Is animation the only codec with alpha channel?

[Andy Mees]

you might try using the Avid Meridian codecs (Avid Meridian Compressed and Avid Meridain Uncompressed, you can get them from the Avid website) … they are also 32bit codecs and very clean.

in my own (limited) experience, the ‘Compressed’ codec offers an approximate 20% saving in file size. (based on me looking at the one example that happens to be on my harddisk at the moment, so your mileage may vary!)

when we were looking for a suitable GFX interchange format, considering filesize and effective quality, this one seemed the best (cross platform) choice.

hope it helps
Andy

[John Pale]

Don’t bother with the Avid codec. It has not been updated in many years and has be known to cause instability in FCP (many people report crashing with out of memory errors).

here are two codecs (not free, however) that support alpha channels.

Sheer Video
https://bitjazz.com/

Microcosm
https://www.digitalanarchy.com/micro/micro_main.html

[Bret Williams]

If you render something lossless or uncompressed then there’s no compression and the file size is pretty much set and the same across the board. 8 bit or 10bit being the only difference. The alpha will make your file slightly larger than a regular video clip because of the extra info. You could simply render two files, a video file, and a matte file, but that would probably end up the same size and take longer to render.

[David Bogie]

It’s easy to see if the Io codecs support alphas, look for a setting that says Millions+.

I’ll go out a limb and suggest you’re looking at the problem the wrong way. You need more drive space and a change in your workflow, not a reduced quality codec. Do your precomps and previews at lower rez, discard bad files or offload them to DVD-ROM. Go buy a little 100 or 200 gig FW drive for your AE renders.

bogiesan

This is my standard sigfile so do not take it personally: “For crying out loud, read the freakin’ manual.”

[Robert Newton]

Thanks, Andy. I’ve got the Avid codecs. Of course, I never realized I could just bring them into FCP and it will render them out to whatever my timeline is set to.

Robert

[Robert Newton]

You might be right. I’ve just got so many projects I’m doing simultaneously, I’m filling up even my G-Raids and Weibetechs faster than I can buy them.

[Robert Newton]

Thanks, I’ll definitely check these out. I’ve never heard of them.

[Kevin Monahan]

Lots of codecs support Alpha. Microcosm is probably the best regarding smaller file size. That’s actually why Theory LLC invented it.

Other codecs that support alpha:

None
Planar RGB
PNG
TGA (Targa)
TIFF

Bog’s advice is good. Manage them renders, boy!

Kevin Monahan
Author – Motion Graphics and Effects in Final Cut Pro
fcpworld.com

[Andy Mees]

Hi John

you wrote:
“Don’t bother with the Avid codec. It has not been updated in many years and has be known to cause instability in FCP (many people report crashing with out of memory errors).”

thats a bit of a shocker! i knew it wasn’t the freshest codec in the team but i didn’t know it hadn’t been playing fair … could you give me any more info, it sounds like something to investigate (proactive) or at least watch out for (lie back and think of England)

cheers
Andy

(it must be said, we’ve not had any problems thus far)

[Joe Murray]

I like PNG codec Quicktimes if file size is an issue.

Joe Murray