Transparent video layers to DigiBeta

[Rafael Amador]

Hi Nikki,
You have to deliver the full picture and apart, you have to deliver the Alpha channel.
As you know ther are no way for a tape to carry Alpha.
Instead of Alpha channel. you have to create a clip in Black and White. The Black areas will be the transparent, and the white the solid part of the picture.
No difficult to achieve.
If you have all the stuff in the layer V1:
– Duplicate the sequence.
– Put a white matte on the layer V2.
– Change the Composite mode of layer V2 to “Travel Matte Alpha”.
Thats all.
No you should have that B&W clip.
Set the codec of both sequence to Prores (No Alpha channel needed any more).
Now you can print to video both sequence (one after the other in the same tape).
When the tape will be captured, you only need to put the B&W clip in layer V1 and the full picture in layer V2. Set layer V2 as “Travel matte LUMA”, and you will have the picture with the transparency again.
Don’t use a 256 White. Is illegal and may cause you problems with the B&W clip. The legal level for White is 239.
Cheers,
rafael

http://www.nagavideo.com

Pleas have a look to my clip:
https://reels.creativecow.net/film/4452
Feedback welcomed

[Joey Burnham]

That’s a lot of steps Rafael!

In the render que just set it to render alpha only. That will render out your matte. Put your graphic onto tape with the alpha pass after it. It’s nice to provide a sync pop / gfx so they can line it up easily as well.

Joey

[Joey Burnham]

Never mind I was talking about in AE.
Joey

[Nikki Johal]

Hi Rafael

Thanks for you advice. I had a go and it kinda worked. The only problem is that i lose the colour part of the graphic. The actual aston strap/lower third is purple with a white logo and animated. The logo also disappears when i followed your instructions.

any further advice?

Thanks

Nikki

[Walter Biscardi]

[Nikki Johal] “My problem is that i am having to deliver this to the client on DigiBeta tape (16:9 FHA SD). I am aware that video layers are ‘flattened’ out so you can seperate the elements”

You mean, you cannot separate the layers after it goes to tape.

If you need to deliver this in a way that they can “remove” the lower thirds after it goes to tape, that’s not possible with a tape master. Everything is combined into one signal.

Generally when we deliver a project we have to deliver a full and a clean master. The clean master has all the graphics removed.

If you need to deliver the graphics themselves separately, then you would lay down the graphic itself over black and then the alpha matte for that graphic immediately following, also over black. Then the end user can use that matte to properly cut the graphic out onto video.

Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Editor, Colorist, Director, Writer, Consultant, Author, Chef.
HD Post and Production
Biscardi Creative Media

“Foul Water, Fiery Serpent” featuring Sigourney Weaver coming soon.

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[Rafael Amador]

Hi Nikki,
In the same tape you have to print also the animation with full color.
With that and the B&W matte, you have everything in the tape.
Thats the way.
Rafael

http://www.nagavideo.com

[Nikki Johal]

Hi Rafael and Walter

Thanks for your advice. It has worked! The only thing i have noticed it that once i have done all the steps you outlined and then re-applied it back to some footage, the purple aston strap/lower third bar is slightly transparent where it should be a solid colour.

The animation for the aston strap/lower third bar is several transparent layers that animate and to the same spot to build up the colour solid purple colour to allow text to be applied. As mentioned before, the solid is now appearing slightly transparent. This does not happen when i apply the original animation file to footage. Is there a way that i can avoid this happening?

Look forward to your reply.

Nikki

[Nikki Johal]

Hey

I’ve been playing around with the footage but im still having problems with producing a final solid after the animation has completed. Is there anyone that can offer any advice?

Thanks

Nikki