Can you please note the size of your Lagarith and Uncomp files.

I am getting:-

Uncomp = 980mbs

Lagarith = 15mbs

That is a ratio of 65:1

IS this a clue?

TIA,

Grazie

SUCCESS!!!!


OK . .. and this was solely down to Alan at Pi, over on the COw.

Hah! That was it - of course, now that I KNOW!!! I wasn't saving from Pi using the config of RGBA - fool!!!

I was thinking that AS Pi does "Save Alpha" I was good to go. But I wasn't. That was blatantly clear.

I now have Lagarith working in V8.

The files sizes are remarkable. It has only gone from 15mbs to 23mbs. Amazing!

Thanks everyone for putting up with me today!

Best regards

Graham "Grazie" Bernard

I suggest that you first get this to work using uncompressed AVI.

-in PI, Click the red button, and select AVI as the format to save
- do not change output option, just click ok
- select "full frames, uncompressed", click OK
- check "save alpha", do not cj\heck any other options, then click render

in vegas:
- New project, add some video to the time line
- Add a new blank video track above the previous video
- Drag and drop the newly created AVI video to the track
- right click the video on the upper track, select properties
- select the tab "media"
- under "Alpha channel" select "Straight (unmatted)"

The PI video should now be overlayed the video below, where black is transparent. ie, the particle illusion should play back beautifully on top of your original video. This is exactly (hope I did not forget anything) what I did to get this working.

If you hopefully manage to get it working, when rendering using Lagarith, select RGBA (not RGB) as the color option.

Good luck :-)
ingvarai

It was the RGBA thing that had me in its clutches!!! Nothing else. See above . . .

That should be writ LARGE!!!! In fact when one gets back to the Save Alpha option it should politely warn the "user": "You ain't got RGBA selected!!!"

Grazie

ooohhh...

Am I gonna have fun with THIS puppy!! - G

> That should be writ LARGE!!!!

yes :-)
In any case - when having problems I have learnt that it often is beneficial to reduce as many uncertainties as possible. In this case make it work with uncompressed AVI first, than add complexity (add Lagarith)

Well this was an interesting post re getting PI working correctly in Vegas. After further experimenting I have found a simple way for it to work properly and consistently.

Now for some strange reason when saving with Lagarith (using RGBA) and uncommpressed with both (only) Alpha and Non intense alpha ticked then bring it into Vegas and click on Properties-Media- Alpha- Premultiplied it "can" work but as I said before for some strange reason the alpha channel works then I do exactly the same (from PI) and then it doesn't work??????.

So I used the simple way and changed the video track compositing mode to "screen" and - voila - it works perfectly everytime ( this also works using Non Compressed AVI from PI)

Does this way work for you guys?

That’s good news Grazie

Just as a matter of interest Grazie you can use an alpha channel as a group of emitter shapes
So in your graphics editor create some text or image with transparency, centre, save entire image not just item ie 1024x596 as PNG

In PI when you place your particle right click make area
Then in the particle menu right click and select mask emitters with images
Select the image and now the particles will emit in that shape “ drop particle size and increase number for bigger particles”

So in Vegas if you render out a png sequence alpha channel you can use the sequence PNGs as a mask
This will give you something like Robs ballerina clip with particles

Rory

Firstly,
because of this thread I have had a sleepless night..
I purchased the product immediately, and have not had so much fun in a long time :-)

Wow - amazing, now I can myself disappear and reappear as if I were "beamed up" from a distant planet, with star shaped particles flowing through the air. Rather easy to make it work, I found out.

> can use an alpha channel as a group of emitter shapes
Rory,
do you know a place where I can find PI tutorials and tips and tricks?

ingvarai

Ingvarai have a look at wondertouch site these are very good and utube apparently has a few I don’t know if they are any good

Rory

Just as a matter of interest Grazie you can use an alpha channel as a group of emitter shapes Oh yes indeed. This was going to be my next project after I had gotten this "RGBA" cleared-up. I just wish I had been directed towards this nugget of knowledge yesterday. Just enabling Alpha wasn't good enough.

It was Alan over on the COW that put me right. He also put me right on understanding just how s/w developers need to make decisions about what it is that makes a GUI work for users. Interesting. Very interesting.

I learnt a lot about "transparency" yesterday, ironically not ALL of it was about ALPHA channels either.

