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Activity › Forums › Adobe After Effects › movie says it has alpha-channel transparency, but it won’t show up with transparency?

  • movie says it has alpha-channel transparency, but it won’t show up with transparency?

    Posted by Bodaboda on October 14, 2005 at 5:13 pm

    I have imported a movie that says it has alpha-channel transparency, but it won’t show up with transparency? I imported it both Straight and Premulitplied and it still does not work. Am I supposed to change something in the channel effect. Please help.

    FYI: The movie that was given to me is set up transparent with PNGs…I am not positive that it is actual alpha…is there a way to tell?

    Here is the file if you have the time:
    https://industrycollective.com/AE/

    Thanks,
    Ted

    Steve Roberts replied 20 years, 11 months ago 2 Members · 9 Replies
  • 9 Replies
  • Steve Roberts

    October 14, 2005 at 6:11 pm

    [bodaboda] “I imported it both Straight and Premulitplied and it still does not work.”

    If it didn’t have an alpha channel, those two options wouldn’t have been available to you. So it does have an alpha channel.

    I just imported it with straight alpha, and yes, it has transparency. In other words, it’s fine.

    Maybe you dropped it into a comp and you saw it surrounded by a colour. Have you pressed the checkerboard button at the bottom of the comp window to hide the BG colour? It’s not necessary, but it could ease your mind.

    Steve

  • Bodaboda

    October 14, 2005 at 7:02 pm

    Hey Steve,

    I am glad it worked for you. I tried again to reimport it into a new comp and I still don’t get the transparency (see link)

    https://industrycollective.com/AE/Picture1.jpg

    Does it have an alpha channel if it is saved out as a uncompressed png codec (what my client says)?

    Thanks in advance for the feedback.

    Ted

  • Steve Roberts

    October 14, 2005 at 7:10 pm

    Hang on. The mov file on your website had an alpha channel — that’s what I imported.

    What are you importing that has no alpha channel?
    Where did this tiff come from? If it was rendered from the mov, was it properly rendered with an alpha channel at 32-bit?

    Steve

  • Bodaboda

    October 14, 2005 at 7:15 pm

    Refresh that jpg

    I put in the movie that you downloaded and i still get this problem.

    I had a friend bring it into Apple’s Motion and it worked fine. Not sure what the problem is.

    Could it be a preference, my app?

    Ted

  • Steve Roberts

    October 14, 2005 at 7:27 pm

    Hmph. I’ve never seen that before. I’m unaware of any pref that could affect this, and a check of the prefs confirms it.

    Could it be … your Quicktime is old? I have 6.5, so there’s no need to upgrade to 7.

    Steve

  • Bodaboda

    October 14, 2005 at 8:52 pm

    I have the latest and greatest QT. It is weird. I had another person import the same file into their version of AE and they did not get the transparency. I am running AE 6.5. How about you?

  • Steve Roberts

    October 14, 2005 at 9:20 pm

    AHA!

    I’m on AE 6.5 Windows, QT 6.5.2.
    … but when I open it on the Mac, AE 6.5, QT 6.5.2, I see no alpha!

    So it’s a mac/windows thing. Bummer.

    All I can say is that your client should render the movie to Quicktime, Animation codec. Or TGA sequence, 32-bit with alpha. Forget PNG for now.

    Steve

  • Bodaboda

    October 14, 2005 at 9:38 pm

    so sad 🙁

    ended up using Motion

    thanks for all the help

  • Steve Roberts

    October 14, 2005 at 10:14 pm

    Thanks for bringing it up anyway. Each new issue is one for the memory bank. 🙂

    Glad you made it work,
    Steve

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