Jason Milligan
Forum Replies Created
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Transparency within the imagery of a file is not the same thing as an alpha channel. An alpha channel is transparency of the entire file, not it’s individual elements. Importing a layered PSD file as a composition would import each layer as a file with individual alpha channels. Importing a flattened PSD would only use the collective alpha of all the layers or none if the background layer is opaque.
What format is the file you are importing?
JPEG cannot support alpha channels.
Your file format should be PSD, TIFF, targa, or some other format that supports alpha and should be saved with an alpha channel. This is not always automatic.So in short, your file most likely does not have an alpha channel and that is why AE is not recognizing it (or the alpha channel is all white because the collective elements in the file are fully opaque).
I’m guessing here, but it sounds like you want to have interactivity between layered elements with multiple alphas. The solution is simple. Import that PSD as a composition. Then you will get all of your layers as separate footage with their own alphas.
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You are shooting a baby, right?
Asking her to not move her head or sit still are probably pretty unlikely.
My advice is lock down the camera and shoot a lot of footage.
Take some still photos too if you can, these will be easier to comp in.In the end, you may find it easier to manipulate the photos and then track them onto her head.
Probably, you’ll use a little of both: photos and footage.Have fun.
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I meant “properly interpreting”
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My advice is to look for tutorials on “3D space” in AE and perusing the help files for 3D in AE.
Once you understand the principles of working in 3D in After Effects, it should be clear to you how to achieve this effect. What Gary says still pertains to your issue. -
Do you have Live Update turned off?
(Icon at the top of the timeline that looks like a rectangle with another rectangle lying across it) -
a quick note, for AE to able to recognize your files as an image sequence they need to be named in sequence.
For example: image001, image002, image003, etc.
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Read my response here:
https://forums.creativecow.net/thread/202/880761 -
When you import the images, check the box that says “Image Type” Sequence in the import dialogue box.
This will essentially treat the images as a video file.*where I typed “Image Type”, AE would display “jpeg,” “targa,” “psd,” etc. dependent on what type of image sequence you are importing.
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Try using “Optics Compensation” set to reverse.
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Also, make sure you are probably interpreting the alpha channel once you bring it into Final Cut.