Why is my clip going into the timeline fully transparent?

[cre8vimp]

Am I doing something wrong, or is this a bug? Thanks in advance!

Windows 11

Premiere Pro/After Effects/Media Player versions 25.3

All clips involved are Prores 30fps, in a 3840x2160 30fps timeline.

*Note: yes, I'm aware that I'm bypassing the Render and Replace feature. I've had trouble with it being unreliable before and I just prefer now to do the same operation manually by importing the render and placing it in the timeline.*

Screen recording of issue: https://vimeo.com/1109147208/fbc7fb6d9b

1. Duplicate timeline. (This is so I can use "Replace with After Effects Composition" in the first timeline, render the roto'd clip from Ae, and then place it in the duplicated timeline. At the end I'll have one timeline with Ae comps intact and another timeline with all the renders. Just for safekeeping.)

2. Right click clip (prores 422 LT) in first timeline, choose Replace with After Effects Composition, apply roto brush, render as Prores 4444 with alpha. No problem so far.

3. Import clip rendered from Ae back into Pr. Double click to play it in source monitor. Works fine, no problem so far.

4. Select the original clip in the second (duplicated) timeline. Then select the new Ae render in the project panel. Hold CTRL and drag the render onto the selected clip in the timeline. (This has always worked before. As a matter of fact, it worked as expected on clip right before this in the same timeline.)

5. Stare in confused wonder as the program monitor goes completely blank. The new clip, which worked in Ae, rendered successfully, played in source monitor without issue, shows up as completely transparent in the program monitor when dropped into the timeline.

6. Press CTRL-Z for undo. Nothing happens. ???

7. Press CTRL-Z again and the original clip returns in the timeline. (After several attempts, it is not an accident; it takes two CTRL-Zs to get the original clip back.) HOWEVER... the original clip returned without the Lumetri color effect on it that was there before replacing the clip.

8. Close the Pr project without saving changes to revert to the way it was before step 1, hoping that if I repeat these steps it will be different. It never is.

I have tried clearing the cache, resetting preferences, and rebooting the computer. I am not using any 3rd party plugins.

Please help and thank you!

[Kevin-Monahan]

Hey jampff,

Thanks for the message. To m it justa looks like your Transparency Grid is enabled. Check out the Wrench menu and disable it. Is it appearing as you would expect now? Let us know.

Thanks,
Kevin

[cre8vimp]

Thank you, but this is not the issue I described at all. I turned the Transparency Grid on intentionally and I know what it's supposed to look like. The problem is something else entirely.

At the place in the timeline where the problem is occurring, you're correct, the Transparency Grid is showing. The problem is, the clip on the timeline at that point is not completely transparent... so why can't I see fingers and keys in the program monitor? It plays correctly and visibly in the source monitor (I can see the fingers playing the keys). But as soon as the same clip is dropped into the timeline, and I press play, the program monitor shows an absolutely blank screen, as if the video is nothing more than 3840 transparent pixels by 2160 transparent pixels. I hope this clarifies the problem. Thanks!

[Carlos Ziade]

Try to apply Lumetri or any Color effects to an adjustment layer instead of applying it directly to the clip in question.

Try to Interpret Footage in Premiere Pro and change Alpha from Straight to Premultiplied.

Also try the same on a fresh new project, without anything but the clip and nothing applied to it, also without

the ALT+Drag process. Do you encounter the same issues?

Try also to render to QuickTime Cineform or Animation from After Effects with RGB+Alpha selected.

[cre8vimp]

Thanks for your reply!

There were no Lumetri or other effects on the clip that wasn't working... effects had been baked into the render from Ae.

The Interpret Footage options didn't change anything.

Cineform was no different.

I did discover what the problem was, and it's a bug related to ALT+drag. I'll leave that in another comment below (not directly replying to you.)

Thanks for your suggestions!

[cre8vimp]

So it looks like there's a new bug: ALT+Dragging a clip to the timeline (to replace a selected clip) works intermittently. Following the steps above, the clip comes into the timeline completely transparent.

However, I finally gave up on the ALT+drag shortcut. I just deleted the old clip off the timeline and dragged the new render from Ae into the blank space in the timeline. Worked flawlessly and as expected... footage is visible in the program monitor.

So, something is wrong with the ALT+drag shortcut. I'll include this as a bug report.