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Render with a transparent background?
This seems easy, but I can’t figure it out? I’ve got a simple animated element (basically some lines) that I want to render with a transparent background for a friend to use in another project. But every time I render it, it comes up with the composition’s background color. How can I disable the background color or change it to alpha?
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11 Replies
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You just need to choose a codec that supports Alpha Channels. Animation, PNG, and most image sequences (tiff, psd) would work. If the codec has an option to set to millions of colors+ then you know it supports an alpha. The + is the Alpha.
-Andy George
Senior Editor
http://www.chiselindustries.com -
So if I use Quicktime w/ Animation and have RGB + Alpha and Millions+ set, and even with these settings, my background is still the color set in my comp settings?
Also, how do I end up with a file that isn’t HUGE. I’m doing 720p@30, and with a minute long video, I’ve got a HUGE file. For a 60 second comp, I’ve got a 500mb file!
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That’s the correct settings, but it will only create an Alpha Channel where there is no information. So if you have a background layer on you need to disable that first.
AE’s defualt is to show an Alpha as black. Click the little checkerboard looking box underneath your comp preview to show a checkerboard where your alpha is going to exist.
This makes it easier to verify where you alpha lives but has no effect on the render one way or the other.The Animation codec creates huge files. 500MB for 60 seconds sounds pretty reasonable.
-Andy George
Senior Editor
http://www.chiselindustries.com -
Are there other options that I can use to get a smaller file and still maintain the transparency? The person will be importing the file into After Effects.
L
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Transparency means you choose no color for your comp. Just leave at black and use solids instead if you need colors. But if you want to superimpose your composition inside your NLE, you need to have the background black…
500MB for a 60 second clip is not unreasonable for a file that contains 3 color channels + 1 alpha channel. Since it’s uncompressed it will render/playback very fast.
Richard van den Boogaard
Freelance cameraman • Glidecam Operator • Editor • YouTube expert -
When I use these settings now, It is just giving my a black background rather than a transparent one.
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When you click on the toggle transparency grid button can you see the transparency grid?
If not then your not going to get an Alpha chanel because there is no absence of information there.Have you thought about just sending them the AEP if they are going to take it into After Effects anyhow? If your not using any footage that file would be much smaller. If you are using footage you can use the File>collect files command to put it all in one folder for you.
You might get slightly smaller results from the PNG codec. It would be minimal if it was. From what I understand of your project Animation is probably the best choice for it though.
-Andy George
Senior Editor
http://www.chiselindustries.com -
Also, if you ZIP/RAR/SIT your uncompressed file before sending it off, you may get quite impressive results.
Richard van den Boogaard
Freelance cameraman • Glidecam Operator • Editor • YouTube expert -
> Also, how do I end up with a file that isn’t HUGE.
“FAQ: Why is my output file huge…?”
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