Edit .tga files

[Bob Root]

Hi Todd,

If your .tga(Targa) files are separate from your clip, you can work directly with them as additional layers in AE.

From what I understand, you want to make changes to the logo that is already in a composited clip. Ideally, you would need to have that logo as a separate element in its own layer. You can maybe use a mask to isolate the logo from the other elements in the clip (but that all depends on any overlapping of images).

You will encounter some limits as to what you can do with the logo if it is not a separate element.

Hope I understood you correctly on your post. If not, you can fire some more info at me and I ma be able to help further.

Bob

[Todd Burrell]

Thanks Bob.

What I have is an intro with the old logo (created in AE) this logo fades out and the new logo fades in and goes behind a piece of machinery (all created with .tga files). I figured a workaround by replacing the old AE logo clip with an AE clip of the new logo matching the .tga logo animation. I then ended the AE file just as the logo goes behind the equipment. Wow, that sounds much more confusing than it is. In the end, it worked and that’s what matters.

Another quick question if I could. The .tga files, I am assuming they were created with some other animation software and exported out to an AE usable format (.tga)? I have never come across Targa files before (but I am new at this).

Thanks again for your help, Todd

[Bob Root]

Hi Todd,

Glad you found a workaround.

In general, targa (.tga) files are an uncompressed image file. Most times you will find them as a still image that has been created in Photoshop or another graphics program. Very occasionally you will come across a targa sequence. This is a sequence of individual targa stills that have been output to create an animation similar to what you would see in a quicktime movie.

As far as the design work I do, targa and .tiff images provide the best quality, as well as the option to include an alpha channel. I’m pretty sure that’s across the board for most graphic designers and editors.

The other popular file option is jpeg. In most cases, jpeg images are highly compressed and aren’t even a second best choice to .tga or .tiff images.

There’s some helpful and technical info about these file types on wikipedia.com and elsewhere on the web.

In the end, I would say that you will definitely be doing alot of work with targas as you move forward. The good news is that you will find nothing mysterious about these files. They work the same way as most other image files you will have in After Effects.

Best of luck,

Bob

[Todd Burrell]

Bob,

In this job I had a targa sequence and seeing a folder with thousands of images is what freaked me out. I will do some more research to become more familiar with these files.

Thanks again, Todd

[Todd Burrell]

Thanks for the input Dave.

When I first got the job I thought I was going to need to change the targa files to get what I wanted. In the end I didn’t have to do that which was a relief. For future reference, If I did need to change say a logo that was in the targa sequence, what is the best approach? Do you have to retouch each image in Photoshop?

Thanks, Todd