Alpha channel wipes not transparent

Magicbri

Newbie Joined: Oct 15, 2012 13:37 Messages: 18 Offline

Solved by

Oct 26, 2019 12:10

Hello gang,

I have a brand new computer that is running PowerDirector 365. I have a project file that includes a purchased .mov transparent wipe file. However on this new computer this clip is displaying black where it should be transparent. Its a checkered flag wipe so I can't cheat and use the chroma key because it takes out the flag as well.

I just upgraded my old computer from PowerDirector 16 to 365 and this clip works perfectly on that one.

On the new computer, I have installed ffmpeg, k-lite and Quicktime. What am I missing? I have wasted several hours on this and need to get this project done. Yes I can copy everything over to the old computer and render it there, but I prefer to get the new one straightened out. What am I missing?

Attached is what I'm seeing instead of the backgroud video coming through on the rt side.

Thanks for your help,
Brian


Filename	2019-10-26_9-04-24.png	Download
Description
Filesize	1264 Kbytes
Downloaded:	5 time(s)

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at Oct 26. 2019 12:12

ynotfish

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

Oct 26, 2019 16:54

Hi Magicbri -

Your observation is spot on, & I believe it needs addressing.

Alpha channel videos are created using different codecs. My observation so far is that:

Alpha videos made with Quicktime RLE codec work correctly in PDR18/365.
Some alpha channel video that use PNG codec work correctly & others don't.
I haven't found a JPEG based alpha video that works as it should.
Those made using ProRes 4444 won't import at all.

There are, no doubt, other types I haven't tested.

I have a pile of transitions from Digital Juice & it's hit & miss whether they work in PDR18/365.

2 things: 1. Do you have Quicktime installed on your new PC? 2. Have a look at the MediaInfo codec information for your checkered flag video & let us know what it says.

Cheers - Tony
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Magicbri

Newbie Joined: Oct 15, 2012 13:37 Messages: 18 Offline

Oct 26, 2019 18:34

Tony,

Thank you so much for your reply. As I mentioned, the odd thing is that it works with this PD version on one machine, but not another. But I can't find any other codec's to install on this new computer.

Here is what the clip media info says:

General
Complete name : C:\Users\Brian Quinn\Desktop\Checkered Racing Flag.mov
Format : MPEG-4
Format profile : QuickTime
Codec ID : qt 2005.03 (qt )
File size : 147 MiB
Duration : 3 s 3 ms
Overall bit rate mode : Variable
Overall bit rate : 410 Mb/s
Encoded date : UTC 2014-08-13 06:53:02
Tagged date : UTC 2014-08-13 05:53:05
Writing library : Apple QuickTime
TIM : 00;00;00;00
TSC : 2997
TSZ : 100
Video
ID : 1
Format : RLE
Format/Info : Run-length encoding
Codec ID : rle
Duration : 3 s 3 ms
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 410 Mb/s
Width : 1 920 pixels
Height : 1 080 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 16:9
Frame rate mode : Constant
Frame rate : 29.970 (30000/1001) FPS
Color space : RGBA
Bit depth : 8 bits
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 6.601
Stream size : 147 MiB (100%)
Language : English
Encoded date : UTC 2014-08-13 06:53:02
Tagged date : UTC 2014-08-13 06:53:05
Other
ID : 2
Type : Time code
Format : QuickTime TC
Duration : 3 s 3 ms
Frame rate : 29.970 (29970/1000) FPS
Time code of first frame : 00:00:00;00
Time code, striped : Yes
Language : English
Encoded date : UTC 2014-08-13 06:53:05
Tagged date : UTC 2014-08-13 06:53:05

tomasc

Senior Contributor Joined: Aug 25, 2011 12:33 Messages: 6464 Offline

Oct 26, 2019 18:49

Let us know the exact version of QuickTime that you have installed on this new pc. I use the latest one from Apple.

Magicbri

Newbie Joined: Oct 15, 2012 13:37 Messages: 18 Offline

Oct 26, 2019 20:00

I downloaded it from Apple as well. It is Quicktime version 7.7.9 (1680.95.84)

ynotfish

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

Oct 27, 2019 04:39

Hi Brian -

I have some news on this issue...

First, I located the "Checkered Racing Flag" video & purchased it. Comparing MediaInfo confirmed it's the exact one you're using.

Here's a screen capture showing it's fully functional in the perpetual version of PDR18, with QT installed.

I'll check how it functions in the 365 version after I install QT on that PC...

Cheers - Tony
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D285

Newbie Joined: Nov 08, 2018 13:33 Messages: 37 Offline

Oct 27, 2019 11:36

Have a look on this thread:

https://forum.cyberlink.com/forum/posts/list/77470.page#top

Maybe the "workaround" from User "HATTI" helps.

Dirk

Magicbri

Newbie Joined: Oct 15, 2012 13:37 Messages: 18 Offline

Oct 27, 2019 12:09

Wow Tony, talk about going above and beyond... Thank you sir.

So I did some more digging on my end as well and seem to have gotten to the bottom of it this morning. One of the responders here (tomasc) asked what version of Quicktime I was running. I had downloaded the latest version for Windows that Apple has on their site. However when I looked around in it again today and clicked the udate Quicktime option it did run some sort of update. It didn't specifically say Quicktime as it was downloading and updating but rather Apple software something, sorry I didnt catch it.

But the end result is that the checkered flag clip and others are working perfectly for me now.

Thanks to everyone for their input on this,
Brian

ynotfish

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

Oct 27, 2019 17:06

Excellent!

What prompted the detective work was that I hadn't had any issues with QT RLE clips previously, so I'm glad your particular issue is resolved after that QT update/fix (whatever it was).

Partially related to your apha video question, there are inconsistencies in PDR18 with PNG & JPEG based videos. Still scratching around with that one.

Cheers - Tony
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