Digital Juice transparency tip doesn't work

hackazoid wrote on 3/25/2008, 11:17 PM
Trying to use some of DJ's still lower thirds with text but can't get the transparency to work. Tried their tip for Vegas to right click on clip & select 'alpha straight' after placing lower third on track above pic/video. But, it still shows black as my pic doesn't show thru.

I'm using Vegas Movie Studio 6.0 but also get same result with Vegas Pro 8.0b (too unstable so back to VMS6 for now).

Wasn't sure how best to open DJ's .TGA files so did it in CS2 and saved as JPEG. Does this have anything to do with it?

Need to finish a project this week so help sooner than later is appreciated! Thanks.

Comments

Coursedesign wrote on 3/25/2008, 11:23 PM
Yes, JPEGs don't have transparency.

FrigidNDEditing wrote on 3/25/2008, 11:25 PM
Output them as PNG's (and if they're animated, you can use Vegas to import the sequence with the import media button and then selecting the first of a sequence and checking the sequence button at the bottom of the window.

Dave
hackazoid wrote on 3/26/2008, 1:06 AM
Thanks for suggestions.

I saved the .TGA as a .PNG (both interlaced and not) but neither produced the transparency for my pic below it.

Not sure about the import media idea, sounds beyond me.

Any other ideas?
farss wrote on 3/26/2008, 3:13 AM
Are you clicking and changing the clip on the UPPER track i.e. the DJ TGA or PNG file. From your initial description it sounds like you might be changing the video clip on the track below the upper 3rd.

Bob.
Xander wrote on 3/26/2008, 4:23 AM
How are you getting the still lower third? I usually just pull the .mov file directly off the DVD and do the right-click thing. Never had an issue. Sometimes, DJ will put a separate file in the same folder on the DVD that is used as a alpha matte. You then need to use two tracks in Vegas, one with the alpha matte and one with the picture. Sounds like you are using the Juicer preview file instead of the actual file for your lower third as I don't recall any still lower thirds - I could be wrong though. Also, if you still lower 3rd is black and white, then that is the alpha matte as described above.
hackazoid wrote on 3/26/2008, 9:30 AM
Again thanks.

I'm trying still L3s from disk5 of Editors Toolkit 1. Stays black whether a JPG or PNG and with whatever of the Alpha settings I use.

The right click does work for animated L3s, it's just that they are big at ~100MB, but I guess I'll just have to use that.

Have asked DJ Tech Support for help so see what they say.
dand9959 wrote on 3/26/2008, 9:42 AM
Make sure you right-click on the clip in your project media pool, NOT on the timeline.
hackazoid wrote on 3/26/2008, 10:07 AM
huumm... I had right clicked the animated L3 in the timeline when that one worked.

But, figured I'd try that for the still... but the media pool has it already adjusted from the timeline click.

So... not sure that is the answer, but thanks.
mptribe wrote on 3/26/2008, 11:02 AM
Are you getting the file from Juicer or directly from the disc? If you use Juicer, make sure your PNG settings are set to Millions of Colors+ and you should be good to go.
hackazoid wrote on 3/26/2008, 10:05 PM
I'm getting it directly from the disc as the TGA so I convert to PNG using CS2. Any ideas based on that? Thanks.

Note.. the animated L3s do work so issue is just the stills.