Rendering without the black default background
by DOUGLAS MORLOCK
on
May 14, 2008 at 11:56:49 pm
Hi There,
I am just learning AF and had a simple question.
I created some text in PS with a transparent background. Then imported the PSD into After Effects. Added some trapcode shine and it looks great.I can toggle the transparency grid and see there is a transparent background.
Then, when I try to render out as a quicktime movie .. the default black background is on my animation. Very frustrating.
Also, in the render option when I set it up as a quicktime movie it does not give me a RGB+alpha option. Is this my problem and how can I correct it. Adding a mask in PS?
Re: Rendering without the black default background by Dave LaRonde on May 15, 2008 at 3:17:33 pm
[DOUGLAS MORLOCK]"in the render option when I set it up as a quicktime movie it does not give me a RGB+alpha option. "
You're on the right track, but the codec you chose doesn't support alpha channels. If you have access to Quicktime, I recommend the Animation codec at best quality -- I'm a Mac guy. How about the Windows world? No clue: you'd have to keep chosing until the selection is no longer grayed out.
Then there's the issue of a Straight or Premultiplied Alpha Channel... which do you need? It depends on the application in which you'll use your AE file, but I'd start with Straight. If you want to be positive you'll get it right the first time, you could render out a version of both, and see which one works.
Dave LaRonde
Sr. Promotion Producer
KCRG-TV (ABC) Cedar Rapids, IA
Re: Rendering without the black default background by DOUGLAS MORLOCK on May 16, 2008 at 12:30:17 am
Thanks guy's. I also watched the tutorial and think I should be able to figure this out now. I am rendering for the web in which Andrew Kramer recommends a quicktime movie (using animation) as a reliable format.
But I did read that quicktime will always ad a black background?
If this is the case.. it will never work using a quicktime render. What's the next most reliable format that will keep the background transparent?
Re: Rendering without the black default background by Simon Bonner on May 16, 2008 at 9:26:11 am
If you are rendering for the web, you'll not want your final render to use the animation codec: it's an intermediate codec (to use when you will need to process your video more in the future, or as a copy for your archives) and likely to be too large to (1) play on your machine without experiencing skipping and (2) download from the internet before you die of old age. Better to compress the video for the web. Having said this, if the video is for the web then there really is no need for an alpha channel, so perhaps you really mean to use the video for further processing. If so, animation is fine.
Re: Rendering without the black default background by Dave LaRonde on May 16, 2008 at 6:07:34 pm
[DOUGLAS MORLOCK]"But I did read that quicktime will always ad a black background? "
You gotta quit readin' them conspiracy theory books!
Do you understand the concept of a codec? Here's a brief description:
Quicktime or AVI or WMV the wrappers that encapsulate media files, which can be saved in different encoding and algorithms that vary depending on the speed or quality you need. Those algorithms are the codecs.
And it just so happens that the Animation Codec in Quicktime supports alpha channels.
Dave LaRonde
Sr. Promotion Producer
KCRG-TV (ABC) Cedar Rapids, IA
Re: Rendering without the black default background by DOUGLAS MORLOCK on May 17, 2008 at 12:19:27 am
I think the problem is that I am using a program called sitegrinder to build my website which doesn't support transparency until I get a plug-in. So know matter what I do.. when I test the quicktime movie in the browser .. it comes in with the square black background. I can bring the footage into premier pro or back into after effects and it does have a transparent background.
I guess I need to do all the compositing in after effects.. then it will be fine.
I plan on using Photo-Jpeg as the codec for the Quicktime movie.
