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Alpha problems from after effects to avid
Hey Guys,
Firstly i just want to thank you all as i’ve been useing this forum to fix problems i’ve been having for the past 4 months useing avid and this is the forst time i’ve had to post! anyway my problem is when i make some titles or motion graphics in after effects with alpha and then render them useing the quicktime movie format and animation codec as recomended on here before, then when i import it into avid the black screen area from after effects which should be the alpha area (ie transparent obviously) shows up black and the design i have done contains the alpha (ie you can see the video in the background of the design) any ideas what im doing wrong? perhaps a setting in avid? or just a wrong choice of codec/settings in after effects? oh i use “dv settings” in after effects to so it’s “dv setiings” and “lossless with alpha” thanks in advance for your help
sam
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4 Replies
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yep. settings.
when u import the title go and change the import settings to invert existing in the alpha mode.
this will do it. -
that’s great thanks kindly, i noticed it works by either doing “invert” or “swap sources” is there any difference? and is one better to use than the other? thanks again
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just a little addition. avid only uses straight alpha channels. so make sure you change from premultiplied to straight alph when rendering in aftre effects.
cheers
Riot -
When you render a graphic from After Effects and import into Avid, make sure your Avid import settings are set to Use Existing Alpha. This is for movie files from AE.
If you receive a graphic from someone or make one yourself, choose Invert Existing Alpha. This will give you a proper graphic with alpha.
If you import a graphic and it’s reversed (like in your case), open your effect editor when parked on the clip and select Invert Alpha. I use this over Swap Sources because Swap Sources can give you really weird results sometimes. If it works, though, then I wouldn’t say one is better than the other. What I would say is that importing it correctly is best. If you don’t have to invert or swap the alpha then your Avid has one less thing to think about. Properly interpreting the alpha first may give you better realtime playback and will make viewing your graphic, properly, in the source monitor possible.
If you import something and you see it imported with the alpha reversed, do this:
Select the graphic/movie with alpha and hit Delete. Choose to delete just the Associated Media Files–keep the master clip. Then do a Batch Import (it’s under Clip settings I think, or Bin). If the graphic is still in the same place as when you originally imported it the Avid will go there to reimport it. Before you do reimport, though, check the box that says something like Override current settings. Then click the Options tab–if Use Existing Alpha is already checked, change it to Invert Alpha. If Invert Alpha is checked change it to Use Existing. This then hit OK. This will reimport your graphic with a correct alpha interpretation, and correct it anywhere it’s used in any and all sequences as well. Fast, easy, and simple.Hope this helps some.
Mike.
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