeat the process, but with the Quickmask mode set to 'colour indicates : selected areas'.
In this case where you paint in QM mode should be selected. Paint a patch and hit the Q key - it is. You have a single selected area. Now hit the 'save selection as channel' button at the bottom of the channel palette to create another alpha channel.
This time the alpha is incorrect - it's the inverse of what it should be.
And it gets worse:
Ctrl / Cmd click on the alpha thumbnail to load the alpha as a selection -
notice that it even loads the black area as a selection.
It's been like this as long as I can remember... and I really wish it was fixed.
I'm a Photoshop ACI. QM is a tool I'd like to get my students to use more, but this behaviour makes it 'difficult' to teach Quickmask to users, particularly in conjunction with alpha channels. In my experience it seems that most users find it more natural to 'paint on' a selection, rather than than 'paint off' a mask.
So most users would prefer to set 'colour indicates : selected areas'
I've been around long enough to know the rubylith heritage upon which Quickmask is modelled, however I now think it's time that baggage was left behind. I wonder what proportion of current Photoshop users even know what rubylith was?
There are two points here:
1. There should be NO connection between the QM paint state and the subsequent creation (or loading) of an alpha channel.
Whether you choose to label it a feature or a bug, it's clearly wrong to toggle out of QM mode, see a selection on screen, make an alpha channel - and find your alpha is reversed.
And in addition to that - it's a 'freak' alpha that subsequently loads reversed...
2. I think it's time to drop the rubylith baggage and set the QM paint mode to a default of set 'colour indicates : selected areas'.

Charles,
Thanks to your replies I've now discovered another twist to this tale...
When I'm saving a selection, I typically use the 'save selection as alpha' button in the channels panel. That shows the issue I'm referring to.
However, I've just discovered - thanks to your comments - that if instead you use the 'Select > Save selection' menu command you get a 'correct' alpha.
If you care to try that second example again you'll find you can get two different alpha's from the same selection - depending upon which saving option you choose!
This is now getting so complex, I'll have to put a pdf together explaining it and send it to our fiends at Adobe.

How can I dispaly alpha Channels to proxy and show transparency correctly?

Hi all! I have a problem. Please help me. Thank you very much.
I want to display alpha Channels to proxy and show transparency correctly. I have get the datas of alpha Channels and RGB color. Following are the codes:
void HiddenData::PaintPreview()
if( !channelData ) return;
PSPixelMap pixels;
int spotChannelCount = gFilterRecord->documentInfo->alphaChannelCount;
pixels.version       = ( spotChannelCount > 0 ) ? 2 : 1;
pixels.bounds.left   = proxyRect.left;
pixels.bounds.right = proxyRect.right;
pixels.bounds.top    = proxyRect.top;
pixels.bounds.bottom = proxyRect.bottom;
int32 proxyWidth = proxyRect.right - proxyRect.left;
int32 proxyHeight = proxyRect.bottom - proxyRect.top;
pixels.imageMode     = gFilterRecord->documentInfo->imageMode;
pixels.rowBytes      = proxyWidth * gFilterRecord->documentInfo->depth / 8;
pixels.colBytes   = 1;
pixels.planeBytes    = proxyWidth * proxyHeight;
pixels.baseAddr   = channelData;
// new for version 2 of PSPixelMap
PSPixelOverlay* overlay = NULL;
if( spotChannelCount > 0 ){
overlay = new PSPixelOverlay[ spotChannelCount ];
if( overlay ){
   int j = 0;
   for( int i = 0; i < spotChannelCount; i++ ){
    overlay[i].data = channelData + pixels.planeBytes * (4 + i);
    overlay[i].rowBytes = pixels.rowBytes;
    overlay[i].colBytes = 1;
    overlay[i].r = (unsigned8)spotColorList[j++];
    overlay[i].g = (unsigned8)spotColorList[j++];
    overlay[i].b = (unsigned8)spotColorList[j++];
    overlay[i].opacity = 50 * 2.55;
    overlay[i].overlayAlgorithm = kStandardAlphaOverlay;
    overlay[i].next = ( i == (spotChannelCount - 1)) ? NULL : overlay + i + 1;
   pixels.pixelOverlays = overlay;
   pixels.colorManagementOptions = kViewAsStandardRGB/*kViewAsMask*/;
pixels.mat = NULL;
pixels.masks = NULL;
pixels.maskPhaseRow = 0;
pixels.maskPhaseCol = 0;
(gFilterRecord->displayPixels)(&pixels, &pixels.bounds, 0, 0, (void *)hdc);
delete[] overlay;
But there is a problem.The image of alpha Channels in proxy is not clear, because overlay[i].opacity = 50 * 2.55.
It looks like diffrent from displaying in photoshop.I do not know how to use pixels.mat and pixels.masks.
Thanks!

I run the plugin. But It can not show alpha channels. Can you show the code in your example clearly.Thanks! Following are the frames.
The original document:
The result:
Can not show the alpha channels.

Exporting Targa Sequence and Alpha Channel

I have a couple of targa sequence containing graphics that I need to export. One has an opaque arrow which rolls out over the film underneath. The second has solid text which will be laid over the arrow as it animates. I have run the image sequences in Quicktime, the arrow sequence comes out as a block of black and the solid text comes out against a black background instead of an alpha channel and I can't seem to manipulate them. I have FCP 6 which i thought had Quick Time Pro to handle alpha channels. What am I doing wrong, can anyone help?

hi,
what exactly are you doing?
why are you exporting from quicktime? why dont you import the image sequence directly into motion/fcp? Not saying you;re wrong, just wondering that 's all.
Have you got the export settings correct. Not many codecs support alpha channels. Your best bet is Animation set to Millions of colours +. the + is the alpha channel.
However motion or fcp should be able to read the image files just fine.
adam

Save for web and using a alpha channel to optimise a jpg? Is it missing in CS4/5+ ?

Hi guys,
I have just tried to do an old technique I used to use to reduce the szie of big background images, and they was to make a alpha channel and specify which areas of the image you want to be kept at the highest quality and what areas you wanted it to be low quality.
I dont seem to be able to find it anywhere in the "Save for web" screen.
This post here suggests it might have been dumped after CS3???
http://forums.adobe.com/thread/370291
Any help would be great

As far as i know those features were removed from Save for Web after cs3.
MTSTUNER

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

IDCS3: Alpha Channels and InCopy: Bug!?

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