The alpha channel "color" is 0-0-0, or "nothing."

Alpha "adopts" the color of the bottom most layer. "If" there is no bottom nonalpha layer, the "color" obviously is 0-0-0, or "nothing." The common name for that is called "black."

Therefore, if you include a track with a solid color or a gradient or an image or a video on the bottom track, that is what will show through as your "backgroud".

You can find extensive help for basic questions in your Vegas Help, the official Vegas support pages, or in several hundred online resources including Youtube.

During this busy season, it is suggested that you consult those resources first.

Welcome to the discussions.

I spent several hours searching both Youbube and Google.

When the question itself is hard to put into words, ie "nothing", "alpha", "background" etc. It's not easy to find quick answers.

I have used Gimp a lot recently and Gimp provides a CHECKERED grey background for their version of "nothing", to make "nothing" "something" and therefore easy to detect as such.

Simply using black as "nothing" is not obvious nor intuitive, nor practical. One would think that if an open license software can provide a way to easily delineate such things, a subscription based, for profit software would be able to do the same.

VP shows a checkered background in timeline thumbnails but the preview shows how it will be when rendered for playing. Most common video file formats do not preserve transparency so will show black. Even those that do render with a transparent alpha channel will, in my experience, play black. I've just checked playing a mov file with transparency with MPC-HC BE, VLC & Quicktime.

I've never used GIMP but a quick Google search showed that apparently it is possible in GIMP to create an alpha (transparency) channel. If saved as a .png file, the alpha channel displays as a pale grey chequerboard pattern. When the .png file is imported to an upper track on Vegas Pro's timeline, the alpha areas of the .png image are transparent (invisible) in Vegas Pro and the lower video track shows through.

If a moving video file without an alpha channel, this can be done in Vegas Pro by rendering the video event to the 'Video for Windows' format. Using custom settings, the frame size can be custom set if so desired, but the most important settings are Video Format being set to 'Uncompressed' and the Render Alpha Channel checkbox being checked. The render size of the .avi video file will be huge in comparison to an .mp4 render. When imported to an upper track in Vegas Pro, you'll need to R click the event, select Properties and then the Media tab, and select one of the alpha options in the Alpha Channel field. Anything black in the .avi video event will then be transparent. Instead of Video for Windows, an alpha channel can also be created using the Apple ProRes rendering format - the render size of the .mov file will also be huge.

VP shows a checkered background in timeline thumbnails but the preview shows how it will be when rendered for playing. Most common video file formats do not preserve transparency so will show black. Even those that do render with a transparent alpha channel will, in my experience, play black. I've just checked playing a mov file with transparency with MPC-HC BE, VLC & Quicktime.

Wow. That's certainly another critical step. There's no point if you can't render it. Thanks for the heads up.
I can't understand why it's so difficult to delineate and render an alpha channel in the year 2024. Jeez.

How would you like it rendered? An alpha channel is visibly nothing.

You can easily render it- Apple ProRes with alpha. You just then need to open it in software that recognize the alpha channel (not sure of your use case here).

You can easily render it- Apple ProRes with alpha. You just then need to open it in software that recognize the alpha channel (not sure of your use case here).

Ok thanks. I am going to import it as a clip in another Vegas project (using the Mocha Pro plugin). Would that work?

Sure, VEGAS can recognize footage with alpha channels. Apple ProRes, VFW, the paid MagicYUV are all viable options.

Sure, VEGAS can recognize footage with alpha channels. Apple ProRes, VFW, the paid MagicYUV are all viable options.

Your solution with the Apple Pro Res worked.
I tried the other suggestion with Windows format, but didn't have any luck. Perhaps I did something wrong.

But if it ain't broke, don't fix it. I'll stick with the Apple Pro Res. That did it. Thanks!

(I am on Windows, not Mac, BTW)

Just for clarification, is the .mp4 video of a still or an animated image?

Just for clarification, is the .mp4 video of a still or an animated image?

It's an animated image.

And I just noticed that you also suggested Apple Pro Res. So I guess you were the first. I just didn't try it until I saw the other comment, which came minutes after yours. *It came an hour after yours* (that's funny, I didn't see yours until later).

VEGAS only works on Windows so you're definitely not on a Mac. The great think about ProRes is that it's widely supported. Dexcon did recommend it first and I thought it's the easiest to work with so also recommended it. Maybe mark his comment as the solution.

>I tried the other suggestion with Windows format, but didn't have any luck. Perhaps I did something wrong.
By default rendering the alpha channel is not enabled for Video for Window (mainly because it substantially increases the file size); you have to enable it in the template.

I have used Gimp a lot recently and Gimp provides a CHECKERED grey background for their version of "nothing", to make "nothing" "something" and therefore easy to detect as such.

So does Photoshop. Vegas does not. If you will put the words [Feature Reguest] in the title of your new thread, and state your rationale, it will get noticed by the right people, who will always respond to good ideas.

In the meantime, emulating the behavior you want is a 15 second task -- add a checkerboard generated media to the bottom track, raising its black to 25%, and being certain to mute it before rendering your alpha output.

Please note that there or only 2-3 video output formats that still support RGBA or YUVA output. I'll leave that discovery process to you; you might learn some other things along the way. . . .

Best of the Holidays, and welcome to the discussions.

@beaverbrook What would solve your initial problem is an option for Vegas's Preview to display any transparency as a checkered image instead of black. The user can then decide which they prefer.

As @mark-y suggested post it as a Feature Request or add it to the list https://www.vegascreativesoftware.info/us/forum/vegas-pro-feature-requests--134374/

@beaverbrook What would solve your initial problem is an option for Vegas's Preview to display any transparency as a checkered image instead of black. The user can then decide which they prefer.

As @mark-y suggested post it as a Feature Request or add it to the list https://www.vegascreativesoftware.info/us/forum/vegas-pro-feature-requests--134374/

It would only have to be the "bottom" layer. Only the "bottom" should be the checkered grey to respresent an "undefined transparent area" or whatever you want to call it. Everything else is simply going to show whatever is in the next layer down.