Am I right to be disappointed? - AVI transparency

Duncan H wrote on 4/29/2012, 6:18 PM
I use the popular (and excellent) Xara vector graphics software (xara.com) to develop various stills for video projects - overlays, titles, lower thirds etc. A week or two ago, on this forum, there was a request re developing an overlay to emulate a video viewfinder. Thinking this would be a 3 min job using Xara, to attempt this project, I very quickly developed just 2 images in Xara (to achieve the red blinking light) and then exported the animation as an uncompressed AVI file (after checking the box saying "make background transparent". All looked good. Upon importing into Vegas - image was black, as in opaque. Redid the exercise, same result, Vegas did not recognise the transparency in the AVI. Interestingly, imported the AVI file into a very basic NLE ($40 Serif MoviePlus X3) and it worked flawlessly - transparency, animation, just looked great. Submitted a thread to the Xara discussion board and was told that that not all NLE's correctly handle transparency on uncompressed AVI files. Please note this is an uncompressed AVI, so I assume codecs do not enter into the equation.

I managed to get the (2 image) animation AVI working in Vegas using Chroma keying, but given that the ($40) Serif NLE played the AVI flawlessly, I was pretty disappointed. Am I expecting too much? Interested in thoughts. Thanks,

Duncan

Comments

videoITguy wrote on 4/29/2012, 7:15 PM
Although the software application may create a transparency channel for the file...you will often need to tell VegasPro in the file media properties what type of alpha channel is to be interpreted at that point. Just importing the file to the timeline does not mean that Vegas can register all of the characteristics of the file type.

For that reason, the alpha channel type needs to specified and played out for the timeline to work properly.
TheHappyFriar wrote on 4/29/2012, 7:47 PM
I've used alpha channels in uncompressed AVI's, so it DOES work, but normally I just use a PNG sequence or a quicktime video with PNG compression.
Duncan H wrote on 4/29/2012, 10:04 PM
VideoITGuy and the Happy Friart.

Thank you so much. It was as easy as you indicated - the drop down selections under the File>properties - now works a charm.

No longer disappointed - now delighted, as I love working with Xara for graphics, and teamed with Vegas Pro, it is a great workflow for the (reasonably simple) projects that I undertake.

Excellent work, thanks.

Duncan