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latest codec -alpha friendly?
I’m freelancing on somebody elses box today on MC v3. I went to render an animation in AE and saw no alpha support under the latest 1:1 codec. I have it with the animation codec but wondered if fast import is gone or if these folks need a different codec. Dunno which one it is, really. Just says 1:1x but offers no alpha.
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5 Replies
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1.1x doesn’t support alpha channels. Is this HD? If not, why not use the Meridien Uncompressed codec? It’s certainly alpha channel friendly.
Michael
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thats what I always gravitate to but was surprised not to see it here.
Another weird thing is when I brought it in, I had to invert the alpha like it was a still from PS. This was using the animation codec.
also, I noticed it imported no slower with the animation codec than a file I made with no alpha with the avid codec. Neither of them claimed a fast import but neither were slow. -
The Meridien codec should be there. I still use it for everything I export from AE. Weird that it’s missing.
Media Composer 3.x handles imports much, much faster than previous versions. I think it’s coded to use as many cores as possible to convert the media on import, so fast imports don’t seem as fast anymore. They’re all pretty fast.
With fast import, I’ve also noticed that if I have it set to RGB it’s not a fast import. If I set it to 601 color it does. Did you have your color set to 601? If not, try changing it to that and see if the fast import happens.
As far as imverting the Animation codec–I can never remember what codecs require inverting, so I just choose Use Existing and reimport if I got it wrong. I thought all non-Avid codecs required Invert, but who knows. At one point I had to invert all of my Meridien files to get the alpha to show up.
Michael.
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Wonder why they opted to leave alphas out of the new codec.
strange upgrade. -
Perhaps they decided to leave them out because they don’t work properly. I’ve had problems using Avid’s codec with alpha channels since we’ve had our system. Simply put, they don’t make clean alphas…. i.e., curved sections have jagged edges when you try to use the alpha channel. I’ve used the Animation codec forever and a day for alphas. Long ago in the days we had “assurance” (cough, cough) we were told our problem had been elevated to level 2 status. That was the party line we got until the assurance money ran out. After that, we never heard any more about it.
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