Transparency lost when importing .mov with new update

[Kai32475694ezjz]

Hello,

Ever since I did the newest update for Premier Pro (24.3.0 - build 59) any of my videos with a transparent background, no longer import with a transparent background and I have to do a luma key on them. Which is not time efficient and at times it doesn't not clean up the background as I need it to, rendering the clip unusable and a waste of time. 

I have searched everywhere for some type of answer and I am sadly not having any luck. Any help would be much appreciated as this is adding significant time to projects with very short deadlines. 

They are saved with alpha chanels as well. And I am working from MacOS Sonoma 14.4.1

Thanks for the help!

Kai

[R Neil Haugen]

What format/codecs are you working with? And made in AfterEffects or ... what?

Could you share one for others or staffers to test?

[Kai32475694ezjz]

They are made in an outside AI tool. (there were no updates with this since the issue started happening)

QuickTime Apple ProRes 4444

Thank you for the help, attached a sample.

[R Neil Haugen]

When I clicked on "transparency grid" in the Program monitor, it showed what I would expect ... the light grid behind the graphics ... so it seems to be showing correctly here ... and worked correctly when laid on a higher track over a clip.

[Kai32475694ezjz]

I am not sure then if I have something set incorrect somewhere 😞 Attached a small clip of what I am getting. I have had the transparency grid checked.
Apologies, not sure what I am doing wrong then.

[R Neil Haugen]

You're doing something out of sight at the end, where it shows up correctly ... what are you doing?

As it works just normal here ... what's the puzzlement I'm still wondering ... 

[Kai32475694ezjz]

I am importing the clip, adding the clip to my timeline...that is it. And it shows like this.

[R Neil Haugen]

But late in the playback of that clip, the mouse cursor disappears left, and the background under-track shows through ... 

[Kai32475694ezjz]

Sorry, I forgot to include that in the screen record but I had turned off visibility of that layer, thus why the background became visible, but the image disappeared. 

[R Neil Haugen]

Well, this is a puzzler. As it behaves completely as expected on my PC. Applied over a clip, the graphic allows the clip to show through except where the graphic bits are.

And naturally, when applied to a blank timeline area, the screen "around" the graphic is black unless I've got show transparency checked "on".

[Kai32475694ezjz]

Big puzzler lol 

I have no clue what has happened. It happened right after I did the upgrade to Sonoma on my mac. 

[godowan_]

This happens to me as well and its anoying. Not only Premiere; After effects, blackmagic fusion and the finder preview also have this issue. None identifies the alpha channel on proRes 4444 videos. The only solution is to export via png sequence with alpha. This might be related either to Sonoma 14.4.1 or the M2 chip (I recently got this laptop). 

[inzari masudi]

To properly export transparent videos in after effects change your format/codec from Apple ProRes to animation then change output channels to RGB + alpha, then import to Premiere pro

Check the attached sample 

[Kai32475694ezjz]

Hey Inzari,

Thank you for this. I am good with AE and creating my transparent graphics here...it is importing any graphics into Premier Pro that are created from a 3rd party app. This is issue 😞 If you have any thoughts on getting those transparent background imports to work...I am here for it lol 

[R Neil Haugen]

The mention above of BlackMagic is interesting. As someone who works both in Resolve and Premiere, I'm also on the BM boards. And several Sonoma Mac users have complained there about issues with alpha and ProRes in Resolve.

So perhaps this is at least partially to do with the Sonoma OS? Hmmm.

[Kai32475694ezjz]

So far this is my only conclusion - is that it has some correlation to that OS update. All I can deduce at this point 😞 

[MyerPj]

Seems to be working here.

 

[Kai32475694ezjz]

Hi MyerPJ,

Are you on a PC or Mac? 

[MyerPj]

Hey Kai,

PC. Win 23H2; PP 24.3

[Kai32475694ezjz]

I think it has something to do with the Mac update. Seems to work fine for anyone on a windows system (and apparently anyone but me on a Mac lol) But I have at least narrowed it down to 3rd party apps becuase I can create something in After Effects with this transparent backround and it imports perfectly fine.

Thanks for the help, I shall continue my investigation lol

[MyerPj]

Let us know if you find anything interesting. And stick around here as there is a lot of info to be gained.

🙂

[Matthew David King]

Any updates here? I'm banging my head against the wall for ProRes 444 Alpha project files produced externally I frequently use in projects. Macbook Pro M3 Max, macOS Sonoma 14.6.1.

To add, no PC users have been of help, so I'd prefer an Apple oriented 'community expert' to add to the conversation, or an Adobe Associate with close ties to Apple codecs and technology to be apprised of the issues as this goes back no less than 1 year now wherein the alpha channel was 'glitching' even on the M2, though files exported in MKV format with a transpareny layer weren't experiencing challenges.

The only workaround I read and also personally experienced a year+ ago was to re-export the file from an Intel machine with the latest OS. I don't have one of those anymore. Even if it is an 'Apple' problem, surely Adobe can lend an assist or workaround, unless it really is baked into the OS or even a hardware level issue.

[Matthew David King]

UPDATE: I FOUND THE SOLUTION

For reference my files were ProRes 4444 XQ with Alpha.

I went back and downloaded Media Encoder 23.6.6 then ran it as an Intel Application and re-exported the files as-is (Quicktime - Apple ProRes 4444 XQ, Depth: 16-bpc + alpha), with Renderer selected as Mercury Playback Engine Software Only, and my alpha channels came back! From my understanding, this forces the encoder to run on Rosetta, which simulates the 'fix' of exporting the files within the current OS on an Intel platform.

[atw293]

^^ This was a KING solution! An excellent workaround, I had to pop in and say thanks.

I opened Media Encoder 2023 using Rosetta (checkbox from Get Info via Finder's Applications), switched it to Software Only, and was able to re-export all of my alpha ProRes 4444 graphics that work on Mac Sonoma 14.5 (Issues started when I finally updated; I didn't have this problem before upgrading to Sonoma).

It took a few tries, but for me it worked when going old-fashioned Apple ProRes 4444.

I'm not sure if it's the Software Only renderer or the replicating an Intel App that did the trick, but together they made an easy workaround to follow!

[atw293]

Sorry --- This wasn't a complete solution after all , and I don't know how to delete my last comment but,

The renders work and the alpha transparency shows within Media Encoder, but the playback on the Sonoma's Finder preview and Premiere Pro still have issues.....