Character Animator CC: Export with transparent background

[sannasannasanna]

Export a animation in Character Animator with transparent background: I have struggled with this for months without a solution. I have seen tutorials and tried so many ways, but no matter what I do, I can't export a transparent background. (I use a mac)

This (which I found on this site) doesn't work for me:

• To export a scene to a video format with alpha channel, select the scene, then choose File > Export > Video with Alpha via Adobe Media Encoder. The scene is added to the Adobe Media Encoder queue, and set to use QuickTime format with the GoPro CineForm RGB 12-bit with alpha preset.

Anyone who can help me?

[DanTull]

How does it fail? It produces a movie but the background isn't transparent?

For what it is worth, all that command is doing is a regular export that sends along a little extra information to tell AME to select that particular preset. Maybe somehow your copy of AME is missing that preset or has been modified so that it isn't actually preserving the alpha channel?

If you do a regular export and change the settings so that AME renders a format that has an alpha channel it should work. This answer seemed to work (this predates the addition of the dedicated menu item):
Re: Can I export from Character animator in .mov with background transparency?

There's also this guide:
https://extra-ordinary.tv/2018/07/08/exporting-adobe-character-animator-videos-with-transparency/

Depending on how big your scene is and what you're doing with it, you could also export to PNG + WAV and import that instead.

DT

[matthewjm]

Working on a Mac. Exporting "Video with Alpha via Media Encoder." 

Once inside Media Encoder, I choose any number of presets with Alpha and get a black background, even though I have no background (neither layer nor preset). 

The black background seems to being added by Media Encoder (?)

[alank99101739]

One thing to watch out for is whether the tool reading the file supports transparency. If it does not, then it will typically insert black or white instead. If you load it into prem pro and transparency is working there, the problem is most likely with the other tool you are using.

[Dhibly]

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[Dhibly]

@DanTull

[aceedu]

I added a green screen as the background and then removed it after export.

[alank99101739]

Glad you got it working. The only negative is it can result in lower quality around the edges. But if you are moving forwards again that is often the main thing. (I export with GoPro CineForm with alpha on Windows all the time without problem. If not working on Mac, I almost would consider reinstalling the software. There are been a few strange bugs that went away after reinstallation. Not often, but sometimes.)

[benedikth6233932 · Accepted solution]

Im using ProRes 4444 with Alpha to export with transparency and it works as expected.

[salazargerman]

YES! This worked for me!

[sannasannasanna]

Thank you for commenting. Do you use Quicktime or which format? ProRes 4444 with Alpha to export did not give me any transparency.

[sannasannasanna]

Correction: The file is transparent in Premiere Pro, but I want to use Final Cut and there the background is black.

[msteja]

The file is also transparent in final cut but when the video is the only layer in the timeline, it shows black background. So you should place the video on top of another layer and it should be transparent.

[alank99101739]

That suggests the problem might be in Final Cut...

[Crewman1]

Mov files are huge.  A great way to do a transparent export, is to add a green screen bg to Ch, export normally and then in PPro use the Ultra Key effect. Very simple  How to Remove Green Screen Video Background in Adobe Premiere Pro CC (Tutorial) - YouTube