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Rendering with an Alpha and or Straight Alpha Channel for AE, still has black background, Why?
Ok, so I’ve come to the conclusion that it has to be C4D where this issue is stemming from. I think this because, when I use anything from “action movie essentials”, they all have the transparent bg already, and I don’t have to do anything to them at all to get that transparent bg.
I’m just trying to do something that sounds quite simple and from what I can tell is quite simple. I’ll use my last project as the example. I’m rendering a rotating sphere with a texture on it, and saving it with an alpha channel. I’ve tried all four formats that I heard would keep the alpha channel. Which from what I’ve gathered is PNG, TIFF, QT, and TARGA. I’ve tried rendering with all those formats, and I’ve tried both the alpha check box and the straight alpha check box at the same time. I’ve even tried the separate alpha check box.
Now when I import this footage into AE, I still see the black background. I tried all the modes on the layer and none seemed to work to make just the 3d object stand alone without that black background. I just want to be able to composite onto a video without having to key it out, which should be doable. I’m using a Macbook Pro 5.3 with an Nvidia 9600GT, Core 2 Duo @ 2.66GHz 4GB DDR3, and a 128GB SSD. I highly doubt it’s my system.
Now I’ve been looking for a solution to this issue for about 3 days now. I’ve checked the help files in C4D, and the Adobe help that came with my master suite, and still no possible solution to why this isn’t working. I recently updated AE to 10.0.1 and still I have the same issue. When I import the footage it asks me how to interpret it and I choose premultiplied with black. I thought maybe the black was a different black so I even re imported it and used the eye dropper tool to choose the matte colour, and still no luck. I have actually been making a green plane behind my 3d object and keying it out in AE because I can’t find a solution to this.
I would be thrilled if I found out that it was just something that I missed. If you guys need any information of pics to see what I am talking about let me know and I’ll be on it. I’l be watching this thread hoping for a quick response and a simple answer.
Thanks for your time, Andrew.
Andrew Ronholm: aka Extil3
Visual Effects, 3D Animator, Graphic & Web Design, and Writer -
8 Replies
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Hey Andrew,
I just did a quick test to see if I ran into the same problem. I did a basic sphere with animation and textured it. Exported it out as a tif sequence with the alpha box checked in the render. Opened up AE and the background was black but as soon as I put a background underneath it all was good. The alpha gets premultiplied automatically. It sounds like you did all the right steps, did you try compositing it in AE?
Brian -
Yes, I’m just trying to do my first composite. I’m making a planet shattering in space. I already did it by making a green plane behind the sphere, and then just keyed it out in AE. But it would be much easier to do in AE if it had the transparent BG. So I’m doing exactly what you did, again. I’ll post the result in a second.
BTW, thanks so much for the help. I know this might seem a noobish thing to ask, but it really isn’t working for me. Hopefully it does now…..
Andrew Ronholm: aka Extil3
Visual Effects, 3D Animator, Graphic & Web Design, and Writer -
Ok so I just made a whole new animation in C4D, made a sphere, added a picture of lava for the texture, then animated it rotating 90 degrees over a 3s Animation @ 30FPS. Before I rendered it I went into render settings and chose the alpha check box, quicktime as the format and in the options button to the right of that drop down list I kept it on “animation” for the compression method. I then rendered the scene, and went to file save as, saved it as a TIFF format, and kept the Alpha checkbox in that window checked. I saved it to the same location that my c4d file is located.
I then imported the file into AE along with a picture of space for a BG, and made a new comp with the imported animation. I then dragged the BG into the timeline and dropped it underneath the animation layer. Unfortunately I got the same result, and I really don’t understand what is wrong. I then right clicked on the animation in the project window[in AE] and went to interpret footage>Main and tried all three options as well as trying the 3rd option premultiplied again and this time using the eyedropper and clicking on that black bg I’m attempting to remove. Still it’s not gone. Now I’m at a loss of words here, I really don’t know what could be causing this, and I haven’t found anyone with this issue. When they do what I’m doing it always works. So what could it possibly be?
I’ve tried multiple formats while doing this. In every format that I know of that saves the alpha information, PNG, TIFF, and QT-I then check the file within AE to see what it says in the top left hand corner and it indeed says millions of colours + as well as (premultiplied) to the right of it. So what could this be?
Also I have an use action movie essentials quite frequently in my projects and when I import these explosions and such I get a transparent background. In other words they work without having to do anything to them at all, which is great. I’m pretty sure that this is what is supposed to be happening with my animations, but it’s not. What could it be, I hope someone can help me.
Thanks for your time, Andrew.
Andrew Ronholm: aka Extil3
Visual Effects, 3D Animator, Graphic & Web Design, and Writer -
didn’t realize you were using a quicktime container for the footage. I was using an image sequence. In cinema export out as a quictime. under options,in the render settings in cinema, switch to animation codec and in the same window change compressor to millions+. click the alpha channel. Render that out and when you bring that into AE interpret footage with an alpha. That should work.
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It sounds like you have it right the only thing is when you “save as” it should not be tiff it should just be a quicktime movie with the .mov extension.
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Hi brian.
Ok here’s the thing, I’ve done this about 150 times now, with all available formats. I’ve learned so much while attempting this over and over, and for the last 3 days I’ve been researching this problem. I keep getting the same answers. I tried what you said, exactly what you said, and I know this should work, but it’s not. So what I’m going to do is I’m going to use snapz pro to record me doing this so you can see what it is I’m doing. I’ll upload it to youtube on my youtube channel and I’ll link it to you as soon as it’s done ok?
Now everywhere I’ve looked it says the same things, and I thought maybe the c4d file was corrupted so I made a new one and used a different texture and got the same result and black bg. Now like I’ve said I must’ve tried this about 150 times now, trying all formats that support the alpha channel and also I tried all 3 interpretations for the footage, still nothing. So I’ll make this video and show you, so you can see what it is I’m doing and then you can give me some suggestions.
I really don’t know what else to do about this, cause it should be working, I asked on multiple forums and I get the same answers, suggestions and they all say it’ll work they promise. Now I’m not a newb, I’m not a professional, but I’m not a newb. Also I use Action movie essentials and when I import their stuff it has a transparent bg already so I know its not after effects, or at least thats what I think.
Anyhow I hope this helps people help me.
Thanks again for your time, Andrew.
Andrew Ronholm: aka Extil3
Visual and Sound Effects Artist, 3D Animator, Graphics & Web Designer, Videographer, Photographer, Editor, Director, and Writer.I know that sounds like a lot, but I really do all those things, and I do them for myself so it’s more of a full time hobby.
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It would help if you could post a sample scene where you’re having the problem.
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I’m currently rendering a video out which I recorded with snapz pro showing what I did. It shows me rendering in the 3 formats that support the alpha channel and it also shows the way AE sees it, I guarantee you guys will be baffled by what you’re seeing. It’s totally not right at all. And if it is me making a mistake, at least you guys can identify it and tell me what I’m doing wrong.
Thanks for your time, Andrew.
P.S. I’ll be asking on this forum but in a new thread so people that have already responded can see it’s still not resolved and that they can see what I’m doing.
Andrew Ronholm: aka Extil3
Visual and Sound Effects Artist, 3D Animator, Graphics & Web Designer, Videographer, Photographer, Editor, Director, and Writer.I know that sounds like a lot, but I really do all those things, and I do them for myself so it’s more of a full time hobby.
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