No alpha in FCP for Motion Videos…

[Zak Mussig]

Tim,
The HDV codec doesn’t support alpha channels. You’ll have to use the Animation codec at Millions of Colors+. In Motion the export preset is Lossless + Alpha. I’ve had better luck by unckeching the premultiply alpha box in the options tab of the export options window.
Zak

[Tim Baker]

Thanks Zak…I had no idea. Your work-around is working great. Information that would have been good on the upgrade from the Apple folks.

Any reason why HDV does not support alpha…techy I’m sure, but I am just curious. Also, does that hold true for any software right now…looking to upgrade my old After Effects…will not be able to use any alpha from any software in HDV right now?

Thanks so much…Love the Cow!!!

Tim Baker
Chameleon Mobile Video Productions
(239)849-3295
“It is not the light at the end of the tunnel that we should seek…it is the courage to take the next step in the dark that we must find.”

[Tom Wolsky]

Don’t bother exporting from Motion, Take the Motion project directly into FCP and render it there composited over your videa.

All the best,

Tom

Author: “Final Cut Pro 5 Editing Essentials” and “Final Cut Express 2 Editing Workshop” Class on Demand “Complete Training for FCP5” and “Final Cut Express Made Easy” DVDs

[Zak Mussig]

Time,
You can put the QT you export into an HDV sequence in FCP or any other QT based app. You just can’t preserve alpha by exporting to HDV since the codec doesn’t support it. You’ll also notice that you have to render the file you exported before you can play it back in an HDV sequence in FCP.

Zak

[John Pale]

[Tim] “Any reason why HDV does not support alpha…techy I’m sure, but I am just curious. Also, does that hold true for any software right now…looking to upgrade my old After Effects…will not be able to use any alpha from any software in HDV right now?

Thanks so much…Love the Cow!!!”

No standard (non-third party) codecs support an alpha channel, except the Animation codec.

Sheer, Microcosm are not free, but do support alphas. FCP does not support realtime effects for these codecs though. Avid codec is free, supports an alpha, but is problematic within FCP for many users.