So... I think... Grazies and my question now is...

Is there any way to render an AVI file that maintains Alpha channel information in a format other than uncompressed?

For instance... there appears to be several codecs out there which suggest support for alpha channel (huffyuv) however rendering from Vegas using this format still results in removing the alpha channel.

Yup! I am! . . . What's the Colour picker for in properties? . . .hmm..? G

24-bit huffyuv doesn't have room for transparency, but 32-bit huffyuv does.

Works with Vegas too.

O.K. I'll bite.

Why would you want to render in anything other than uncompressed until you get to a final render?

To keep the . . . transparent background

_________ THIS IS TRANPARENT_____________


To keep the . . . transparent background

_________ THIS IS TRANPARENT_____________


To keep the . . . transparent background



. .. Then this file can be kept & used and reused as a trannie .. .

Grazie

You had generated media with an alpha channel. Right?

You render it as uncompressed and tell Vegas you would like to preserve the alpha channel and check the box, right?

Vegas renders it.

You bring it back to the timeline.

You remind Vegas that it has an alpha channel right?

It shows as text on a transparent background right?

Re use it all you want.

Although I might in fact be missing something in this thread.

I thought you had solved the problem after Liam and you spoke.

I just reread this thread and it appears that you may have rendered incorrectly and lost the alpha channel. So now you are left with an AVI that you spent alot of work on that actually does have a black background.

If that is the case, apply the mask generator fx and select luminance and play with the sliders. until you get it right and save the preset so you can reuse it.

You can also try the other channels.

I downloaded a Huffyuv codec the other day... here and it does not explicitely mention 24 or 32 bit but seems to imply some support for alpha channel (it has a check box for "Enable RGBA (RGB with Alpha) compression" (which to me would have to mean 32 bit)...

Either way... I could not get this to work.

Do you have a link to another huffyuv codec that would be more appropriate?

Thanks

You had generated media with an alpha channel. Right?

Nickle..Yes... Grazie had all this down (I was as confused as you until I called Grazie). His point was that he had a LOT of this stuff to do.. which would mean an awful lot of uncompressed AVI (at 36MB per second). Hence the question of... is there a different (lower space/faster to render) way to do this

Well if that is the case, you can render to Mov. (animation) and it will work.

You could also convert the AVI to flash.

I'll check that out then... is that basically going to be a lot smaller file size than uncompressed AVI?

If you call 397MB for AVI and 7MB for Mov smaller.

That was rendered at Best which gives you 720x480.

At least I think I compared the right files.

I did a more accurate test.

The AVI is 1.3GB while the Mov is 6.92 MB.

Hard to believe.

That looks just perfect for the job. Tested it out... and the alpha channel works great.

Grazie... wake up Grazie!!! Nickle has the answer!!

I'm awake! [ peeks out through tired eyes .. ] New CoDECS? MOV? . .. What do I need and will it screw with my V5 and the project I'm working on? Do I need tha Apple download? My NLE pc isn't connected to the INTENET? Can I install MOV from my INTERNET pc to my NLE? Will I need to have my NLE pc "online" to do this? Meaning, registering the MOV stuff? . .. . . If I NEED to go online to do this then no, I'm not putting my NLE pc at risk, have it scrambled and loose this project time . . . I've had this happen thrice over the past year and I aint gonna do it - kind Sirs! . . . . PANIC ! ! !

Grazie


(What a year to give up snowboarding . . )

You should not need any new codecs... if you have the quicktime authoring components... they are already there.

You can often have the quciktime install on various install disks... so you may be able to install direct from a CD). You don't need to be online to install the quciktime components. Just make sure that you select a custom install and select the authoring components.

In fact there is a special standalone installer available

Ok Guys . . I used the MOV Animation and set it for PAL.You still with me? I promise it gets bleak . . Okay, rendered. Brought rendered MOV back to timeline. White "names" on black background. Go to Media Properties and use one of the Alpha channel variables : "Premulitplied" : and I now get a chequered-board event "suggesting transparency" - Great! . . But no .. . I can't "see" my names on the chequer BUT when I scrub they are there - and no, there ISN'T another track below making the action! This would all point to being a "Good Thing".

So, now I have a MOV event, with names, but I can't see them within the "Event" but they show when scrubbed. With me so far? Anybody test putting an event: AVI, Solid colour or anything "under" this MOV event? Well .. I get a no show! The MOV event that I could scrub and SEE the names is on track 1 - DEFINITE - and the AVI for checking is on track 2. Track 2 has completely obliterated track 1's "moving" transparent names - gone! It is as if the names are on a track BELOW track 2!

Here's another "interesting" item for you.

Setup still the same:

Track 1 - MOV moving names with a transparent £chequered" background

Track 2 - AVI event

Applying Pan/Crop to AVI on track 2 in attempt to "see" the MOV names, on track 1, all this does is make Track 2 AVI smaller - track 1 STILL wont play ball. OK - still with me? Put MOV on a track below AVI - guess what . .. still guessing? Really guessing? Try harder . .. .. . . .. . . . . . . . . .. . . .. . . Well, my patient friends .. well .. the Track 2 gets smaller - expected - and now I can SEE the MOV names BEHIND the AVI = - - -- - Arrggghhhhh .. . !! ! ! ! Oh, of course, this NOT what I want - and NIETHER is it what I/you would have expected.

So, to summarise:

1/- I can render a MOV file - no need to download Programmes

2/- I can place this back on the T/L - no need to download CODECS

3/- Track Opaque-ness: If Media Properties are set to None: I can SEE the names within the Event, but this isn't transparent. So I choose Premultiplied: this creates a chequered background indicating a trannie background, but the event's "content" is not "seen" when an AVI is placed directly underneath on track 2.

This business of not "seeing" that which is on an upper track over a lower track has banjaxed me!

Do I need to set in: VEGAS > Options>Preferences> General "Ignore third party DV codecs" to OFF .. . presently I have elected to "ignore"?

Any thoughts? Ideas? Maybe I have to have the template for rendering set differently. I've set it for Animation and with PAL and with Lower field first - as per my PAL requirements.

Please confirm MOV content appearing "over" lower track? Thank you.

Grazie . . .

Mine is as advertised. I can pan/crop either track and 3d works too.

I just used "Sample Text" (rendered to mov) and an avi underneath .

Sample text is perfectly clear over the avi below.

EDIT When I don't have anything on the track below, the white text appears on a black background in the preview even though it shows the checkerboard on the timeline.

Trying with Sample TExt here .. . BRB ..

I also rendered at field order none (progressive).

See my edit above.

Nope. Same result. On Track 1 it does NOT show over track 2. Put it on track 3, P/C track 2 avi and I can "see" MOV behind track 2.

You might need to detail your, "As advertised", so I can check the format I SHOULD be using.

I have:

1/ - Render as>

2/ - "Save as Type" Quick Time6(*.mov)

3/- "Template" 3Mps Video

4/- Project > Video rendering quality "Good" . . .ah maybe I need to use "Best" here - As Advertised?

5/ - Video >

i) Frame Size PAL DV/Standard (720x576)

ii) Frame Rate: 25 PAL

iii) Frame Order: Lower Field First

iv) Pixel Aspect ratio 1.000

v) Video FOrmat: Animation

vI) Compression depth 24 bpp colour

vii) Quality: High - 100%

Keyframe checked every 30 frames.

AUDIO not touched

Streaming not touched

.. then I go render.

Apart from render quality, can you spot a difference?

TIA .. .

Grazie

I see the problem...you need pixel depth of 32 which you get from using default from the first window, then in the Custom select Animation from the "video format" drop down.