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alpha channel for new Flash 8
I’m having a hell of a time trying to figure out exporting video files with an alpha channel to take advantage of Flash 8’s new player. In theory, video can be exported using the ON2 VP6 codec, complete with it’s alpha channel which can then be composited in Flash. In the past, I’ve had to drop graphics in the background of the video and then export the entire rectangular frame into Flash. The graphics just don’t compress that well. This new feature would make for great video on the web.
HOWEVER … Macromedia and Apple, both in their infinite wisdow, are great at touting their products on their respective web sites but horrible at actually giving any true support. I was quite surprised that it doesn’t seem like anyone’s talking about this with the new release of Flash, but maybe there aren’t that many people using FCP to output video to the web.
So, what I’ve done is taken my chroma key shot (using the Chromatte material and LiteRing from Reflecmedia which is awesome), keyed out the background and used the new codec from Flash to export the video as an FLV file. However, once in Flash, all I’m getting is a black background, not a transparent one. I’m using FCP HD. Is there a feature/switch/button that I’m missing? The FCP manual wouldn’t know an alpha channel if one . . . .
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2 Replies
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Yes this is something of great interest to me too. I think it is a fantastic innovation to incorporate layer transparency for use in flvs. I recently attended the IBC in Amsterdam and MAcromedia were doing big crowd-pulling demos of the new products and they were really promoting the layer transparency innovation. They didn’t specifically demo how it works, but I spoke to the chap and he said – like you are trying to achieve – that it all begins from exporting the alpha from FCP or AE.
I have only just downloaded the evaluation version of Flash 8 and haven’t had a chance to try it yet so please let me know if you have sussed this yet.
Good luck,
Dan
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No thanks to the Final Cut manuals or any information I could find online, but I was finally able output video with the alpha transparency. Having keyed out my background in FCP, I export the file using the new codex from Flash. First I had to set the alpha type within FCP (again, no real help from the manuals): Modify > Alpha Type > Straight.
When brought into Flash, I finally had the clear transparency in the video, everything I was after. However, the resulting SWF files using the video transparency can only be viewed effectively using the Flash 8 player. On my test PC with the Flash 7 player, only the audio came through until I downloaded the new player. I would think Macromedia would be able to create a standard SWF file once the video is imported, but apparently there’s still something special going on. As of a day ago, there wasn’t any support on the Macromedia site for this sort of work.
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