Quicktime Movies w/alpha

[rlwokc]

We have just received our Lyric and in the process of learning it. We are having trouble importing a Quicktime movie on the canvas with an alpha channel. The fill is there but there is no alpha channel. What could we be doing wrong? We have followed all the rendering instructions for rendering it from After Effects. Our graphics department uses After Effects running on Mac computers.

[Greg Lennon]

Make sure you're using a Quicktime compressor that supports embedded alphas...usually the Animation compressor or no compression at all. Then, when you render it in AfterEffects render it as RGB+Alpha (under the Output Module configuration in the render queue). It'll default as RGB only.

Regards,
Greg

[sacarmic]

Same here. At least in 5.0, it didn't work. I am told they will support Quicktime "uncompressed" with alpha in the future. I haven't check 5.2.

We use an app on the Chyron called Videomach to convert sequential .tif files to uncompressed .avi w/ alpha.

Scott

[rlwokc]

It doesn't seem to work in 5.2 which is what our new machine is running.
We are rendering them with an alpha. AVI's work great it's just the Quicktimes that won't work with alpha. Our graphics department uses Mac's with After Effects and there's not a render option for Window's AVI. Does anyone know of a plugin that allows for Mac based After Effects to render out AVI's with alpha?

[Greg Lennon]

After further review, we don't currently support keyable Quicktime movies...only keyable AVI's

Here's a few suggestions to help you out:

In AfterEffects, render it out as a TGA sequence. Import that into Lyric as a Flipbook, then immediately save the message out as an AVI (uncompressed, with 'Save Alpha' selected). This will actually create two AVI files, one called <filename>.avi and the other <filename>.matte.avi. You can delete the '.matte.avi' file...you don't need it. If you saved it as an uncompressed AVI it will have the alpha channel embedded.

You can also use the Chyron TGA to AVI converter (download it from ftp://ftp.chyron.com/pub/software/Lyric/Test/Chyron%20TGA%20to%20AVI%20Converter11092004.ZIP

This will remove the step of having to load the flipbook into Lyric.

Another option is to render it out of AfterEffects as an uncompressed AVI using a PC.

Hope this helps...

[rlwokc]

Thanks Greg. We are currently working on finding a converter for the art department. They think if they purchase Quicktime Pro it will covert Quicktimes to AVI's and give them an AVI render option in After Effects for MAC.

[Greg Lennon]

Great. Let me know if that QT Pro option works for you...there's a lot of other users for whom that would be a great solution.

[DuetGuy]

After further review, we don't currently support keyable Quicktime movies...only keyable AVI's

Here's a few suggestions to help you out:

In AfterEffects, render it out as a TGA sequence. Import that into Lyric as a Flipbook, then immediately save the message out as an AVI (uncompressed, with 'Save Alpha' selected). This will actually create two AVI files, one called <filename>.avi and the other <filename>.matte.avi. You can delete the '.matte.avi' file...you don't need it. If you saved it as an uncompressed AVI it will have the alpha channel embedded.

You can also use the Chyron TGA to AVI converter (download it from ftp://ftp.chyron.com/pub/software/Lyric/Test/Chyron%20TGA%20to%20AVI%20Converter11092004.ZIP

This will remove the step of having to load the flipbook into Lyric.

Another option is to render it out of AfterEffects as an uncompressed AVI using a PC.

Hope this helps...

Is this good for converting all TGA's into AVI's, no matter if its digisuite or digiserver?

And does this need to be installed as a plugin, or can it be a seperate thing?

[Greg Lennon]

This is accurate for either clip player. Actually, using the TGA to AVI converter, you can actually render it out using any codec that is installed on your PC.

It is a separate freeware application that can run simultaneously with Lyric.

Greg