Copy link to clipboard
Copied
Hi !
I've created a clip on character animator in which my character is speaking solely, with no background on other puppet.
My plan was to take it to After effects and add any background behind it.
but, for some reason, it seems like my puppet has a black background that block any other background layer I wish to put under it on Ae.
Is there something to do here ?
Pushing your car instead of driving it gets you to the same destination, but it's a lot slower. 🙂
Take Rick's advice and read some of the support material on which video formats to use that contain alpha channels.
exporting video with an alpha channel (transparency) | Adobe Blog
Copy link to clipboard
Copied
How did you render it from character animator?
you need to export it with a file format that supports alpha channel, I would suggest export it as PNG sequence
then reimport the sequence into after effects
Copy link to clipboard
Copied
So I did it and got many many many PNG files.
How do I turn them into a clip whom I can take to Ae ?
Copy link to clipboard
Copied
You exported to H.264/MP4, which cannot have an alpha channel.
Copy link to clipboard
Copied
So what should I do ? how to export this differently ?
Copy link to clipboard
Copied
just import one image onto after effects, you will notice that AE will turn on image sequence by default
then all PNG sequence will be imported as one video footage.
Copy link to clipboard
Copied
So I did that and it uploaded a single png photo to Ae. 😕
Copy link to clipboard
Copied
Did you check the "PNG Sequence" checkbox when you imported?
Also, use the checkerboard transparency view to determine if you have transparent elements in your composition.
Copy link to clipboard
Copied
In File->Import File, when you select the first file in the sequence, make sure the checkbox to import a sequence is checked.
Copy link to clipboard
Copied
Please post a screenshot
Copy link to clipboard
Copied
You need to spend some time studying video formats and standards. I would suggest spending some time with the User Guide. Rendering to suitable production formats is a basic production skill you should have. Your only problem is that you did not spend any time learning how transparency works in a video so you picked the wrong format.
Copy link to clipboard
Copied
Super humble dude.
Copy link to clipboard
Copied
Boomers, please take your arrogance in another platform, this a community for helping. It was built especially for people who are trying to learn from those who knows better.
Copy link to clipboard
Copied
There are not an alpha channel for AE.
Solution in Photoshop Export/Quick Export as PNG
It works.
If the batch command in Automate doesn´t work and you got a lot of images, then use a batch exporter for PNG with alpha channel. You can use Preview in Mac, open all the images, select all the Images in the sider bar, and an output folder. EDIT/Export (16bytes, alpha channel).
Don´t forget check "alpha channel"
Copy link to clipboard
Copied
rubenmontecinos wrote
There are not an alpha channel for AE.
Sorry, you don't know what you are talking about. You just have to pick the right settings. Using Photoshop will work for some things but it's a huge waste of time.
Please study the User Guide and take a little time to learn something about video formats and compression.
Copy link to clipboard
Copied
But it works, Mr.
Copy link to clipboard
Copied
Pushing your car instead of driving it gets you to the same destination, but it's a lot slower. 🙂
Take Rick's advice and read some of the support material on which video formats to use that contain alpha channels.
exporting video with an alpha channel (transparency) | Adobe Blog
Copy link to clipboard
Copied
Thank you, Andrew!
Copy link to clipboard
Copied
So, the correct answer is "Go somewhere and learn stuff?"
Copy link to clipboard
Copied
The correct answer is clearly given. The admonishment to go and learn stuff so you understand the process and can solve your own problems in the future is just friendly advice is given by folks that donate their time to help solve problems. Two minutes with the user guide or just taking the default lossless with alpha preset when rendering the animation would have solved the problem.
Copy link to clipboard
Copied
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKAtgsXG0_4
Here's the answer for if you are exporting your character from Photoshop.
In a nutshell: it needs to be Quicktime (.mov), not H.264, and you need to select "Straight - Unmatted" in the Alpha Channel selection box. I believe this is because H.264 does not support Alpha Channels (aka transparencies).