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Exporting Alpha channel for After Effects
Hello fellow bovines. I am working on a spot where I cropped back my 720×486 video on all sides and am needing to import it into After Effects and place my own background animations behind the video. I am exporting as a quicktime movie, animation compression, selecting millions of colors+. However when I import into After effects it is not recognizing the alpha channel in the comp window. I know that Avid interprets alpha channels differently than other programs so I have selected to “Invert the alpha,” “Straight,” “Premultiplied,” nothing works. Can someone please tell me what I’m doing wrong? Thanks -Justin
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4 Replies
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Did you select ‘RGB + Alpha’ in the pulldown menu (I forget which module it is – the first, maybe?)? Then invert your alpha on import into the Avid.
Jon
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I sure did. But still no dice. Weird
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It sounds like you’re trying to export from Avid and into After Effects with an alpha, rather than export from After Effects and into Avid. Is this right?
If you are indeed trying to export video with an alpha from your Avid, I have some bad news. No can do. Avid works with alpha channels in the system, will recognize them on import, but will not export them. In order to export an alpha from Avid you need to export the video first, then a black and white matte of the alpha channel. Bring this into AE and use the black and white video as a luma matte for your video. That’s about the only way.
If you’re trying to go from AE to Avid with an alpha–have you tried a png sequence? They usually work a treat. Just make sure your animation really is over a transparent background, then render it out and invert alpha on import.
Mike.
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So I am trying to understand your directions…
I am trying to export a lower third from After Effects and import it into Avid. However, I have tried 5 different ways of exporting and none seem to be working. The Alpha Channel seems to be a problem for me. Do you know the correct settings for rendering?
It’s weird because some of the files I exported worked in Final Cut Pro and Premiere Pro, but not in Avid. Do you know if exporting in AE is different for when you want to import it into Avid?
These are the methods I have tried:
Lossless with Alpha
Custom, Alpha, Premultiplied (Matted)
Custom, Alpha, Straight (Unmatted)
Custom, RGB + Alpha, Premultiplied (Matted)
Custom, RGB + Alpha, Straight (Unmatted)Help please!
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