-
Laying an After Effects Export over Video
I have AE 5.5 and will be importing the video in to Pinnacle Liquid. In after effects, I’ve created a letterbox design for the top and bottom of screen as well as a logo in Zaxwerks 3D which will occassionally fly across the screen. What I’d like to do is be able to export the AE design, bring it in to Pinnacle Liquid and then lay after effects file over the video, thus showing the video in the letter box and with the logo flying across it. Does this make sense? And, is it possible? I’ve wondered if that’s what alpha channels are for, but know almost nothing about that. Any advice or links to tutorials? Thanks very much.
-
6 Replies
-
If you want to import your design in to Pinnacle Liquid,I think you can render your design into a *.avi file with a blue or green background.Then you can key thus background out in Pinnacle Liquid.Or you can output your design in targa sequence with the alpha channel.
-
I’m concerned about using a keying effect as I imagine Pinnacle Liquid will not do this perfectly. If there is no other way, should I just bring the video into After Effects instead. And, if I do that, will there be any quality loss if I set all of my export settings in Pinnacle and AE to their highest quality? Thanks.
-
Yes that is what alpha channels are for. All you need to do is export the After Effects video with an alpha channel. I export as a Quicktime with the animation compressor.
When you go to Make Movie, click on the word Lossless. It will bring up another window entitled: Output Module Settings. Then Click on: Format Options. It will bring up another window called: Compression Settings. It should be set to Animation already, but if it’s not, use the drop down menu and select Animation. Then use the Depth dropdown and select : Millions of Colors +. The “+” enables the alpha channel. Put the quality at best and click OK. When you arrive back at the Output Module Settings Window, you will notice that next to Format Settings is a channels dropdown. It should now display: RGB + Alpha. This is another way to add an alpha to the render. (but you must have selected a codec that supports an alpha). Finally, you want to use the dropdown for Color and select Straight (Unmatted). And voila…
Hope that answers your question. I tried to be as specific as possible since you are not familiar with Alphas.
Christopher R. Abbey
“Motion Graphics Artist” -
I think that if you do that, there will be no quality loss if you set all of your export settings in Pinnacle and AE to their highest quality.
-
Excellent! Thanks so much for the detailed instructions. I’m going to give it a shot.
-
Okay, your instruction make a lot of sense. But I have an even simpler question. What I have done in After Effects is create a letterbox underneath which I’d like to add video. Below the “letterbox” layers, I’ve created a solid that is just black — that’s where I want to the video to go. How do I specify that that black layer should be an alpha channel rather than a solid black. Thanks very much for your help.
Ryan
Reply to this Discussion! Login or Sign Up