SAVE ALPHA is grayed out (greyed out) when trying to export AVI’s.

[Alan Lorence]

I suspect a pIRender issue. Try a small stage size (320 x 240). If the “save alpha” option is enabled, then it’s a problem with pIR. Open pIR manually, click the “options” button, and uncheck “use hardware acceleration” and see if that fixes the problem with the original project.

Alan.

………………..
Alan Lorence
Product Manager
GenArts, Inc.
http://www.genarts.com
http://www.wondertouch.com

[Tim Kocher]

Hi Alan:

Thanks for the fast response. Actually, I think I’ve nailed down what it is exactly. Your tip to try a smaller stage size is what clued me in. I actually tried a 720×480 and it worked fine. (Although it still doesn’t seem to recognize that the Canopus codecs are Alpha-enabled codecs for some reason, but HUFF and Lag. work fine.)

It appears that if the project settings have the stage larger that can be fit on screen at 100% it goofs something up. I don’t believe it has anything to do with PiRender. I say this because the sequencing changes when you have a stage size bigger than can be displayed. Here is what happens …

If you have a stage size smaller than your screen resolution, when you press the “Record” button, you are prompted with the file name/file type box. Then, after choosing AVI and entering a file name, the next prompt is the Codec setup dialogue box, then after that it automatically maximizes the stage area (layout 3 basically) and prompts you with the dialogue box with all of the settings, and Alpha is NOT grayed out.

HOWEVER, if you have a stage size larger than your screen resolution, when you press the “Record” button, you are prompted with the same file name/file type dialogue, however the next dialogue box that appears is the settings screen with the Alpha grayed out. It is skipping the codec config dialogue, and only prompts for it AFTER everything else. This is the culprit and I hope it is a simple fix.

(Also, I think I see it try to maximize the stage area, but then goes back to whatever it was at before when this happens.)

-Tim

[Tim Kocher]

PS> I just realized the PIRender is the app that launches when renders ARE bigger than screen res, so maybe that is the culprit. Sorry, I told you it has been a while … I completely forgot about it. Was just think PIRender was a background separate render process.

[Tim Kocher]

Alan:

No, unfortunately turning off hardware support in the pIRender app does not help either. It is still altering the dialogue box sequence, the alpha option is grayed out, and output avi files contain no Alpha channel. Any other suggestions? (Other than render something smaller of course, lol.)

Thanks,
Tim