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meganb53305763
meganb53305763
New Participant
June 21, 2017
Answered

Exporting video with a transparent background

  • June 21, 2017
  • 4 replies
  • 46120 views

I have three simple character animation sequences I've created in Adobe Animate CC, and need to export them into some sort of video format so I can drop them in Sony Vegas Pro 14 to edit them from there. The only problem is, I need the backgrounds to be transparent. When exporting them as a .mov, I know you can select the option to ignore the stage color, but all that does is make the background a solid black instead of white. It's still there, and still not transparent.

I can't open .swf files in Vegas, so exporting them as that is out of the question, and Adobe Media Encoder can't open them either. Any ideas on how I can solve this?

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer Colin Holgate

Look at the track properties to make sure you have set it to use the alpha channel:

http://content.videoblocks.com/tipstricks/tutorials/how-to-use-alpha-channel-special-effect-footage-in-sony-vegas/

4 replies

O
offLine_L
New Participant
December 8, 2017

Dear Colin,

I´ve got a problem that is quite similar, but not solved by the above conversation:

When exporting an Animate file that uses Blur effects in the animation, the video I receive to work with in other software (Final Cut, iMovie) has transparency, sure, but the animated elements have grey shades around them, the alpha channel is not good.

I tried: the original .mov and the movie passed to media encoder.

In Media encoder i tried to find a codec/format that allows me to use 32bit – didn´t find any.

The only one I found was an Apple Prores 4444 using 16bit+alpha, but the effect was the same (grey shades around elements, no clean transparency).

As an info: its about doing title graphics for a movie - white typography that shall appear above the original video.

Is there some workflow that can handle this problem?

Thanks a lot!

Colin Holgate
Colin Holgate
Inspiring
December 8, 2017

If you are ok for drive space, use the MOV in Final Cut Pro X. Once the animation is on top of the background image, select the animation and in the Video Inspector/Compositing/Blend Mode, try using Premultiplied Mix:

O
offLine_L
New Participant
January 24, 2018

Dear Colin,

thank you very much! Premultiplied Mix did the trick!

Thanks again!

Lutz

Asymetrical
Asymetrical
Adobe Expert
June 22, 2017

I remember having this same issue with Animate on a recent project and a lady on the beta team, Terry Toepfer showed me how to do it. I'm not sure how that relates to Vegas but maybe you have a similar option?

To see the alpha channel you have to use Media Encoder and look at the settings for the format you are using. I'll upload a photo showing it. I took your file into After Effects and set the alpha to show using the Interpret footage dialog so I could smooth the edges. I then added a simple loop under it to show that your movie does have an alpha, otherwise the background would render out using the default black.

Colin Holgate
Colin Holgate
Inspiring
June 22, 2017

What you describe is for people who use Adobe Media Encoder to process the MOV. In this case the MOV is being used directly, so AME isn't involved.

Nexahs1138
Nexahs1138
Inspiring
June 22, 2017

Why don't you have Premiere?

I believe you can export a variety of video formats, it's been a while since I've used anything other than .swf. Are you able to export as a TIF image sequence, that should ignore the background.

Colin Holgate
Colin Holgate
Inspiring
June 22, 2017

Premiere isn't able to import SWFs, but After Effects could. But no doubt there's a reason she is using Sony Vegas.

meganb53305763
meganb53305763Author
New Participant
June 22, 2017

I'm using Vegas because that's the editing program I have the most experience in, I'm more used to it. This is my first time attempting animation in Animate CC, so there very well could be something really simple that I just don't understand, or that I'm missing here!

Colin Holgate
Colin Holgate
Inspiring
June 21, 2017

It may look black, but really it's transparent. Are you using the MOV, or are you sending it to Adobe Media Encoder? That could cause the alpha channel to be lost. Use the MOV version.

meganb53305763
meganb53305763Author
New Participant
June 22, 2017

what I did was I exported it as a .mov in Animate, then dropped that exact file directly into Vegas. It's still completely black, however, if I try to put a background image layer or anything else under it, it won't show through.

here, I'll provide screenshots. Here's my project, with the animation I made as a "transparent" .mov over some audio

Gyazo - 9614431d9a4abf2d8a4dce903553e036.png

now here is the same project, only this time I put a blank white background underneath the video to test if it really was transparent

Gyazo - ea29799f3b7f7432dfe822e4b4a62550.png

as you can see, it doesn't show through, so the background isn't actually transparent

Colin Holgate
Colin HolgateCorrect answer
Inspiring
June 22, 2017

Look at the track properties to make sure you have set it to use the alpha channel:

http://content.videoblocks.com/tipstricks/tutorials/how-to-use-alpha-channel-special-effect-footage-in-sony-vegas/

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