Is This A Mask?

cworld29 wrote on 3/7/2004, 3:40 PM
This should be simple but I am having nothing but problems. I have a still picture created in JASC Paintshop Pro. It is a bunch if rings like a Warner Bros title screen.

I want to place a cutout of Tom and Jerry's heads then track motion each one so that they bounce around the screen. This will be a title screen for DVD architect.

I lay down a .psd image of Toms head on track one. Below this is the .jpg image of the rings. Toms head shows up but it is trasparent lie a ghost image. I can see the back ground through his face.

I have tried this two ways; the Tom head as parent with both tracks compositing mode set to alpha and no parent/child relationship with Toms head composite mode set to multiply mask and the back ground image composite mode set as source alpha. Both get the same result, a transparent head.

How do I make the head solid.

Comments

SonyEPM wrote on 3/7/2004, 4:57 PM
Are you positive the source file has an alpha channel? From what you describe, it doesn't.
swarrine wrote on 3/7/2004, 8:10 PM
Try saving your image as a png instead. Paint Shop Pro & Vegas have an issue with .psd files. I pointed this out in V3/PSP6 to both companies a while back.

The other way to fix it is to open the file in any version of PhotoShop and then save it, it will work then.
cworld29 wrote on 3/8/2004, 6:51 PM
Wow, it is simple. I saved the file on a version of photoshop and it works fine. Place the image on a transparent background and just place it on track one with the background image on track 2.

The Paint Shop Pro software must not save it with alpha channel information. The thumbs even look different. one is blacked out and the photoshop one has the checkered background.

Can I get a rprogram that is a little cheaper that would save these with the alpha informationj?

Thanks for all your help.
swarrine wrote on 3/8/2004, 7:09 PM
If you are asking me, just save it as a png file instead of a psd in Paint Shop Pro.
BillyBoy wrote on 3/8/2004, 7:30 PM
You should be able to do either. A PNG is a file type just like saving Photoshop in its native format. Either should work.

I've always used Photoshop, so I don't know what the clones like PSP use. To they have a black and white checkerboard pattern when you save on a transparent background?

I use that as a visual clue I didn't mess something up. It shows up exactly the same way if you drag it on to the timeline in Vegas... if its a Photoshop file.
swarrine wrote on 3/8/2004, 7:41 PM
BillyBoy-

It is a bug in either PSP or Vegas (probably PSP). psd files created in PSP 6-8 do not work with Vegas as far as the alpha channel is concerned, PSD files did work in Premiere 6 at the time when I discovered this and was converting over to VV3.

png files work, resaved psd files (through any PhotoShop product) work and so forth.

A file saved by PSP in psd is ng for V4.

Knowing your reputation for diving in, you could probably solve the puzzle. jasc.com gets you a 30 day trial download of PSP 8.
Spot|DSE wrote on 3/8/2004, 10:53 PM
It may be that the alpha is there, but Vegas isn't seeing it. Have you right clicked, selected Properties, and set alpha channel to one of the three options?
swarrine wrote on 3/8/2004, 11:18 PM
Hi DSE-

If you mean straight, premultiplied, etc; yes I have tried, and no they don't work.

Really, this is an old problem that I do not expect to be fixed. My first post about it was a little over 2 years ago...

I looked it up, here it is:
http://mediasoftware.sonypictures.com/forums/ShowMessage.asp?MessageID=90866&Page=0
TorS wrote on 3/9/2004, 12:12 AM
If we are talking about more or less regular objects like rings and other geometrical stuff (I don't know what the reference to Warner Bros means) Photoshop and PaintShop is a waste of time.
Use a font and apply the mask in the magnificent Vegas text generator, one track above the video. To get a complicated shape or a multitude you may want several text events spread over several tracks. Then you can pull alpha up or down for background or foreground or both as you wish - make everything transparent and just apply a thin, coloured outline to the object. Then you can gradually increase or decrease the settings with keyframes. You can have video showing through an object which gradually gets solid and then video gradually appearing through the background. All kinds of magical effects almost instantly avaliable for free. The 3 Wingdings fonts and the Webdings font together makes a great variety of masks and symbols you can use. Then there are buckets of free and nearly free fonts out there, with shapes and symbols instead of letters.
This is a much overlooked part of Vegas' excellence. A lot of people are poo-pooing the Vegas text generator possibly because what they really wanted was a 3D thing and it is not, and possibly because some idiot in a computer mag said it was no good. Well folks, if you want apples, get apples. The Vegas text generator is a peach.
Tor
PeterWright wrote on 3/9/2004, 2:05 AM
PSP will do this easily, as Swarrine says, using PNG.

No need to check properties - if the original has a transparent background this is picked up as soon as you drop it on the Vegas timeline.

(I'd also like to second Tors' recommendation for the good ole Media Generator for any shapes that are in Webdings etc.)

Although I know quite a few already do. I'm surprised that more Vegas users don't use Paint Shop Pro. Two reasons:

1. It avoids having to support Adobe.

2. For me, PSP is the "Still" equivalent of Vegas - easier to use than its competitors, and much better value.
epirb wrote on 3/9/2004, 5:44 PM
for PSP when saving to .png dont just use "save as" then select the .png file type.
Rather go to -Files-export- png optimizer, then cilck the transparency tab and adjust as nesc.
if the image does not already have an alpha channel select single color trans. if you pasted the tom and jerry head on a white backround you can select "areas that match this color".
then use the eye dropper to select the backround.
click ok and name it and voila !