Grazie

Inqvarai,

Don't forget to download ALL the libraries from Wondertouch. Also every month you get a free library to download. I would imagine there are over 2500 emitters which can be manipulated in so many ways that you will have many more sleepless nights :)

So I used the simple way and changed the video track compositing mode to "screen" . . Does this way work for you guys? Well, nice idea Downunder, but what I am getting using this Screen is a certain transparency on Chroma and Luminosity. Detail is visibly being sacrificed for clarity. Yes the BG has gone, but so is the actual import. Screen is doing what it should. Until somebody puts me right ion this, there is no substitute for an ALPHA channel for having a transparent BG. "Screen" is doing what it should.

But others may wish to chip in here?

Grazie

Screen will also diminish your darker tones on a clip making it flatter for example clouds or steam will have a light source area and a shaded side
So although not tangible it reacts to light the same as a solid object

So if you were to use screen as a compositing mode with steam or soft areas will disappear losing its 3d look so you would need to use the original clip as a mask on top of that to get that detail back their by defeating the object of screening

Nothing beats a well rendered alpha channel

But that doesn’t mean you cant be creative and use screening if that’s the look you want

"Just enabling Alpha wasn't good enough"

Holy Cow!

I got caught out on this exact same thing in AE. There's one dropdown that has RGB as the default and another one for what kind of alpha channel you want. The default for the alpha is Premuxed, I changed only that one. Then I was banging my head exactly the same as you for quite sometime trying all the options in Vegas to get an alpha channel to work when I hadn't selected "RGB + Alpha" in AE.

Moral to this story I guess is when learning a new application see what's in ALL the dropdowns. I'd add check what all the little icons do too. In the AE workspace I couldn't get it to show me the typical pale checkerboard transparency grid so I'm left thinking this is dumb, how to create something with transparency. The trick is a tiny icon that enables transparency. Which is very usefull as sometimes you'd like a background while you work. Of course the info on that icon is in chapter 1 and I never read chapter 1 of any manual :)

Bob.

i was playing around with PI this morning... pretty interesting. I created a quick alpha channel with that mouse sample they have. Imported to vegas without issue (of course as soon as I figured out WHICH alpha type vegas was supposed to be set on)

But there are some LOGO samples there and I was trying to figure out how to change the text in one of the logo samples. Anybody know if that's possible... or is the text unchangeable in the samples??

>>...how to change the text in one of the logo samples...

This is a very common question. Yes. The text can be changed.

Take a look at the PI forum on creativecow and also check the Wondertouch web site. I forget exactly where it is detailed.

This is documented seeing it is so commonly asked.

Everything is actually particles so to change the particle right click on the particle menu ,properties ,particles, change shape, go to your folder and pop the new particle in

So make up your own text save as a jpeg or png to replace with beforehand

Rory

> I would imagine there are over 2500 emitters which can be manipulated in so many ways that you will have many more sleepless nights

All fine and well, but maybe it is only me, but what I want is to find out how this appllication is assembled, how I can make a basic emitter.
So while I have access to the most advanced fireworks and waterfalls and explosions and fires, I still want to have one single particle under my complete control.

I am struggling with this, the tutors basically cover ready-made emitters and particles, I want to start from scratch to find out how everything works. If there is a tutor which explains how I fully can control one single particle with all possible effects, I would be most grateful. When I know this, I can make my own stuff, and also be able to understand how the more complex and advanced emitters function, so that I better can adjust them to my needs.

ingvarai

"Everything is actually particles so to change the particle right click on the particle menu ,properties ,particles, change shape, go to your folder and pop the new particle in"

Thanks... found it.

All I have to say is WOW!

You can do some pretty wild things with this program!

I imported a bunch of photos and created a windmill effect that blows them apart and then back together again, then rendered it out as alpha channel, imported to Vegas and am using it as an overlay..... Pretty Neat!!

>I imported a bunch of photos

Into one single emitter?

"Into one single emitter?"

yes.
When you direct PI to your photo folder and all photos are in series with series numbers (ie: 1.jpg, 2.jpg, 3.jpg.....etc) PI will take note of the series and ask if you want to import just the indicated photo or the whole series. Now how many it will import at a time in a series as a maximum.... I have yet to work out (I just did 6)