overlay video on cs3

[Tim Kolb]

You likely rendered the animation in a filetype that doesn’t support an alpha channel (the transparency).

In AVI, you could use uncompressed…DV doesn’t carry an alpha channel, and in QT codecs, uncompressed, animation, and movie PNG can carry an alpha channel.

Make sure you choose “RGBA” for the render as well as “millions+” for colors. If those choices are not available, that means your chosen file format doesn’t support an alpha channel.

TimK,
Director, Consultant
Kolb Productions,

[Jason Harris]

tIM THANKS FOR THE HELP

I need to explain a bit

Basically what i meant was that the LOWER THIRD overlay would be ON TOP (running at the SAME time) as the clip

When i tried AVI i had the same issue, my ideal thought would to be able to export the animated clip (it doesnt HAVE TO be a movie) and make it a title template, this way we can just put the TITLE (but it needs to still be animated) over ANY news clip, and we can fill in the reporters name and story title afterwards,

Like i said i have tried many file exports out of photoshop, so im a bit lost,

I have uploade a file with a (PICTURE) of the idea

157_ncrtemplate.png.zip

FYI i tried GIF but it was to pixelly in the video

[Tim Kolb]

Yeah…I got it.

You can:

load the photoshop doc as a photoshop doc into Ppro and move the layers in PPro on the timeline…or

You can dump the photoshop doc into After Effects and animate them and output a alpha-transparent file.

Ppro’s titler doesn’t do animation…a title template is still. You’ll need to generate a clip with alpha transparency to take care of the animated layers to be easily re-ued…then make a title template that contains the placement for the text elements over that.

Either way…if you put the graphic on a video track that is above the video you want to see and you can’t see the viseo…you don’t have an alpha channel.

TimK,
Director, Consultant
Kolb Productions,

[Jason Harris]

Tim

What i did was

I exported using “render video” out of photoshop, i set the settings to quicktime, and the output to ANIMATION, this allowed me the option to use the previously greyed out “alpha channel” however since ppro does not ALLOW quicktime MOV to import that did nothing for me, but on another note i was able to play it back in quicktime and it had nice clean lines.

I then tried AVI and several other exports to no avail, i tried outputting as an IMAGE SEQUENCE using the export in photoshop, however this resulted in some odd 270 files of photos, maybe they had alpha in them, but once i put them in ppro they didnt prove useful

I am in the process of installing AE now, having never worked with it previously maybe i have missed something, its such a shame its so difficult to do such a seemingly EASY task

Maybe this is not the right way to go, but i like ppro so i wont give up right away!

Any more advice would be great, and also thanks for the advice so far

[Alan Lloyd]

“…since ppro does not ALLOW quicktime MOV to import…”

I have CS3 and it does indeed import .mov files.

However…

What you are trying to do is fairly straightforward. You have preserved your .psd files, I hope. They are still useful for this.

Import each layer of them individually as an image sequence, place them in their proper depth relationship, and adjust the opacity of what you want to see through. The best thing would be to do that in a clean project and save that project, then you can import the entire project and have everything set up in its proper form and timing when you’re doing subsequent work.

[Jason Harris]

Alan,

thanks for the additional help, when i said it does not import MOV what i meant to say was that when i RIGHT CLICK and select IMPORT then choose a MOV file, it says FILE FORMAT NOT SUPPORTED

as for your ideas

1. yes i do still have the psd file for the project, it contains about 14 layers, mostly all it does is rotate and fade the ncr logo through the frames, it also blinks the word LIVE when we overlay for a live report, about 18 frames in all

When you say “save the layers” i get a bit lost, are you referring to EACH layer or frame, what EXACTLY am i doing, am i saving my psd with LAYERS intact, there are so many options i need some guidance

so once i have the PSD and the “layers” imported in a new project, as a sequence, your basically telling me to take these layers and whatnot and put them on a timeline in premeire so they will play like an animation?

it seems like that would work, but then do i just NEST a seqence into another video track to create the overlay, yes what i am trying to do PROBABLY seems simple

thanks for all the help!

I am away from that pc but will try what you have told me when i get back to it later today, fyi im still a bit foggy on how i am EXPORTING the psd out of photoshop

lastly, was there an easier way to do this, maybe with AE i have never used it personally, every pc i have ever tried to launch it on it never opens up?

thanks again

[Alan Lloyd]

[Jason Harris] “When you say “save the layers” i get a bit lost, are you referring to EACH layer or frame, what EXACTLY am i doing, am i saving my psd with LAYERS intact, there are so many options i need some guidance”

I said import the layers independently. PPro will “flatten” a .psd file otherwise.

Each layer as an image sequence – presuming they are numbered sequentially. Drag them to the timeline as such and they will make one video track. Repeat with subsequent layers, making certain they are properly arranged for depth.

Save this project. Adjust your transparencies – you can use a “scratch” bit of video if you like, for reference below them – using the “opacity” control. Save the project again. (Good practice anyway!)

This should give you an animated lower third with some areas transparent to the degree you like.

[Tim Kolb]

[Alan Lloyd] “I said import the layers independently. PPro will “flatten” a .psd file otherwise.”

You can also import the PSD as a sequence. You don’t need to use the sequence if you don’t want to, but it does get all the layers in in one step and keeps them separate.

TimK,
Director, Consultant
Kolb Productions,

[Jason Harris]

alan

I will try thisl ater, if i have success i will let you know

would have beenso much easier if i could just use the exported QUICKTIME movie from photoshop lol

but maybe that would never have worked

[Jason Harris]

tim

your referring to the dialog box in ppro i assume, the one that says use as footage or sequence

?