Export with alpha

[Mark Spencer]

What codec are you using? You need to use one that supports an alpha channel, like Animation or ProRes 4444.

—
Mark Spencer
Freelance Producer/Editor/Motion Graphics Artist
Apple-certified Master Trainer
Author, Motion 4 from Peachpit Press
https://www.applemotion.net

[Marc Lucas]

Yes the project default for the settings I have is a ProRes 4444 timeline thats what I don’t understand. There isn’t an animation export option in Motion 5 there are just the ProRes and a few others

[Marc Lucas]

I’ve got to the bottom of it. When you export from Motion using the ‘default settings’ they are indeed ProRes 4444 however to get an alpha into the file for some reason you have to actually select ProRes 4444 from within the export settings for the file to have an alpha rendered in it. Its a bit strange anyone know why that is?

[Marc Lucas]

I thought I had sort the problem because I took a short In & Out from the timeline to test for the alpha. When I exported the small movie exported with an alpha intact I then thought I had sorted the problem. Then I selected the whole project which had a logo top and tail that didn’t have any transparency. When I exported the timeline there wasn’t an alpha again.
So back to square one. I have now found out that if the logos top and tail were making the final output not have an alpha channel so I’ve had to render out the middle section then going to add the logos afterwards in AE.
Is this a bug or does Motion analyse the render from the start of the timeline and assume that the first clip represents the whole project??

[Andy Neil]

It sounds like there might be either something wrong with the project, or there’s some gotcha that you’re not seeing. Can you post the project?

Andy

PS: Motion doesn’t analyze the project before exporting. If you ask it to export with an alpha, it should, if there’s transparency in the project.

https://www.timesavertutorials.com

[Marc Lucas]

Hi Andy

Here is the project file

https://www.marclucasmedia.com/

[Zach Shore]

What’s your background image? That covers your entire canvas view and if that doesn’t have transparency your export isn’t going to have any transparency with the way this is built.

I tried with your project and as soon as I disabled the Bottom Group with the Background copy layer and then exported to ProREs 4×4 it worked.

As a tip you can alway check your projects alpha by typing shift-A. When I tried with the place holders, the whole canvas alpha was white.

“You can come push the buttons, or you can let me do my job.”

[Marc Lucas]

Hi

Yeah for get the BG layer that was not active in the final render. Yes the main part of the project does have transparency and after rendering out the middle section as ProRes 4444 I did indeed get my alpha. The problem happened when I rendered out the entire timeline where the intro and outdo logo didn’t have transparency because they were a separate imported file into Motion. So when I rendered out the whole timeline the alpha disappeared from the project.

[Andy Neil]

Marc, it’s a little hard to troubleshoot this because there’s no media in the project at all. I couldn’t see any obvious gotchas like rasterized groups or things like that.

Although I did find it odd to see the camera placed where it was. I don’t know if that could cause your issue, but it does seem like the one element (besides the BG layer) that’s there the entire middle of the project.

Andy

https://www.timesavertutorials.com

[Marc Lucas]

Thanks for getting back.

I don’t think there is actually anything wrong with the project insofar that I had successfully rendered out the middle of the project (without the BG layer) but trying to render the whole project I could get the alpha. I might re-create a similar project and see if I can replicate the problem.

Kind regards,

Marc