Cannot get transparency in Alpha channel videos

Clark711

Member Joined: Dec 28, 2014 11:49 Messages: 124 Offline

Solved by

Dec 28, 2014 12:01

I have been researching this all weekend. And failing.

I cannot get Alpha Channel videos to display properly in PowerDirector 13. They are not transparent, unless I use Chroma Keying, which works to a limited fashion, but not the way they are designed to be used.

I have PowerDirector 13 Ultimate.
I have QuickTime 7.7.6 Player installed. Not QuickTime Pro.

I am using three Alpha Channel video clips that do work fine for people with Adobe AfterEffects.

I am simply importing the Alpha Channel video clips, dragging them to my timeline, placing them on lower levels, with a JPG image file on a higher level.

The Alpha Channel video displays completely, covering the JPG. There is no transparency unless I use Chroma keying, which I know is wrong because too much gets made transparent.

What am I doing wrong ? Thanks

Clark711

Member Joined: Dec 28, 2014 11:49 Messages: 124 Offline

Dec 28, 2014 13:14

Yes, they are .MOV Alpha channel videos.

They all display the transparency fine in AfterEffects. But not in PowerDirector - for me.

ynotfish

Senior Contributor Location: N.S.W. Australia Joined: May 08, 2009 02:06 Messages: 9977 Offline

Dec 28, 2014 14:29

Hi Clark -

Not being an After Effects user, I'm unable to test that here. Nor can I explain why the behaviour is different in PDR.

PDR 13 does import & display alpha channel videos correctly (see attached screen capture). One thing you'll notice is that in PiP Designer, the transparent section is displayed as black, except in playback.

My understanding is that genuine alpha channel videos have a bit depth of 32 - you can check this with ExifTool

ExifTool - http://download.cnet.com/ExifTool/3000-2193_4-10791213.html (make sure you uncheck/decline the unwanted extras)

Cheers - Tony

Filename	Alpha.wmv	Download
Description
Filesize	1734 Kbytes
Downloaded:	369 time(s)

Visit PDtoots. PowerDirector Tutorials, tips, free resources & more. Subscribe!
Full linked Tutorial Catalog PDtoots happily supports fellow PowerDirector users!

Clark711

Member Joined: Dec 28, 2014 11:49 Messages: 124 Offline

Dec 28, 2014 18:27

Tony,

Thanks much for the reply.

My results are not as bad as I had originally thought - I am now down to a only a couple of mysteries, versus complete dumbness.

The major problem is that PDR 13 does not always display the same in Preview as it does in the Final video.

This is a short video that I created to test several Alpha channel clips in PDR13.

https://vimeo.com/115535617

When I made my original post here, I was viewing all the Alpha channel videos in Preview Mode, not the final video. There seems to sometimes be a significant difference between Preview Mode and the final result.

In that video, the first alpha channel clip is one by Action Essentials. It Previews perfectly, and also finalized perfectly.

The second clip is a Zipper overlay. It does not display the transparency in Preview, but does display properly in the final video.

The fourth clip is a Ringing Bell alpha clip overlay. It also has the same problem in Preview, but does display in the video.

The fifth clip - Music Notes, displays fine in both Preview and the final.

I also noticed that several of my Titles did NOT display at all in Preview, but did display fine in the final video.

This is also a link to the Zipper .MOV file. It's a very short demo.

https://secure.logmein.com/f?00_BRV-7P7bf0jb1jlKSRWWSQuXMuMAJT6v61iSNqfc

Bottom line --- well, the difference between Preview and final video is perplexing. Both for an Alpha clip and Titles. But I guess I now have Alpha channel clips working in PDR13.

Clark

ynotfish

Senior Contributor Location: N.S.W. Australia Joined: May 08, 2009 02:06 Messages: 9977 Offline

Dec 28, 2014 23:48

Quote: The major problem is that PDR 13 does not always display the same in Preview as it does in the Final video.

So far, I haven't been able to replicate that. Here, whatever is displayed in Preview is the same as the produced file.

The only oddity I've noticed is the way PiP Designer displays the transparent section as black, except in playback.

Because I haven't been able to reproduce the same thing here, it's hard to look for patterns... but, given that your alpha channel videos come from different sources, it's likely that they're configured differently.

If you used ExifTool to analyse the videos in question, you may find some clues about the odd behaviour.

I'm not sure that PDR 13 was deliberately equipped to handle alpha channel videos (could be very wrong). It seems like a bi-product of including NewBlue Titler Pro & ProDAD Adorage.

Cheers - Tony
Visit PDtoots. PowerDirector Tutorials, tips, free resources & more. Subscribe!
Full linked Tutorial Catalog PDtoots happily supports fellow PowerDirector users!