quicktime mov alpha channel default settings

[John Rofrano]

Go to the Project Media and right-click on one of the MOV files and select Properties. On the Media tab, set the Alpha Channel and then press the diskette icon next to the Stream: drop-down. This should save those properties for all MOV files. Note: this does not work from the timeline event properties. You must do it from the project media pool.

~jr

http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com

[Larry Brewer]

John

Thanks for the reply. I had seen these instructions weeks ago and frankly forgot the procedure. Kept trying from the timeline.

Now that you’ve refreshed my memory can you tell me why it still doesn’t work? I select a mov in the Project Media list. Right click, select properties, click media, set alpha to straight (or premultipied) and click the disk icon, and click OK. It sets the alpha properties for THAT clip, but not for the rest. What gives?

thanks again
Larry Brewer

[John Rofrano]

Yea I just tried it and it doesn’t keep the alpha channel setting. Not sure why this isn’t working but I’m seeing the same thing with MOV files that I know have an alpha channel. Very strange.

~jr

http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com

[Larry Brewer]

Thanks for double checking that. At this point I’m just glad it’s not me or my system, but it would be nice if there was a way to accomplish that task. A script maybe?… So what is the function of the disk icon on the properties window?

thanks

Larry Brewer

[John Rofrano]

> but it would be nice if there was a way to accomplish that task. A script maybe?…

Absolutely. You could use VASST Ultimate S Pro to fix this in two clicks. First you would select one of the events that uses a MOV file and then on the Editing Tools tab use Select Same Source Type to select ALL of the MOV files in your project. Then just go to the Video Effects tab and use Video Event Properties to change all of the alpha channels at once. I’m sure Excalibur has something similar.

~jr

http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com

[Larry Brewer]

Thanks John R. I may have to do that. It will save a lot of time.

Larry Brewer

[Edward Troxel]

Here’s a script I wrote a long time ago that will simply set the alpha channel for all items in the Project Media. Just copy the text below into Notepad and save it as “AlphaChannelAllMedia.js” in your “Script Menu” folder.

/**
* This script will modify the alpha channel in the current
* project’s media pool.
*
* Written by Edward Troxel – http://www.JETDV.com
* Revision Date: Dec. 16, 2005
**/
import System.Windows.Forms;
import Sony.Vegas;

//var AType = VideoAlphaType.None;
//var AType = VideoAlphaType.Straight;
var AType = VideoAlphaType.Premultiplied;
//var AType = VideoAlphaType.PremultipliedDirty;

try {
var mediaEnum = new Enumerator(Vegas.Project.MediaPool);
while (!mediaEnum.atEnd()) {
var media = mediaEnum.item();
// only add the effect if the media object has a video stream.
if (media.HasVideo()) {
var mediaStream = media.Streams.GetItemByMediaType(MediaType.Video, 0);;
mediaStream.AlphaChannel = AType;
}
mediaEnum.moveNext();
}

} catch (e) {
MessageBox.Show(e);
}

Edward Troxel

[Deep Trikannad]

Hello Edward,

Do you know how to set a media stream’s VideoAlphaType to “VideoAlphaType.Straight” when coding in C#? the library doesn’t seem to expose the VideoAlpha type of a video mediastream from C#.

If this cannot be done, do you know if there is a way to call your JS script from within my C# extension?

Thanks in advance!

Deep