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Dale the human
Participant
January 17, 2021
Answered

Premiere incorrectly rendering png with transparent glow

  • January 17, 2021
  • 4 replies
  • 2049 views


(full quality screenshot here) My semi-transparent png is not rendering correctly in Premiere. This screenshot is from an exported  H.264 video at "maximum render quality." I overlaid the original png for comparison. The png does not seem to be the problem- it looks fine in photoshop, windows viewer, even flippin google chrome. The original footage is as follows:
Type: MPEG Movie
File Size: 2.22 GB
Image Size: 3840 x 2160
Frame Rate: 29.72
Source Audio Format: 48000 Hz - Compressed - Stereo
Project Audio Format: 48000 Hz - 32 bit floating point - Stereo
Total Duration: 00;06;35;27
Pixel Aspect Ratio: 1.0
Alpha: None
Video Codec Type: MP4/MOV H.264 4:2:0 (Full Range)
Variable Frame Rate Detected

Any ideas on what to try are greatly appreciated. I may have to give up and do it without the glow, but I'd really rather not re-do a hundred png's that I've already made.

Is there an effect I should use in Premiere to add the glow instead?

thanks!

    Correct answer R Neil Haugen

    I see two issues right off ... yea, as mgrenadier noted from the odd frame-rate, and also the "Variable frame-rate detected" bit, it's VFR media which Premiere doesn't always handle so well. As he notes, converting to CFR is wise.

     

    Second ... H.264 should about, oh, NEVER ... be 'full-range'. Nearly all video media is actually supposed to be "legal" or limited range, and this is one of the most misunderstood things in video post. "16-235" does not mean a monitor will show only the values of 16-235. It's what the video format is supposed to be set to.

     

    Any proper monitor setup will naturally display "legal" 16-235 media as black-to-white. As it is designed to do.

     

    Premiere is designed to work with media according to the standards for that media. H.264, most mp4 and mov, nearly everything in fact but the 12-bit and DPX formats, is actually by standard expected to be "legal" range 16-235. Premiere will handle that correctly internally and display it correctly.

     

    "Legal" range media and full range media on the same sequence will both display correctly within Premiere's program monitor and be exported correctly to whatever format/codec you export to. And if your monitor is set correctly, they will show correctly there also.

     

    So where ever you're getting that from, if using H.264, see to it the exports are legal range.

     

    Neil

    4 replies

    H
    hugh3540
    Participating Frequently
    October 27, 2025

    What fixed this issue for me was to uncheck "composite in linear colour" at the bottom of the sequence settings

    R Neil Haugen
    R Neil HaugenCorrect answer
    Legend
    January 17, 2021

    I see two issues right off ... yea, as mgrenadier noted from the odd frame-rate, and also the "Variable frame-rate detected" bit, it's VFR media which Premiere doesn't always handle so well. As he notes, converting to CFR is wise.

     

    Second ... H.264 should about, oh, NEVER ... be 'full-range'. Nearly all video media is actually supposed to be "legal" or limited range, and this is one of the most misunderstood things in video post. "16-235" does not mean a monitor will show only the values of 16-235. It's what the video format is supposed to be set to.

     

    Any proper monitor setup will naturally display "legal" 16-235 media as black-to-white. As it is designed to do.

     

    Premiere is designed to work with media according to the standards for that media. H.264, most mp4 and mov, nearly everything in fact but the 12-bit and DPX formats, is actually by standard expected to be "legal" range 16-235. Premiere will handle that correctly internally and display it correctly.

     

    "Legal" range media and full range media on the same sequence will both display correctly within Premiere's program monitor and be exported correctly to whatever format/codec you export to. And if your monitor is set correctly, they will show correctly there also.

     

    So where ever you're getting that from, if using H.264, see to it the exports are legal range.

     

    Neil

    Everyone's mileage always varies ...
    D
    Dale the humanAuthor
    Participant
    January 17, 2021

    In the future, I will get around this by making png's without the glow, then doubling the layers in Premiere and adding Gaussian blur to the lower one. Still an annoying problem, though.

    D
    Dale the humanAuthor
    Participant
    January 17, 2021

    I ended up converting all 104 png's to transparent tiff's using Adobe Bridge and that made them show up better, but it's not a good way to do it because MY GOD, TIFFs ARE HUGE! The folder size went from 22MB to 2.34 GB.

    SOLUTION: In the future, for glowing text I will use a transparent png over a second layer with Gaussian blur. This works in my case, but it's a less convenient work-a-round for people who want the glow to be a more complicated shape or color.

    M
    Michael Grenadier
    Legend
    January 17, 2021

    a frame rate of 29.72 is not a standard frame rate and makes me wonder if your source material is from a screen recording which usually have a variable frame rate which can cause all sorts of unpredictable problems.  If you just misread the frame rate and it's 29.97 (a standard frame rate) ignore this.  If not


    use mediainfo to determine whether your source is variable or constant frame rate

    https://mediaarea.net/en/MediaInfo/Download

    if it's variable use handbrake to convert to constant frame rate

    https://handbrake.fr
    and here's a tutorial on how to use handbrake

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=34&v=xlvxgVREX-Y

    D
    Dale the humanAuthor
    Participant
    January 17, 2021

    The specs are copied directly from Premiere. I don't know what to tell ya- this was recorded on a Galaxy s9; I figured the format would be some sort of commonly used one. It seems odd to me that framerate would matter when a still image is being used, but I will look into it. Thanks!

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